by Edith B. Gelles (Author)

" . . . best-of-all-biographies of Abigail Adams . . . " --American Historical Review

"Portia, a new study of Abigail Adams--modern feminism's favorite Founding Mother--is a refreshing change of pace." --San Francisco Chronicle

" . . . very well done, highly perceptive, and full of fresh ideas." --Wilson Library Bulletin

" . . . Adams's strength, courage, and wit (as well as her bouts of depression and gender conservatism) emerge more fully than they have in any previous work. . . . a well-rounded portrait of a remarkable figure." --Choice

"In this important and fascinating biography, Edith Gelles not only restores Abigail Adams to her rightful place at the center of her own story, she challenges the creaky conventions of 'traditional' male-defined biography." --Susan Faludi, author of Backlash

Portia, the first woman-centered biography of Abigail Adams, details the issues, events, and relationships of Adams's life. It is as much a social and cultural history of Adams's time as it is her life story.

Back Jacket

'Portia....is a refreshing change of pace....(Edith Gelles) is affectionate yet scholarly, determined to present Adams as a strong character who was very much a woman of her time, not merely a liberated precursor to feminism or the little wife behind the great man.' - Melanie Lawrence, San Francisco Chronicle

Author Biography

EDITH B. GELLES is a historian and affiliated scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford.

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