This is an interesting history/biography that’s both accessible and scholarly. Ulrich uses the bare-bones journal of a midwife in early New England, kept from age about 50 through her late 70s, to illuminate the social history of early Maine, as well as Martha Ballard’s own life and family drama. Ul...
The use of Stanton, De Pizan, and Woolf to tie everything together is great. I would argue about her definition of well behaved as it applied to Judith Shakespeare, but still an interesting read.
This historiographical text examines the every day life of women in post-revolutionary America. It uses the diary of Martha Ballard as a lens from which to examine important but often unstudied aspects of life from this period. A must-read for any fan of women's history! If you've read my "about me...
Fascinating, well-written history of early American crafts and early American life.
I bailed out of this about 1/2 way through. It was too much like a dissertation and not enough like a book for me.
This is not the easiest read--I'm not going to lie. What makes this book interesting is the insights it provides into the lives of people during this time period, not just Martha's personal life at home, but her work outside the home helping the community with their medical issues from birth to dea...
Good Wives started out slow and dry, and while reading the first few pages, I remember thinking, "I'm not going to finish this." Then something happened, and I'm not sure if the pace picked up or Ulrich moved on to richer history or if some other variable came into play, but I was hooked shortly th...
This book felt a bit confused in parts, but I did really enjoy it. It just seemed like it was trying to be a few things at once and so the central argument about well-behaved women making history got a bit lost. I thought it was most effective in the discussion of the abolition and first wave femini...
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