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My Works Publication Date: July 4, 2008
In their landmark book on extraordinary women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony hailed Founding Mother Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) for advocating not only "the freedom of man alone, but . . . that of her own sex also." In this meticulously researched biography of the first female historian of the American Revolution and our first woman playwright, Nancy Rubin Stuart depicts Mrs. Warren's life and patriotic achievements.
The sister of firebrand James "the Patriot" Otis, who first declared that "taxation without representation is tyranny," the highly educated Mercy Otis Warren was the mother of five sons and the wife of James Warren, Speaker of the Massachusetts House and paymaster general of the Continental Army. In 1775 patriotic Mrs. Warren served as her husband's private secretary at the headquarters of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety and the Provincial Congress to relate news about the Revolution that few men-and virtually no women-enjoyed. How did that happenk?
Mercy Otis Warren was a close friend of both John and Abigail Adams; she and Abigail shared their fears, comforted each other in their husbands' absences, exchanged theories about child-rearing, and even ran a small importing business together. John Adams, was so impressed with Mrs. Warren's acumen and literary abilities, that he praised her as a "real genius" and encouraged her to write satirical plays, poems, and a history of the American Revolution.
By 1805, after reading her three-volume History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution (1805), however, Adams exploded. In one of ten blistering letters, he accused her of having a "determined resolution" to denigrate his role in the Revolution. This eye-opening biography reveals their complex relationship-and why it unraveled.
The Muse of the Revolution captures Mrs. Warren's bold interactions with other notables of American history, among them Sam Adams, Henry Knox, Benjamin Lincoln, Hannah Winthrop, Elbridge Gerry, and George and Martha Washington. Mrs. Warren satirized both British and American Loyalists in her popular plays and poems and authored an influential critique of the U.S. Constitution whose principles were later incorporated into the Bill of Rights. Nancy Rubin Stuart reveals how Mrs. Warren's provocative writing made her an exception among the largely voiceless women of the eighteenth century, and she persuasively argues for Mercy's legacy to be appreciated by a new generation.
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5516-8 Two years later, the dashing Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane courted Maggie in a romance that shocked his wealthy family and made newspaper headlines. In 1888,Maggie became front page news again when she appeared 3,000 people at the New York Academy of Music with a confession that sent shock waves through America. Today Maggie's impact upon spiritualism remains a lively debate among those who practice channeling, visit mediums and everyone else who wonders about the possibility of life after death. "The Reluctant Spiritualist" is a story that you'll never forget. In their landmark book on extraordinary women, Elizabeth The sister Mercy Otis Warren was a close friend of both John and The Muse of the Mrs. Warren "Queen of Palm Beach," a friend to the crowned heads of Europe as well as to American presidents, first ladies, senators and diplomats. The daughter of breakfast-cereal magnate, C.W. Post, Marjorie Post's story traces her rise from her middle-class Midwestern roots to the pinnacle of America's high society. Along the way she married four times, anonymously gave thousands of dollars to widows, students and soldiers and earned the respect of hundreds of people for her charity, wit and charm. This richly detailed portrait of Queen Isabella depicts one of the most fascinating figures in European history -- a woman who was passionate lover to Ferdinand of Aragon, revered for conquering the Moors, supporting Columbus on his famous journey, bringing the Renaissance to Spain and feared for initiating the Spanish Inquisition. Like many modern career women today, Isabella was torn between her workaday obligations, her marriage and child-rearing concerns. Was she a visionary, a saint or a she-devil as historians have variously described her? Read "Isabella of Castile" and decide for yourself. A dramatic series of stories about motherhood by and free womanpower, are changing. No longer do most suburban woman remain home all day, raising their children, carpooling or volunteering in local charities. More than half of today's suburban women are The New Suburban Woman, written two |
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