Audiobook6 hours
Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
Written by Carol Berkin
Narrated by Donna Postel
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
The American Revolution was a home-front war that brought scarcity, bloodshed, and danger into the life of every American, and Carol Berkin shows us that women played a vital role throughout the struggle.
Berkin takes us into the ordinary moments of extraordinary lives. We see women boycotting British goods in the years before independence, writing propaganda that radicalized their neighbors, raising funds for the army, and helping finance the fledgling government. We see how they managed farms, plantations, and businesses while their men went into battle, and how they served as nurses and cooks in the army camps, risked their lives seeking personal freedom from slavery, and served as spies, saboteurs, and warriors.
She introduces us to sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington, who sped through the night to rouse the militiamen needed to defend Danbury, Connecticut; to Phillis Wheatley, literary prodigy and Boston slave, who voiced the hopes of African Americans in poems; to Margaret Corbin, crippled for life when she took her husband's place beside a cannon at Fort Monmouth; to the women who gathered firewood, cooked, cleaned for the troops, nursed the wounded, and risked their lives carrying intelligence and participating in reconnaissance missions. Here, too, are Abigail Adams, Deborah Franklin, Lucy Knox, and Martha Washington, who lived with the daily knowledge that their husbands would be hanged as traitors if the revolution did not succeed.
Berkin takes us into the ordinary moments of extraordinary lives. We see women boycotting British goods in the years before independence, writing propaganda that radicalized their neighbors, raising funds for the army, and helping finance the fledgling government. We see how they managed farms, plantations, and businesses while their men went into battle, and how they served as nurses and cooks in the army camps, risked their lives seeking personal freedom from slavery, and served as spies, saboteurs, and warriors.
She introduces us to sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington, who sped through the night to rouse the militiamen needed to defend Danbury, Connecticut; to Phillis Wheatley, literary prodigy and Boston slave, who voiced the hopes of African Americans in poems; to Margaret Corbin, crippled for life when she took her husband's place beside a cannon at Fort Monmouth; to the women who gathered firewood, cooked, cleaned for the troops, nursed the wounded, and risked their lives carrying intelligence and participating in reconnaissance missions. Here, too, are Abigail Adams, Deborah Franklin, Lucy Knox, and Martha Washington, who lived with the daily knowledge that their husbands would be hanged as traitors if the revolution did not succeed.
Author
Carol Berkin
Carol Berkin is Professor of History at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is the author of A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, Women's Voices/Women's Lives: Documents in Early American History, and coeditor, with Mary Beth Norton, of Women of America: A History.
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Reviews for Revolutionary Mothers
Rating: 3.990196117647059 out of 5 stars
4/5
51 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fantastic short book focusing on women during the American Revolutionary period of history. Carol Berkin is one of the top authors of the period, and I really enjoyed this look into the many roles women played from many different backgrounds (economically and ethnically). There were no real deep biographies of any specific women of the period, but the stories of many women were returned to and flushed out. This is an important book for students of the time period to read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carol Berkin examines the roles women played in the American Revolutionary War. She looks at their contributions through the lens of allegiance, class, and origin. The book is well-organized into groups involved in the war, such as active participants, camp followers, generals’ wives, spies, and exiled women. She looks at the Revolution from the viewpoints of English, American, and even Hessian women. She reserves separate chapters for informative stories of tribal and enslaved women.
She articulates the fears and challenges these women faced. They transcended their traditional roles – which were severely restrictive from a modern standpoint. Many women took over the running households and properties, and some descended into poverty and starvation.
She relies on letters, diaries, news articles, and published material from the time period and cites all sources. I very much enjoyed reading about these women. This book offers are more well-rounded picture of the people and culture of Revolutionary times. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another one from the DAR book club list. A good, basic primer on women‘s roles and some of their accomplishments during the Revolutionary War. Patriot women, Loyalist women, African-American women, Native-American women are discussed. Some thumbnail sketches of individuals. The author is an academic and it shows in her writing style and approach. But this is a short book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Much praise is given to Carol Berkin for this important addition to our American Revolutionary War history shelves. It is a fascinating history of women that may surprise some readers and raise questions for others. Often overlooked and forgotten, the women who lived and died while the struggle for our independence was fought are recognized in REVOLUTIONARY MOTHERS: WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. Some may be surprised to learn that Martha Washington and many other officers wives accompanied their husbands in battle. British and Hessian officers adopted a temporary substitute wife, while the average soldier, had numerous women to pick from the hoards of camp followers who tagged along. What Berkin points out is that it was only natural for women to follow men into battle, because men needed someone to care for them. Whether to do laundry, cook, nurse the sick or carnal pleasure, the men were better soldiers with their women along, and their leaders knew it. Whether the women were involved in actually fighting, which they were or travelling along side their spouse, women of all races had numerous roles to satisfy. Chapters detail the various roles women played in Colonial Society and during and after the war. There were those who were left home, others who followed, some were General’s wives, or loyalists in exile, Indian Women, African American Women and many women became spies or couriers. This book evokes a penchant to read more about forgotten and omitted women who have historical relevance. The endnotes and bibliography offer a place to begin. Readers will no doubt recognize famous men from this war, but those who find it difficult to name any famous women, will devour with fervor, REVOLUTIONARY MOTHERS: WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.Wisteria LeighDecember 2013
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I've been gathering and reading books on Women in the American Revolution, Berkin's work (this book and others) consistently show up in the bibliographies. I had to read it. I'm very glad I did. Berkin clearly knows her history and how to impart the information. Each chapter centers on a different group of women - including First Nations and African-American. Berkin gives an excellent overview of the many different roles women played in this war - some good, some bad, some for Britain, so for the USA. I highly recommend this work as a starting point for more in depth research or reading about Women in the Revolution. I'm also eager to get my hands on more books by Berkin. She has several I mostly eagerly want to read.