Patricia Brady

I’m going to give this a two, because there were things I very much enjoyed but others that just weren’t for me.

On the one hand, I learned a great deal of new information about Martha Washington and the times in which she lived. I liked the quote that opened the book, “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there,” and this book showed just how different things really were. I also gained a new perspective on Martha’s role in the Revolutionary War.

On the other hand, large portions were simply too text-bookish for my taste, and the paragraph-length lists of all the household tasks Martha would have been able to perform, all the household tasks the slaves would have done, and so on nearly drove me to distraction. But in some places there was frustratingly little detail, although this may not have been due to any defect in the book. Martha Washington burned over forty-one years' worth of correspondence between herself and her husband, and that void may be part of the reason I had such mixed feelings about this book.… (meer)

I’m going to give this a two, because there were things I very much enjoyed but others that just weren’t for me.

On the one hand, I learned a great deal of new information about Martha Washington and the times in which she lived. I liked the quote that opened the book, “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there,” and this book showed just how different things really were. I also gained a new perspective on Martha’s role in the Revolutionary War.

On the other hand, large portions were simply too text-bookish for my taste, and the paragraph-length lists of all the household tasks Martha would have been able to perform, all the household tasks the slaves would have done, and so on nearly drove me to distraction. But in some places there was frustratingly little detail, although this may not have been due to any defect in the book. Martha Washington burned over forty-one years' worth of correspondence between herself and her husband, and that void may be part of the reason I had such mixed feelings about this book.… (meer)

An entertaining account of the controversial love story between Rachel and Andrew Jackson. They led quite amazing lives. Jackson marries Rachel while she is still another mans wife and spends the rest of his life defending her honor all the while building (and rebuilding) his political career. Jackson gets into duels, is shot (several times), and even kills a man. Throughout their lives they wrote countless love letters to each other during the long periods of separation while Andrew was off fighting wars or attending his political career and Rachel was at their Tennessee home, the Hermitage. Just when Rachel is about to get her wish of Andrew retiring and them spending the rest of their days quietly at the Hermitage, Andrew accepts the offer to run for president. Tragically, after a long campaign and many attacks on Rachel's reputation and virtue, she dies just a few weeks short of Andrew becoming president.… (meer)