Hearts of Fire: Great Women of American Lore and Legend - Softcover

Battle, Kemp

Softcover

ISBN 10: 060980183X ISBN 13: 9780609801833

Publisher: Three Rivers Press, 1998

Synopsis

In Hearts of Fire, Kemp Battle celebrates a diverse and deeply satisfying array of folk heroines and other great American women who represent an astonishing range of experience and give new meaning to the term pioneer. Gathered from books, journals, diaries, newspapers, and letters spanning three centuries, these fascinating stories highlight the American woman's journey toward identity, independence, and self-creation. They serve to remind us, yet again, that America's faith in an individual's right to the pursuit of happiness has been tested repeatedly by our nation's women.        
        
These pages are filled with women like Fanny Fern, the first female newspaper columnist in America; Ernestine Rose, who fled from an oppressive father in Poland to become one of the first leaders of the American suffragette movement; Sojourner Truth, whose wisdom and insight into the nature of slavery humbles us still; Dorothea Moulton Balano, a seafaring woman whose infectiously exuberant diaries would inspire anyone to go to sea; and Lynda Van Devanter, an army nurse in Vietnam, whose memories of war offer us a glimpse into the powerful idealism and indomitable will necessary to survive the worst traumas.
        
Hearts of Fire honors these great women, whose defiance of expectations and conformity was sometimes dangerous, often arduous, and always inspiring. Whether they are of major or minor importance to the narrative of American history, the many women who come alive in these pages represent a vivid part of our national character and the path of our nation's destiny.

Kemp Battle lives in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with his wife and four children. An investment banker, he is also the author of Great American Folklore.

About this title

Review:

Most Americans can reel off a handful of female national folk heroes from the history books, but the list ends far too soon. In this wonderfully rich compilation, Kemp Battle weaves together folk tales, diaries, letters, memoirs, and stories recording moments in the lives of heroines large and small. Tucked alongside Amelia Earhart and Billie Holiday, there's exasperated Aunt Weed who writes a threatening letter to the rats invading her home and young Kate Shelley who runs through a howling storm to save two trains from a washed-out bridge. More than 100 women raise their voices here, illuminating tiny corners of America at many points in time.

From the Back Cover:

"The value of this text lies in the astonishing variety of experience lived by American women documented here. Battle has made a significant contribution to women's studies with this interesting collection."
        --Publishers Weekly

"Anyone with a daughter--or a granddaughter, niece, or female student--should run out and get a copy of Hearts of Fire. This book is filled with amazing, marvelous, inspiring, and true stories of American heroines."        
--Wichita Eagle
"Battle retells the stories of well-known women with great flair, but it is the unknown, unsung heroines, both noble and freewheeling, who capture the imagination most in this colorful pageant of champions."
--Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Three Rivers Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 060980183X
• ISBN 13: 9780609801833
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 437