The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American RomanticismElizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody were in many ways our American Brontes. 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. Its publication is destined to become an event in American biography. This book is highly recommended for students and reading groups interested in American history, American literature, and women's studies. It is a wonderful look into 19th-century life. |
Contents
Matriarch | |
Seductions | |
Belinda | |
My Hopes All of Happiness | |
The Doctor and His Wife | |
Beginning to Live | |
Dr Walter | |
Cuba Journals | |
Temple School Revisited | |
Little Waldo Jones Very and the Divinity School Address | |
The Sister Years | |
Conversation | |
Mr Ripleys Utopia | |
Two Funerals and a Wedding | |
May 1 1843 | |
My Soul Steps Forth upon the Paper | |
First Retreat into Solitude | |
Scatteration | |
Chastity | |
Blind Fair | |
Boston | |
Maine | |
Life Is Too Interesting to Me Now | |
Other editions - View all
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 Limited preview - 2005 |
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American Romanticism Megan Marshall No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
American Antiochiana artist began Berg Betsey Boston Bronson Alcott Brookline brother Channing's Church Concord conversation copy Cranch Cuba daughter divine Eliza Palmer Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Elizabeth Peabody Elizabeth wrote England father feel felt genius George girls Harvard Hawthorne's headaches heart hoped Horace Mann household husband intellectual knew Lancaster later learned letters Lidian live Lydia Mann's Margaret Fuller Maria Chase marriage married Mary wrote Mary's Massachusetts migraine mind minister months mother MVWC Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Peabody never older sister once painting parlor Peabody Family Papers Peabody sisters Peabody's Perhaps planned portrait Reverend Channing Salem seemed Sophia Peabody Sophia wrote spirit Straker typescripts Street summer teaching Temple School told took town Transcendental Transcendental Club Transcendentalists Tyler Unitarian Waldo Emerson Walter Channing Washington Allston Wellington wife William Ellery Channing woman women writing wrote to Mary young