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Title: A Midwife's Tale : The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by LAUREL THATCHER ULRICH ISBN: 0-679-73376-0 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 04 June, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (25 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Now for background...
Comment: I picked up Ulrich's book on Martha Ballard for background and to get a better sense of life in New England during this "Dark Age" of American genealogy research. My ancestors, especially the women, are lightly documented during this time period, their lives even less known than their husbands, brothers, and fathers.
Martha Ballard (unlike many women) moved around Hallowell, Maine--not across New England into New York and then to Ohio only to be buried at the end of an exhausting life with a wooden marker to mark her contribution. Martha stayed put and recorded her accounts, the weather, her exchanges with neighbors, births, deaths, and the sensational events of her day. Without Martha's record the vast majority of her neighbors and family would lost to history with no record of birth or death, let alone the homely remarks about the pain of losing a child or frustration with a son's less than ideal behavior.
This is a wonderful book, not just about Martha's life, but of her time. It helps describe the quality of life among people, their relationships, and interdependence with one another. It adds another dimension to what I understand about my New England antecedents. In particular, it adds hugely to my dim understanding of the shadowy figures of the women...in Martha, they come to life as strong, capable, and a vital part of life in New England. They are not the silent handmaidens of history. As Ulrich points out, without Martha's diary, even her first name might have been questioned by subsequent researchers--this is certainly the case of many women, whose identity became completely submerged in their husband's.
The historical research is excellent and well-documented. The writing is solid and communicates clearly without the dry, academic yawn factor. Ulrich presents her point, then supports it. From a historian, I expect no more...nor less. It's an outstanding read.
Rating: 4
Summary: combination of diary and research
Comment: This book is impressive because of the way the author combines the diary and her own research to complement it. The result is that the reader gets an insightful look into what daily life was like for Martha who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century. In most history books one can learn about the big events that happened during a certain time period, but it is rare to understand how people actually lived. Reading this book one sees how much time women spent on daily chores. Because Martha was a midwife and helped the sick, there is also interesting descriptions of how she would treat people and how this differed from how a doctor would treat people. Some incidents touched upon in her diary were extremely interesting and show us that there were similar scandals then as there are today. While some of the details of Martha's daily life are tedious to read, they are helpful in understanding how she lived. Her diary also lacks emotional insight and remains descriptive and impartial, which makes it less entertaining, but no less historically valuable.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating Look Into a Dynamic Woman's Life
Comment: This is a fascinating look into a dynamic woman's life. There is a great deal of "personality" and drama in the seemingly mundane diary entries. The author is truly gifted to have seen past the ho-hum recordings of daily life and pulled out the diary's real worth. The midwife's live is rich, full, and busy! However, the author weaves in plenty of historical background, too, using the diary as a stepping-off point to discuss local history, legal and social issues of the time, women's roles in economics, religion, etc. The book is quite enjoyable and allows the reader to connect with the past from a new angle.
I have to include this note, though. In some instances, the book is really quite academic. I can imagine it being used to supplement a history or women's study class. It is not a light biography, to curl up and relax with. But, don't let that put you off :-)!
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Title: Good Wives : Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ISBN: 0679732578 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 04 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Age of Homespun : Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ISBN: 0679445943 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title:Midwife's Tale, A ASIN: B00000FELC Publisher: PBS Home Video Pub. Date: 14 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $16.99 |
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Title: The Unredeemed Captive : A Family Story from Early America by John Putnam Demos ISBN: 0679759611 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs ISBN: 0486419312 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 09 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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