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aelane23's review against another edition
2.0
At first I really enjoyed Roberts' more casual approach to historical biography...she frequently places "reactions" like "Yeah, right" or "I'll bet" or "Go Abigail!" to various letters and quotes that she has shared. However, as it went on, it felt all over the place. I appreciated that she tried to organize the chapters and subsequent stories chronologically, but I think it would have flowed better if she had focused on one "founding mother" at a time. Overall, it had interesting things I didn't know about that era, but will not be coming back to it.
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
3.0
Roberts attempts to tell the lesser-known stories of important women in Revolutionary War era America, from Eliza Pinkney (my new favorite), to Abigail Adams and many more.
I'm glad this book exists, but I kept wanting more. Roberts really just scratches the surface of telling history from the view of colonial women. Her story still largely focuses around the men these women were related to, and often reduces the women's stories to how they relate to the men, rather than digging a little deeper to explore what may have fallen through the cracks of the written historical record.
Her narrative also jumps back and forth in time and includes too many characters. Many times I found myself struggling to keep these important women straight.
I wonder if a more intense study of the biggest characters would have been easier to follow (& more interesting) or if she really was dedicated to unearthing as many women's stories as possible, turning it into more of a reference work that gave each lady a short chapter all to herself.
I'm glad this book exists, but I kept wanting more. Roberts really just scratches the surface of telling history from the view of colonial women. Her story still largely focuses around the men these women were related to, and often reduces the women's stories to how they relate to the men, rather than digging a little deeper to explore what may have fallen through the cracks of the written historical record.
Her narrative also jumps back and forth in time and includes too many characters. Many times I found myself struggling to keep these important women straight.
I wonder if a more intense study of the biggest characters would have been easier to follow (& more interesting) or if she really was dedicated to unearthing as many women's stories as possible, turning it into more of a reference work that gave each lady a short chapter all to herself.
meme_too2's review against another edition
3.0
2008: Loootttt's of history, and clearly well documented, but interesting to hear how women were very influential in our nation's early years.
2020: Second time reading this book: I'm not sure I saw the same things the first time I read it as this go around. Cokie tried to make these founding mothers into feminists, but she couldn't do it because they weren't. They were happy and devoted mothers. They also happened to be intelligent, opinionated, and strong women, just as the good Lord created them to be. Imagine that!
2020: Second time reading this book: I'm not sure I saw the same things the first time I read it as this go around. Cokie tried to make these founding mothers into feminists, but she couldn't do it because they weren't. They were happy and devoted mothers. They also happened to be intelligent, opinionated, and strong women, just as the good Lord created them to be. Imagine that!
amlane16's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. Clearly well researched, but presented in a confusing manner.
tessakris's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. This was definitely interesting to hear about early US history with a focus on the women. I admire the work that the author put in to learn about these topics because she said that the information can be hard to find. It was a little hard for me to pay attention because I was listening to it.
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable and fairly interesting. Roberts' personality intrudes a little too much at times for me, although someone who enjoys her wit more would probably like it. I also felt like she took too many unnecessary pot-shots at the Founding Fathers, as though de-throning them was the only way to elevate the Founding Mothers. Still, the stories are great and need to be told.
peaches1951's review against another edition
2.0
This was a DNF for me. Roberts' writing style is wordy and plodding. This was a "read" for a book group, but I could not get through it.
tawntawn's review against another edition
3.0
I learned a lot about the founding mothers and fathers and what life was like at this critical time in our history. It was a little choppy and wasn't riveting (it's a history!).