Description
Book SynopsisBy focusing on the wife of a middling backcountry farmer, historian Cynthia Kierner shows how the American Revolution not only toppled long-established political hierarchies but also strained family ties and drew women into the public sphere to claim both citizenship and rights.
Trade Review“Cynthia Kierner gives us the mesmerizing story of Jane Spurgin, an abandoned wife in the Carolina backcountry who could have appealed for sympathy but instead defied centuries of patriarchal precedent by demanding the 'common rights of other citizens.' More broadly,
The Tory’s Wife persuades even a skeptic like me that the American Revolution’s influence on nominally-free women was positive and powerful.” - Woody Holton, University of South Carolina, author of
Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution“Can focusing on an obscure North Carolina woman provide novel insights into the American Revolution? In a study of Jane Welborn Spurgin and her family, Cynthia Kierner answers that question with an emphatic yes! Thoroughly researched and well written, this engaging narrative brings to life the Spurgins' experiences amid the chaos of backcountry warfare--and reveals the untiring efforts of the indomitable Jane to claim her rights as a citizen of the new republic.” - Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University, author of
Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American WomenTable of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Woman on the Verge
- 1. Settling the Backcountry
- 2. An Enemy to His Country
- 3. William's War
- 4. Jane's World
- 5. The Tory's Wife
- 6. The Common Rights of Other Citizens
- Postscript: Remembering the Revolution
