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A Midwife's Tale

The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Ebook
Knopf | Vintage
On sale Dec 22, 2010 | 464 Pages | 9780307772985
Grades AP/IB
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PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • Drawing on the diaries of one woman in eighteenth-century Maine, "A truly talented historian unravels the fascinating life of a community that is so foreign, and yet so similar to our own" (The New York Times Book Review).

Between 1785 and 1812 a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife's Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.
© Stephanie Mitchell

LAUREL THATCHER ULRICH is the author of numerous works on early American history and women's history, including A Midwife's Tale, which won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in History and became the subject of a PBS documentary film. A former MacArthur Fellow and past President of the American Historical Association, she retired from Harvard University in 2018 as 300th Anniversary University Professor. She now lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Her online courses "Tangible Things" and "Women Making History" can be found at HarvardX.

View titles by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
  • WINNER | 1991
    Bancroft Prize
  • WINNER | 1991
    Pulitzer Prize
  • SUBMITTED | 1991
    Pulitzer Prize
"A truly talented historian unravels the fascinating life of a community that is so foreign, and yet so similar to our own." —The New York Times Book Review

"Expertly executed and endlessly interesting. An offbeat gem of scholarship." —Washington Post Book World

"A marvelously nuanced, subtle, and unillusioned portrayal of one woman's life in early America. It has the makings of a classic." —Stephen Innes, University of Virginia

"It takes a historian of extraordinary persistence, skill, and empathy to recognized [Martha Ballard's] diary as something of a buried treasure and to painstakingly unearth its gems.... Ulrich has recognized Ballard's great spirit, and has given to us the gift of a life worth knowing." —Philadelphia Inquirer

About

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • Drawing on the diaries of one woman in eighteenth-century Maine, "A truly talented historian unravels the fascinating life of a community that is so foreign, and yet so similar to our own" (The New York Times Book Review).

Between 1785 and 1812 a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife's Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.

Author

© Stephanie Mitchell

LAUREL THATCHER ULRICH is the author of numerous works on early American history and women's history, including A Midwife's Tale, which won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in History and became the subject of a PBS documentary film. A former MacArthur Fellow and past President of the American Historical Association, she retired from Harvard University in 2018 as 300th Anniversary University Professor. She now lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Her online courses "Tangible Things" and "Women Making History" can be found at HarvardX.

View titles by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Awards

  • WINNER | 1991
    Bancroft Prize
  • WINNER | 1991
    Pulitzer Prize
  • SUBMITTED | 1991
    Pulitzer Prize

Praise

"A truly talented historian unravels the fascinating life of a community that is so foreign, and yet so similar to our own." —The New York Times Book Review

"Expertly executed and endlessly interesting. An offbeat gem of scholarship." —Washington Post Book World

"A marvelously nuanced, subtle, and unillusioned portrayal of one woman's life in early America. It has the makings of a classic." —Stephen Innes, University of Virginia

"It takes a historian of extraordinary persistence, skill, and empathy to recognized [Martha Ballard's] diary as something of a buried treasure and to painstakingly unearth its gems.... Ulrich has recognized Ballard's great spirit, and has given to us the gift of a life worth knowing." —Philadelphia Inquirer

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