Synopses & Reviews
"... best-of-all-biographies of Abigail Adams... " --American Historical Review
"Portia, a new study of Abigail Adams--modern feminism's favorite Founding Mother--is a refreshing change of pace." --San Francisco Chronicle
"... very well done, highly perceptive, and full of fresh ideas." --Wilson Library Bulletin
"... Adams's strength, courage, and wit (as well as her bouts of depression and gender conservatism) emerge more fully than they have in any previous work.... a well-rounded portrait of a remarkable figure."
Synopsis
'Portia....is a refreshing change of pace....(Edith Gelles) is affectionate yet scholarly, determined to present Adams as a strong character who was very much a woman of her time, not merely a liberated precursor to feminism or the little wife behind the great man.' - Melanie Lawrence, San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
EDITH B. GELLES is a historian and affiliated scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Introduction
1. The Abigail Industry
2....a tye more binding...
3. Domestic Patriotism
4. A Virtuous Affair
5. Gossip
6. Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend
7. The Threefold Cord
8. Mother and Citizen
9. My Closest Companion
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations follow Chapter 3