This summer I read American Gospel by Jon Meacham, Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts, The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper, The Moment of Truth in Iraq by Michael Yon, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am a huge Jane Austen fan. I have always loved her elegant style, plus she has a great sense of humor. I could go on and on particularly about Pride and Prejudice, as it has been my all-time favorite book for many years now and I was absolutely ecstatic that AP English gave me an excuse to read it yet again! I can't wait to sink my teeth into Austen's Persuasion as soon as I finish 1776 by David McCullough which I'm reading right now! As is evident by my list, I didn't get to read near as much as I usually do or wanted to this summer, what with work and college research, but I guess that's life. darn it! :)
The book Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts is an historical account of the roles of the first American women in raising our nation. It examines the lives and contributions of the mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters of the men who fought and delegated the revolution. These women were beyond amazing! Each sentence struck a new awe-filled chord in my heart as I constantly grappled with wrapping my mind around their accomplishments and sacrifices. I blush to think of how we, as women today, pale in comparison to these--what do I call them? What word or analogy is there to capture their beings? Today, we are generally impatient. We want a quick-fix for almost everything it feels like. How boring of us! To consider these women certainly makes one realize the amount of resources that we possess that we have not even begun to tap into today. I read of 15 and 16 year old girls risking their lives crossing enemy lines, trekking through swamps, and riding all night on horseback to report their acquired intelligence to the American officers. Sounds like a good movie, right? But even what may be perceived as the boring aspects of their work did not cease to amaze me. They ran their households in a difficult time, made even more difficult by war, which led to certain embargoes, etc. When their husbands went away for the war, these women managed the farms and businesses, and if all of this wasn't enough, many of them fled as the British burned their plantations, along with everything they owned in this world, to the ground. Women, such as Martha Washington and Kitty Greene, spent their winters living in camps, such as at Valley Forge, trying to make ends meet for the troops. The women also helped the war effort financially through fund raisers that stretched across all thirteen colonies! The money was sent to the troops in an effort to make them more comfortable. Finally, despite all of these extra roles that these women were required to fill, there was one final aspect of life that could not be neglected: children. Not only the care of their children, but the constant bearing of children, as was customary at that time. Kitty Greene is an excellent example of this--she gave birth to at least one child per year of the war! These women understood the significance of each task no matter how small, and each one was performed with the utmost care. They are an impressive example to us all of what is possible if we work and if we believe.
