Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation Book

It was dry and non-fiction, but above that, it was hard to follow and somewhat boring. The book is broken into chapters for each Presidency from John Adams to the days John Quincy Adams wins his election. Initially, this seems like a great set-up until the author jumps into an individual's childhood with those chapters, leaving the reader unsure of the time and place. I think it would have been a better fit if the author had written about the women and allowed their stories to lead into the next woman's story. This was attempted within the President chapters but with the history of each woman and how they were connected all jumbled in the chapters, it was hard to follow along.

Hearing the "voices" of these women, who were more instrumental than I knew, was very interesting. I loved reading their actual words on the governmental operation and society from letters that had written. You could hear the interest, the disgust and the indignation over the state of the country, and the relationship with the United States and other countries. Also, the trials these women went through as the mothers, wives and daughters of the men in government astounded be. Even after reading other biographies on the Revolution, such as John Adams, I am still in shock at some of the places these women had to live, birth children and raise a family. When they weren't in foreign countries, some torn by war, they were living apart from their husbands. This was in a world before modern communication so they waiting months between letters from their spouse. The loneliness must have been unbearable but they lived through it for it was their duty, for their male counterparts and for their country.