Selected and edited by renowned women's historian Carol Berkin, these brief biographies are designed for use in undergraduate courses. Rather than a comprehensive approach, each biography focuses instead on a particular aspect of a women's life that is emblematic of her time, or which made her a pivotal figure in the era.

Table of Contents

• SERIES EDITOR'S FOREWORD
• AUTHOR'S PREFACE: READING AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DIARY
• Introduction: The Independence of Rebecca Dickinson
• 1 Origins and Awakenings
• 2 Entering the Female Economy
• 3 A World at War, a Soul at Peace
• 4 The Unraveling
• 5 Revolutionary Hatfield
• 6 Rebellion, Redux
• 7 Reproducing the Nation
• 8 Singlehood and the “Bar in the Way”
• 9 The “Most Dark and Puzzling Affair”
• 10 Twilight
• Conclusion: Remembering Independence
• Primary Sources
• STUDY QUESTIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY