Ladies for Liberty: Women Who Made a Difference in American History

I am not a scholar, although I am very careful about every word I write. I am more a distiller, an ideologue, and one who popularizes; and I hope you all share my unabashed and uncritical (mostly) enthusiasm for my Ladies for Liberty and their friends, colleagues and associates. I have not by any means read every book by and about them, but below I mention several works which I think are of particular merit. We range from feast to famine here, as in some cases—such as Martha Washington, Abigail Adams and Ayn Rand—there is a vast literature, whereas in other cases such as Bina West Miller, Vivien Kellems and Taylor Caldwell, not very much at all comes to hand. All three would make great subjects for future researchers.

If you want to learn more about these 20 women who made such a difference in American history here is what I suggest.

For the Revolutionary era, I particularly recommend two books by Cokie Roberts: Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (2004), and Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation (2008).

Mercy Otis Warren’s History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, edited and annotated by Lester H Cohen, is available in a splendidly produced set from Liberty Press of Indianapolis, Indiana; her plays, pretty hard going for a modern audience, are pub

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