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    Ladies of Liberty
    Ladies of Liberty
    Ladies of Liberty
    Audiobook (abridged)10 hours

    Ladies of Liberty

    Written by Cokie Roberts

    Narrated by Cokie Roberts

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “This collection succeeds in emphasizing that many unsung women left their mark well before the suffrage movement.” —Publishers Weekly

    Fans of #1 New York Times bestselling author Cokie Roberts, also a celebrated journalist for ABC and NPR, will love this stunning nonfiction picture book, as will parents and educators looking for a more in-depth book beyond the Rosie Revere and Rad Women series.

    Highlighting the female explorers, educators, writers, and political and social activists that shaped our nation’s early history, this is the stunning follow-up to the acclaimed picture book edition of Founding Mothers.

    Beautifully illustrated by Caldecott Honor–winning artist Diane Goode, Ladies of Liberty pays homage to a diverse selection of ten remarkable women who have shaped the United States, covering the period 1776 to 1824.

    Drawing on personal correspondence and private journals, Cokie Roberts brings to life the extraordinary accomplishments of these women who created the framework for our current society, a generation of reformers and visionaries.

    Roberts features a cast of courageous heroines that includes African American poet Lucy Terry Prince, Native American explorer Sacagawea, first lady Louisa Catherine Adams, Judith Sargent Murray, Isabella Graham, Martha Jefferson Randolph, Elizabeth Bayley Seton, Louise D’Avezac Livingston, Rebecca Gratz, and Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.

    This compelling book offers a rich timeline, biographies, and an author note, bringing these dynamic ladies to life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 8, 2008
    ISBN9780061262630
    Ladies of Liberty
    Author

    Cokie Roberts

    Cokie Roberts was a political commentator for ABC News and NPR. She won countless awards and in 2008 was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress. She was the author of the New York Times bestsellers We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters, Founding Mothers, Ladies of Liberty, and, with her husband, the journalist Steven V. Roberts, From This Day Forward and Our Haggadah.

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    Reviews for Ladies of Liberty

    4.5/5

    18 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great history of our founding mothers. :D
    • 4/5
      Thank you, Cokie Roberts, for showcasing the women whose contributions to America's development deserve just as much note as do the men of the time. Ms Roberts writes well with her own view interjected from time to time in an informative and interesting style bringing to light heretofore little known stories of these influential women. "The Ladies of Liberty" tells us much about the intellect, deeds and ways of influence of her subjects and much also about the times and conditions of day to day life in colonial times. I do think the book was heavy on Abigail Adams, while interesting and certainly had an impact, more on the other women would have given the book more balance. None the less, a good read.
    • 5/5
      Very well researched and written. Easy and pleasant to read. I felt that the main character was Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams. Her writings, and writings about her, added fresh insights into the historical period covered, from the John Adams to the John Quincy Adams administrations. To a certain extent, the amount of coverage of each lady correlated with the amount of written material available about/by them from which to draw. Abigail Adams has a wealth of materials. Her daughter-in-law is even more interesting, in my view.
    • 5/5
      Involving, facinating, and informative
    • 4/5
      News commentator and author Cokie Roberts, who has previously explored the history of American women in her Founding Mothers - both an adult and children's version were produced - returns to that topic in this follow up, which looks at the lives of notable women in the early days of the American republic. After a brief introduction and chronology, Roberts profiles ten women, including:Lucy Terry Prince, an African-American who bought her own freedom, married fellow freedman Abijah Prince, who was a soldier in the Revolution, and worked and lived in Vermont and Massachusetts in the 18th century. Prince was the author of the first known poem by an African-American, "The Bars Fight," which chronicled an Indian attack on the settlers of Deerfield.Judith Sargent Murray, an author who published numerous magazine articles which argued for the equality of men and women at a time when women could not vote, or own property once married. In her article "On the Equality of the Sexes," she argued that women were as intelligent as men, and would show the same abilities, if properly educated. Initially published under the pseudonym 'The Gleaner,' Murray's work was released under her own name when she decided to bring out a book.Isabella Graham, a Scots-American widow who, knowing what it meant to be an impoverished woman struggling to raise children alone, founded a number of schools for girls, as well as The Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, an organization still in operation in New York City today.Sacajawea, a Shoshone Indian woman famous for guiding explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their westward expedition. Her knowledge of local terrain, bravery in the face of danger, and Shoshone connections all proved very useful to Lewis and Clark, who credited her with helping them to reach the Pacific.Martha Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's elder daughter, who was his life-long confidante, hostess and comforter. She ran the White House for her father during his presidency, and managed the plantation at Monticello for many years afterward. Martha's eighth child was the first White House baby, born while she was in residence.Elizabeth Bayley Seton, a New York woman who married a wealthy merchant and had numerous children, before her husband's illness and financial losses greatly altered her circumstances. Seton converted to Catholicism after the death of her husband, opened a girls' school in Baltimore, and founded the first American order of nuns, The Sisters of Charity.Louise D'Avezac Livingston, a French woman who fled her home on Hispaniola during the Haitian Revolution, eventually finding her way to New Orleans. Whilst there she met and married New Yorker Edward Livingston, who would go on to become Secretary of State under President Andrew Jackson, as well as serve as America's ambassador to France. Livingston described the Battle of New Orleans in her letters, and was one of the country's first campaigners for the environment.Rebecca Gratz, a beautiful and wealthy Jewish woman from Philadelphia, who worked to found numerous organizations to help the poor. Concerned when she realized that Jewish children were being taught Christianity in mainstream orphanages, she opened the first Jewish orphanage in the Americas, accepting children from all over the United States and Canada. Legend has it that Gratz was the inspiration for the character of Rebecca, in Sir Walter Scott's famous novel, Ivanhoe.Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, a beautiful young socialite who, at the age seventeen was married to James Monroe, who would go on to become the fifth president of the United States. Whilst the Monroes were living in Paris, Mrs. Monroe is famous for having had a hand in freeing Mme. de Lafayette, driving to the Bastille where she was imprisoned and asking to see her.And finally, Louisa Catherine Adams, a young English woman who married John Quincy Adams, son of second president John Adams and his wife Abigail, who was then living in England. Louisa followed her husband throughout his diplomatic career in various European countries, and once in the United States, actively worked, through her social engagements, to make him the sixth president.As the brief profiles above make clear, these "Ladies of Liberty" were a fascinating bunch, many of them accomplishing important things and effecting lasting change through their various charitable activities. Roberts adapted this picture-book history from her longer work, of the same name, for adult readers, and she is to be commended for presenting such an array of mostly unknown women to her young readers, who might otherwise never have encountered them. The accompanying artwork by Diane Goode, who also illustrated the children's edition of Roberts' Founding Mothers, is engaging, bringing to life the historic figures under discussion in the text. Highly recommended to all young history lovers, and to anyone looking for juvenile titles dealing with women in history, or the early days of the American Republic.
    • 4/5
      Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts is a history of the United States as a new nation as witnessed by the women important to the politicians and statesmen of that era. It is a sequel to Roberts’s previous history, Founding Mothers. Beginning with the death of George Washington, the book spans six presidencies, beginning with John Adams’s election in 1797 and ending with his son’s John Quincy Adam’s election in 1825. The book is exceptionally well researched. Relying heavily on the personal correspondence of the women portrayed, Roberts provides a better rounded, more human history of the time. She reveals how great these women’s personal sacrifices were and the significance their contributions to the success of an emerging nation. Especially remarkable is the role of women in establishing orphanages and social welfare services for the poor. The book is long, and of necessity detailed, but Cokie Roberts’s tone is informal and chatty, and this helps to make the reading easier and more enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      This book is about honoring the heroic women that have helped create the United States. There are many stories of different women. Great story of our history.
    • 5/5
      “Remember the ladies”, Abigail Adams famously exhorted her husband. Cokie Roberts did just that, in Ladies of Liberty, history that spans the time period from when Abigail Adams was First Lady to when her daughter in Law Louisa Adams took that same role. In between, covered are women as diverse as:*Sacajawea, guide to Lewis & Clark,*Rebecca Gratz who was Jewish and did much philanthropy in Philadelphia *Theodosia Burr, Aaron's daughter. I learned that Aaron Burr was so affected by Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women that he carried around her portrait for the rest of his life he vowed to raise and educate Theodosia as an intellectual equal.*Dolley Madison. I'm now convinced she probably could have been President in her own right, had women been able to run and cast votes. As it was, her nickname was Presidentess.Time-wise in history, this is a follow-up to Roberts" also excellent Founding Mothers.
    • 3/5
      Cokie Roberts picks up where she left off in her previous book Founding Mothers, which I did not read. Using surviving correspondence letters, she weaves biographies of the women who helped shape our nation, beginning with Abigail Adams. She provides an enormous amount of detail which gets jumbled up with her habit of jumping from discussing one woman to another without a clean transition. Roberts also jumped time periods - for example she would detail one woman's life achievements until that woman's death and then go back to the year she was discussing. This led to confusion and periods of dullness in an otherwise informative book.
    • 4/5
      Profiles of the wives and daughters of early American movers-and-shakers, told in their own words. Roberts forms her chapters around presidential wives Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, and Louisa Adams but branches out to tell us of their contemporaries in Philadelphia and Washington DC.
    • 4/5
      Ladies of Liberty shows the history of the United States through the eyes of some the most noted women of the historic age. The book starts at the time of the death of George Washington and sweeps over six presidencies, beginning with John Adams’s election in 1797 and ending with his son’s John Quincy Adam’s election in 1825. Using the personal correspondence of the women depicted, these women’s personal sacrifices are exposed along with their contributions to the success of an expanding nation. The First ladies are not the only women represented in this book. Even though the primary women are Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and Louisa Adams, other notable women recognized are Sacagawea, Mother Seton, and Margaret Smith.I was a little apprehensive when I realized that Cokie Roberts, the author, was actually going to be doing the reading (this book was on audio.). I was extremely pleased by her delivery and the enthusiasm with which she delivered the material. My only problem were with two small pronunciations but since they were quite frequent, it was a little irritating. (Cokie Roberts cannot pronounce New Orleans or Sacagawea properly. Both have a "ya" in her pronunciations.)Nevertheless, this was an extremely enjoyable experience.
    • 4/5
      The first book I read on my Kindle. I was so fascinated with my new toy that I missed some of the narrative. Ladies of Liberty takes up where Roberts’ previous book on famous early American women leaves off. John Adams’ wife continues to run the lives of both her husband, now a retired president, and her son, now an active politician. Dolly Madison shone in this book, as a negotiator and as a social network organizer. One gripe: I was dismayed to read about table settings and ladies’ dresses so frequently.