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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
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Paperback
$20.00 US
Knopf | Vintage
5.1"W x 8"H x 0.96"D  
On sale Jun 04, 1991 | 464 Pages | 9780679733768
Grades AP/IB
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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the Joan Kelly and John H. Dunning Prizes of the American Historical Association
Winner of the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women Book Prize

Drawing on the diaries of Martha Ballard, a midwife and healer in eighteenth-century Maine, this rare and evocative history brings us closer than we have yet been to the texture of ordinary life in preindustrial America. Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of Martha Ballard, but of her society--a portrait that sheds light on its medical practices, religious squabbles, and sexual mores.

"A major source through which we can vicariously experience the rural life of early New England."
—Carl N. Degler, 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 recognize [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
© 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

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the Joan Kelly and John H. Dunning Prizes of the American Historical Association
Winner of the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women Book Prize

Drawing on the diaries of Martha Ballard, a midwife and healer in eighteenth-century Maine, this rare and evocative history brings us closer than we have yet been to the texture of ordinary life in preindustrial America. Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of Martha Ballard, but of her society--a portrait that sheds light on its medical practices, religious squabbles, and sexual mores.

"A major source through which we can vicariously experience the rural life of early New England."
—Carl N. Degler, 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 recognize [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

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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