The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American RomanticismHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005 - 602 pages PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST: "A stunning work of biography" about three little-known New England women who made intellectual history (New York Times). This book is highly recommended for students and reading groups interested in American history, American literature, and women's studies. Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody were in many ways our American Brontës. The story of these remarkable sisters--and their central role in shaping the thinking of their day--has never before been fully told. Twenty years in the making, Megan Marshall's monumental biograpy brings the era of creative ferment known as American Romanticism to new life. Elizabeth, the oldest sister, was a mind-on-fire thinker. A powerful influence on the great writers of the era--Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau among them--she also published some of their earliest works. It was Elizabeth who prodded these newly minted Transcendentalists away from Emerson's individualism and toward a greater connection to others. Mary was a determined and passionate reformer who finally found her soul mate in the great educator Horace Mann. The frail Sophia was a painter who won the admiration of the preeminent society artists of the day. She married Nathaniel Hawthorne--but not before Hawthorne threw the delicate dynamics among the sisters into disarray. Marshall focuses on the moment when the Peabody sisters made their indelible mark on history. Her unprecedented research into these lives uncovered thousands of letters never read before as well as other previously unmined original sources. The Peabody Sisters casts new light on a legendary American era. |
Contents
Luly 91842 | 1 |
ORIGINS 17461803 | 13 |
2 Legacies | 17 |
3 Seductions | 28 |
4 Belinda | 39 |
5 Flight into Union | 48 |
THE FAMILY SCHOOL 18041820 | 59 |
7 Salem Girlhoods | 64 |
SOPHIA 18291832 | 189 |
19 My Soul Steps Forth upon the Paper | 201 |
2O First Retreat into Solitude | 213 |
21 Scatteration | 224 |
SOMERSET COURT AND LA RECOMPENSA 18331835 | 237 |
23 Blind Fair | 257 |
24 Cuba Journals | 271 |
BEFORE THE AGE IN SALEM 18361839 | 307 |
8 The Doctor and His Wife | 82 |
9 Heretical Tendencies | 88 |
IO Beginning to Live | 94 |
ELIZABETH 18211824 | 103 |
12 Boston | 118 |
13 Maine | 133 |
MARY AND ELIZABETH 18251828 | 147 |
15 There Is No Scandal in Brookline | 153 |
16 Life Is Too Interesting to Me Now | 171 |
17 An Interior Revolution | 179 |
Other editions - View all
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American Romanticism Megan Marshall Limited preview - 2005 |
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism Megan Marshall Limited preview - 2006 |
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American Romanticism Megan Marshall No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Alcott American Antiochiana August beautiful became become began Berg Boston brother called Channing child Church considered conversation copy daughter drawing early Eliza Elizabeth Emerson England entry EPP to MTP father feel felt George girls hand Harvard Hawthorne heart HM Papers hoped Horace Mann Italy January John journal July June knew later learned letter live look March marriage married Mary meet mind Miss months mother move MVWC Nathaniel Nathaniel Hawthorne nature never October older once painting Palmer Peabody Family Papers Perhaps Press published Record Salem seemed September sisters Smith Sophia story Straker typescripts Street summer teaching thought told took town turned University Waldo week wife woman women writing written wrote young