Cokie Roberts's number one New York Times bestseller, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters , examined the nature of women's roles throughout history and led USA Today to praise her as a "custodian of time-honored values." Her second bestseller, From This Day Forward , written with her husband, Steve Roberts, described American marriages throughout history, including the romance of John and Abigail Adams. Now Roberts returns with Founding Mothers , an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate ...
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Cokie Roberts's number one New York Times bestseller, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters , examined the nature of women's roles throughout history and led USA Today to praise her as a "custodian of time-honored values." Her second bestseller, From This Day Forward , written with her husband, Steve Roberts, described American marriages throughout history, including the romance of John and Abigail Adams. Now Roberts returns with Founding Mothers , an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families -- and their country -- proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it. While much has been written about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution, the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters they left behind have been little noticed by history. Roberts brings us the women who fought the Revolution as valiantly as the men, often defending their very doorsteps. While the men went off to war or to Congress, the women managed their businesses, raised their children, provided them with political advice, and made it possible for the men to do what they did. The behind-the-scenes influence of these women -- and their sometimes very public activities -- was intelligent and pervasive. Drawing upon personal correspondence, private journals, and even favored recipes, Roberts reveals the often surprising stories of these fascinating women, bringing to life the everyday trials and extraordinary triumphs of individuals like Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Read Franklin, Eliza Pinckney, Catherine Littlefield Green, Esther DeBerdt Reed, and Martha Washington -- proving that without our exemplary women, the new country might never have survived. Social history at its best, Founding Mothers unveils the drive, determination, creative insight, and passion of the other patriots, the women who raised our nation. Roberts proves beyond a doubt that like every generation of American women that has followed, the founding mothers used the unique gifts of their gender -- courage, pluck, sadness, joy, energy, grace, sensitivity, and humor -- to do what women do best, put one foot in front of the other in remarkable circumstances and carry on.
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How do I value Cokie Robert's Founding Mothers - The Women Who Raised Our Nation? Let me count the ways. Foremost, we gain a robust understanding of the personal sacrifice the founding families - the wives as much as the husbands - made in order to create this nation. The important message for contemporary readers is that this country exists only because of their personal sacrifices. Those overwhelming personal sacrifices stand in stark contrast to the preeminent self-interest of Washington 'leaders' and legislators today. How many of our current crop of self-professed 'patriots' would risk their family unity, personal wealth, and very lives to defend their professed ideals? Anyone? What is missing from our union is leaders with a national vision that transcends personal power, re-election at any cost, and party politics.
Our school books focused on Founding Fathers and various key battles in the fight for independence from British control as if that were a remotely accurate picture of the times and its challenges. What those texts never addressed was the impact on the wives and children and on personal finances. Wives separated from husbands for years; Abigail Adams and Martha Washington suffering almost continual separation from their husbands with the ancillary benefit that they avoided the continual pregnancies (no birth control in 1748) that drained other women and led to the early death of many.
Secondly, the founding wives assumed the huge responsibility of family income production by running the farms and plantations, albeit with slave labor in many cases. This by women who had no formal education in science, math or economics. Indeed, we learn that Abigail Adams was a continual proponent of education for girls, repeatedly writing husband John Adams and urging him to somehow incorporate female education into foundational documents.
Third, during the British occupations of both Boston and Philadelphia, founding wives actually became refugees driven from their homes by hostile British troops. They sought refuge with relatives or friends who lived in more secure areas. The wives of more prominent leaders feared kidnap by the British, while all feared rape and mayhem. Indeed, after temporary exile, many returned to homes ravaged and destroyed by British occupation. For the founding wives who had more frequent contact with their husbands, this dislocation and refugee status was even harder because they were often pregnant and had many young children to care for. It was interesting to learn that the war of independence halted every winter and troops hunkered down. Martha Washington consistently wintered with George and did what she could to cheer the troops; in spring when warfare revived, she returned home to supervise the next growing season and care for displaced friends and relatives. She was not alone in her annual migrations.
Fourth, we learn how long the Revolutionary War ground on without decisive battlefield victory for either side, without immediate material help from French allies, and without a peace treaty. The dreary war reminded me of the seemingly endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq we currently face. Cokie Roberts' account of war on American soil gave me a tiny glimmer of understanding of what the people of the Middle East face today under U.S. occupation of their cities, villages and farms. Perhaps if we'd read Founding Mothers in school and learned the true cost of our war of independence, we'd be less cavalier about invading other countries.
This remarkable book was so readable because the key events in gaining independence and creating this country created an intrinsic momentum structure on which more domestic details could ride. For this reader that faltered only after the Constitution was ratified and the temporal march halted. Still, one of the best history books I've ever read. Kudos to Cokie Roberts.
WilliamsburgTeri
Mar 27, 2014
Yawning with the Founding Mothers
I am a huge fan of Cokie Roberts, so I had high hopes for this book. It's dry as dirt and hard to follow in spots. It reminded me of my high school history texts. You might glean some interesting facts, but you'll have to work to get there.
granmommy
Jul 10, 2008
Good Information
It is always interesting to learn about our former Presidents. This book gives us insight to their early lives and family situations.
bubbabooks
Mar 27, 2008
Fantastic
I had seen this book many times, and finally decided to order it and read it. This book is so wonderful and gives fantastic insights to the lives of these very special women and how they molded our nation. This book is well worth the time spent in reading it. I am a fast reader and I was done with this book in a day and a half. Normally, I won't reread a book, but this one is a keeper.
