Cokie RobertsLadies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation

This book is fantastic! It's been a while since I've tackled a history book and I was a little worried I would have a hard time getting through it. Not only was this not a problem, but there were times I had difficulty putting the book down! I ordered it along with her children's book "Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies." I wanted to read a book with my daughter that covered more detail about the role of women in American history than typical history books cover. I wasn't sure which book would be better to read with my 6th grader, but it was definitely the children's version. I decided to read this one myself and loved it! I love that she included so many quotes from the writings of both the men and women who helped shape our great nation. It was fascinating to read the actual words written by these amazing historical figures. And, finally, we get some detailed insight into the important roles women also played in the history of our country. So many historical books gloss over the contributions of the women, but when you read what both the women and the men wrote, it becomes clear what an important role the women played. Cokie Roberts also does a wonderful job of making the historical men come alive as human beings, not just historical figures. PLEASE, Cokie Roberts, make a children's version of this one too!

As far as history books go, this one is not nearly as dry as others I had read. I felt that the way the author chose to write the history was engaging and interesting. Of course it doesn't read like a novel or historical fiction and if you expect that, you'll be disappointed and frustrated. The book must be read as a history. But I felt like Roberts made the characters so real. She didn't mince words or try to make you think one thing or another about the founding fathers. Reading letters and journal entries as they were made were insightful into the characters of the men who formed our nation and government.I have to say that I loved the little interjections made by Roberts throughout the book. Simple things like "can you imagine?" or incredulous statements such as "how would that be?" were refreshing to the read. It helped me see how the author was viewing this research so I knew how she was approaching it.I enjoyed reading more from the women's perspectives than I ever have in any historical commentary I have read. It was interesting to see just how involved some of these women were and to gain new appreciation for the hard work and sacrifice they made for their country - and our freedoms. A good book.

I had to read this book for my AP Language class as summer homework. Of course, I hate summer reading, but there have been books in the past that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Those like Malcolm Gladwell's Outiliers and Ishmael Beah's Radience of Tomorrow were very good novels, so I came into this novel with an open mind. Sadly, this book fails to deliver.The context of the novel, that women played an important role for our country, was a great basis for a novel. Most American school systems don't teach how much of an influence the women at the time had on our society. This I wholeheartedly agree with, but it ends there. Her writing style is extremely poor with the letters involved, where she'll often go on a tangent talking about information that isn't relative to the time period. I understand that you have to provide context on the person's life, but you don't need information about every little thing they did in their lifetime. It got extremely repetitive when she would constantly go on and on about someone's life when it didn't really matter chronologically to the story.I also noticed that she uses alliteration quite a bit. I don't consider this an issue, but it did get quite a bit annoying after a while. She also had quite a few sentence structure mistakes, which often pulled me out of the reading as I had to reread the sentence multiple times to understand what she was saying.The final criticism I have of her work is that it didn't really make sense. Sure, the reader can deduce what she's talking about through context, but that's it. To me, there was no added information about the lives of these women. It was a bunch of quotes from letters addressed to and by women with only one sentence following written by Roberts that just restated what the quote said. There was no basis or actually anything interesting to her claim; it was a bunch of quotes from women in the early 1800s followed by nothing beneficial for the reader. As I read the novel, it became apparent that I would have to read it alone.TL;DR = good story, terrible execution

The stories in this book are incredible. These women followed their husbands up and down the Eastern seaboard and Europe, in varying stages of pregnancy, with newborns and young children, in stagecoaches and sailing ships. They wrote incendiary pamphlets and letters, they talked sass to British generals and were tossed into jail. They burned their crops and hid in the woods fromBritish troops. They did more than just keep the home fires burning - they were as rebellious as the men they married and were respected and loved for it.

Great book, absolutely loved it. Amazing writing and definitely recommend to everyone.

The book was in excellent condition. Fantastic illustrations.