The Mayflower Murderer and Other Forgotten Firsts in American History

Twenty-five stories of firsts in America resurrect the men and women--forgers, humorists, poets, inventors, abolitionists, and the like--who have been unjustly robbed of their historical due for their early contributions to a young nation. 35,000 first printing.

This pop history by a frequent contributor to American Heritage spotlights 25 pioneers in various fields, with an emphasis on women and a nod to African Americans. Opening with an account of the only troublemaker to arrive on the Mayflower , John Billington, hanged 10 years later for killing a fellow pilgrim, the book goes on to the first feminist, who demanded the vote in 1648; the first white and first black "poetesses" to publish--Massachusetts settler Anne Bradstreet (1619-1672) and Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), who was brought to Boston on a slave ship; the first American counterfeiter, a woman shrewd enough to escape punishment; the first female humorist; the first elected female senator--"widow woman" Hattie Wyatt Caraway (D-Arkansas), who won a special election in 1933 to serve out her husband's term. There are also tales of the first black clergyman to preach to a white congregation and of the inventor of chewing gum. Fun to read, the book offers numerous interesting footnotes to the story of our past. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Stevens writes about U.S. history for several journals and suburban newspapers. Here he offers biographies of 25 of America's little-known "trailblazers." Included are the first U.S. counterfeiter (Mary Butterworth, 1715) and black minister (Lemuel Haynes, 1785), as well as the producers of the first chocolate (John Hannon and Dr. James Baker, 1765), chewing gum (John Bacon Curtis, 1848), Christmas card (Louis Prang, 1875), and diet/health book (Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters, Diet and Health , 1918). The biographies are several pages in length and offer lots of facts in an entertaining narrative format. Notes and bibliography are appended. Recommended primarily for popular history collections.
- Deborah Hammer, Queens Borough P.L., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.