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America’s Founding Women
- Narrated by: Cassandra Good
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Lecture
- Categories: History, Americas
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Publisher's Summary
Many of us are intimately familiar with the stories of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America; we know their names, and we revere their contributions to history. Women, on the other hand, have often been discussed on the peripheries of sweeping historical narratives, including the era of the American Revolution and the early decades of the nation’s founding. But the work of gender historians over the past 50 years has brought the stories of women out of the shadows and into the light. As you will see through the women that you will meet in this course - including Elizabeth Oliver Watson, Abigail Adams, Nancy Ward, Dolley Madison, Elizabeth Freeman, and many others - they were actually at the very center of the major events of early American history.
In the 10 lessons of America’s Founding Women, you will uncover the very real stories of the women who helped shape the United States as it underwent its transformation from a British colony to a fledgling nation. Professor Cassandra Good will help you understand what life was like for women during the American Revolution, and beyond, and how these women balanced the rigid social expectations of the late 18th and early 19th centuries with their own talents and desires. You will examine the ways they used the power that was granted to them in the home and in their communities and how they forged their own paths in opposition to the limitations imposed on them.
As you study the lives and contributions of these influential women, you will trace the gains and losses toward acquiring women’s rights that they experienced in the early decades of US history. You will better understand how these complex and remarkable women played a vital role in the creation of a nation.
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What listeners say about America’s Founding Women
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Coloradofarmgirl
- 03-24-21
I love women’s history but this was immensely boring
I just listen to medieval women in the great courses series and was thoroughly entertained and learned a lot. Started listening to this one and fell asleep in the first 10 minutes. Need a better narrator and jazz up those pious New England women a bit for the love of god!
13 people found this helpful
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- Matt
- 03-24-21
Historical inaccuracies
I’m having a hard time trusting the information in this book. A trained historian should know that standardized spelling wasn’t widely accepted until the 19th century and using spelling as a way to determine where or how well someone was educated in pre-revolutionary America is historically sloppy.
12 people found this helpful
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- anonymous
- 03-26-21
Highly recommend
This is a great listen for anyone interested in learning about women’s history or the revolutionary era. The author makes history fascinating and relateable. Excellent!!
6 people found this helpful
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- WoodsWalker
- 03-26-21
Powerful women
Cassandra takes the reader where we haven’t been before. Of course I’d heard of Martha Washington, but likely just in a support role for her husband. I’m ashamed I had never looked deeper into these amazing women and their contribution to American society.
4 people found this helpful
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- Penny
- 06-15-21
A nice perspective
I enjoyed this a lot. History is so focused on the male role in US history. This gives a good overview of women’s influence. I also liked that much of it was focused on those that we aren’t familiar with already.
3 people found this helpful
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- SASmith
- 06-03-21
Colonial America is my jam
I love learning new things about a subject I love. This lecture series taught me more about one of the founding mothers I knew little about: Louisa Adams. It's gripping and informative and if you love history, definitely listen to it!
2 people found this helpful
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- just asking for some common sense
- 04-14-21
Interesting Women's History
This book had a lot of interesting historical information, and it is fairly well written. I was listening to Women's History for a month, and was happy to find this. There was a plethora of information which was organized well. Parts of it were better than others. thus the four stars. The author read it, and they are lectures, but parts were weak and felt rushed. Otherwise she did a more than acceptable job. I think that a class taught by her would be even better than listening to these lectures in a vacuum.
If you are at all interested in the early history of women in this country then I would recommend this book. To me, one of the most interesting aspects was how instrumental women were in the boycotts of British goods in the years leading up the American Revolutionary War. I was recently looking at a book of early American crafts that talks about women making and decorating fabric.
2 people found this helpful
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- Mary Ann Hastings
- 04-03-21
Entertainingly Informative
Set within the context of our nation’s founding,
her-story of alternately being esteemed and ignored by white men in power is told with pragmatically frank gusto and optimistic humor in this lecture series.
2 people found this helpful
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- Connie
- 03-30-21
This should of had visuals.
This an very interesting listen. As someone that took a women history class in college it is interesting to learn things that were not cover or cover differently. What I did not like is that she makes references to thing like a painting in the first "lecture" just assuming everyone knows that painting. This is why I believe is should have visuals.
2 people found this helpful
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- Mary Vogel
- 03-26-21
Learned so much
Who knew that the White House had been taken over by the people prior to theAndtew Jackson's inauguration?
2 people found this helpful