Author:
Frances Laurence
ISBN
0-9627896-0-7
290 pages
14 contemporary photographs
$18.50
To order, see
the faxable
order form.
|
They were scholars...
They were saints...
They were sinners...
They were determined.
In a time when a woman's mind was kept as tightly laced
as her corset, these females went against family, friends and convention to
blaze trails for their sisters to come.
- Jane Barnes was the first white woman on Oregon's
wild shore
- Ina Coolbrith concealed a mysterious past
- Maria Mitchell found her own comet
- Sojourner Truth spoke to God
- Pearl Hart turned bandit
- Nellie Cashman was the miners' angel
- Mary Austen painted the West in words
- Nellie Bly circled the globe in 72 days
- Dame Shirley immortalized the '49ers
- Ann Eliza W. Young fled polygamy
- Carrie Chapman Catt won women the vote
- Bethenia Owens-Adair was Oregon's first female
doctor and
- The Three Charleys were women masquerading as men.
|
With Maverick Women, you're
in for lively and enlightening tales about little-known women. A fresh voice,
Laurence writes with aplomb and compelling detail — reminding us again what
remarkable lives have created our world.
— Gayle Lynds, author of
Masquerade |
Riveting. ...
 and full of absolutely
fascinating women.
—Star Trek VI writer/director Nicholas
Meyer |
Frances Laurence has introduced us
to some remarkable women who took charge of their own lives long before such
self-determination became fashionable or even acceptable!
— NBC
Today senior editor Francis Weaver |
Some of Maverick Women's
characters you'll recognize, others you've never heard of — but you'll be glad
to know all of these women and be proud that they defied convention to achieve
the things they did.
— LA Times and TV Columnist Charles Champlin,
author of George Lucas, The Creative Impulse
|
Frances
Laurence, the author says:
I have been emotionally involved in
history, mainly of the West, for more years than I can remember. Initially I
gobbled up books on notable mountain men like Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith.
When my interest narrowed to the twenty-year period of California's Gold Rush,
I read all I could find on the subject and acquired an extensive library of my
own. Along the way, it occurred to me that I had read almost nothing about
Westering women before the era of wagon trains. There were famous characters
like Belle Starr and Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley, but most women of that
earlier "golden age" were relegated to background positions. I trust my
profiles will tell enough about these self-propelled and fascinating ladies to
intrigue readers, and make them want to know a great deal more. |
Maverick Women relates the life tales of 15 women in the
frontier U.S. They're "mavericks", according to biographer Laurence, because
they wandered unbranded and independent through life. The collection is an easy
introduction to some remarkable women.
Tucson Weekly, AZ
Some women think they have come a long way by means of the
feminist movement. But some women have always done their own thing, regardless
of the general ideas of a woman's role in the times in which they lived. All
were united in the same purpose — to lead their own lives in the way thay
wanted to live them. This well-researched and interesting-to-read book... needs
to be read to be appreciated.
The Tribune, Bethany, OK
Laurence, a journalist and screenwriter, here combines two
of her strong interests: the history of the American West, specifically the
years of the California Gold Rush, and women's history in general . . . [she]
has selected women who broke the rules, spirited women of the frontier whose
lives took paths far different from those of their contemporaries.
Library Journal, Roseanne Castellino
The stories are engaging, readable, and unpretentiously
written — the way some might say history ought to be written.
Santa Barbara Review, Marilyn McEntyre
|
