Founding Mothers

The Women Who Raised Our Nation

By: Cokie Roberts

Narrated by: Cokie Roberts

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Cokie Roberts's #1 New York Times best seller We Are Our Mothers' Daughters examined the nature of women's roles throughout history and led USA Today to praise her as a "custodian of time-honored values." Her second best seller, From This Day Forward, written with her husband, Steve Roberts, described American marriages throughout history. Now Cokie returns with Founding Mothers, an intimate look at the passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families and country proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it.

Roberts reveals the often surprising stories of these fascinating women, bringing to life the everyday trials of individuals like Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Eliza Pinckney, Mary Bartlett, and Martha Washington, proving that without our exemplary women, the new country might have never survived.

Social history at its best, Founding Mothers unveils the determination, creative insight, and passion of the other patriots, the women who raised our nation. Cokie Roberts proves beyond doubt that like every generation of American women that has followed, the founding mothers used the unique gifts of their gender (courage, pluck, sadness, joy, energy, grace, sensitivity, and humor) to do what women do best, put one foot in front of the other in remarkable circumstances, and carry on.

©2004 Cokie Roberts (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Roberts's style is delightfully intimate and confiding....In addition to telling wonderful stories, Roberts also presents a very readable, serviceable account of politics (male and female) in early America. If only our standard history textbooks were written with such flair!" (Publishers Weekly)
"Roberts offers a much-needed look at the unheralded sacrifices and heroism of colonial women." (Booklist)
"She [Roberts] creates a strong, though perhaps overstated, case that without the patriotism of women on the home front, the Colonies would have lost the Revolutionary War....A series of entertaining minibiographies and engaging vignettes." (The New York Times Book Review)

Founding Mothers

Very interesting and informative. Nice to see the mothers being given credit for their part in history. Moving from one mother so quickly to another, especially many that I had never heard of, made the information hard to assimilate. I think I have already forgotten too many names. I probably should buy the book in order to refer back for the information. The anecdotes were interesting and, yes, even fun to read.

Founding Mothers

I found this book to be very intriquing and entertaining. Cokie Roberts did an excellent job researching and telling the story of so many of our beloved historic mothers!

The title doesn't go with the book.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

not really...maybe someone who was really into facts about the MEN and women of the New Nation.

What was most disappointing about Cokie Roberts’s story?

It was just fact after fact in a random manner. It was difficult to keep up with unfamiliar names. Also I felt it told more about the men than the women.

Could you see Founding Mothers being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

Thank you Cokie!

One of the most interesting and inspiring books I’ve ever heard. Unsung heroes in an overlooked aspect of history read by a significant and insightful woman in her own right. I particularly liked Cokie’s occasional sarcasm and commentary. Wonderful!

Easy listen and unique topic!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. Cokie's humor shines through and it is nicely balanced with historical quotations and modern English paraphrasing.

Great topic and subjects - did not complete

Great topic and subjects but the author as reader was not satisfactory for my hearing. Read too quickly for my ears and i did not complete. Perhaps a better book to read rather than listen to.

Different Perspective on History

I listened to Founding Mothers, written and narrated by Cokie Roberts, after listening to Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow. Founding Mothers was about one third of the length of Chernow’s book. But to be fair, Roberts had a lot less source material to work with. The focus has been on the Founding Fathers, not the Founding Mothers of our nation. I think that having the background information from Chernow’s book helped with my understanding of the Founding Mothers. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, which was narrated by Roberts. It was a short, but different perspective on the early years of the United States of America.

Interesting!! I loved learning about the women

Very interesting!! I wish I were more of a history buff. I had to back it up a few times to make sure I understood and remembered some of the facts and people. I would LOVE to have this as a hardcopy to be able to refer to. Matter of fact and enjoyable!!!

engaging stories from the women's persecuting

we've heard most of these before, but it's refreshing to know of the course of history from the women's viewpoint.

Wonderful historical account

Read by the author, this book required diligent research from diverse sources and has as a result a first hand account of the early days of the American colonies.