The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison (Hardcover)

~ David B. Mattern (Editor), (Editor), Holly C. Shulman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fascinating and readable collection that provides ready access to the most important items of Dolley Madison’s correspondence." -- Lewis Gould, author of American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy

"[C]ontains historically important material, uniquely available from these editors who are so well qualified to present it." -- Ralph Ketcham, author of James Madison: A Biography (Virginia)

Product Description

From modest Quaker beginnings as the child of financially insecure parents and the wife of a stolid young lawyer to the excitement and challenges of life as the nation’s first First Lady--arguably the most influential role in the American government’s formative years--Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1768-1849) led an extraordinary life. David B. Mattern and Holly C. Shulman have culled a particularly rich selection of her letters to illuminate the story of the woman widely credited with setting the standard for successive generations of Washington’s political women. This collection will prove an invaluable resource in current political and historical circles, where the role founding mothers played--both as supportive family members and as crucial political negotiators--is increasingly recognized and studied.

Organized chronologically into five sections reaching from her correspondence as a young adult in late-eighteenth-century Philadelphia up to the letters of her widowhood in 1840s Washington, and with a helpful contextualizing introduction to each section, The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison provides a long-overdue biographical sketch of one of the early republic’s most fascinating personalities.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 442 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081392152X
• ISBN-13: 978-0813921525
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,186,779 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful front door to the life of an extraordinary woman, April 25, 2003

By	Richard N. Cote (Mt. Pleasant, SC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Through her poise, tact, charm, and personal heroism, Dolley Payne Madison has long been one of the most-admired women in the early history of the American Republic. In this exquisite sampling of Dolley's letters, both scholars and general readers alike have great reason to rejoice. For years, the devoted University of Virginia team which lovingly collected and painstakingly edited the papers of James Madison also paid equal attention to his soulmate, Dolley. David B. Mattern (Senior Associate Editor of The Papers of James Madison), and Holly C. Shulman (Research Associate Professor, Studies in Women and Gender at the University of Virginia) have provided the portal through which generations of researchers and writers will pass to meet Dolley. The 442-page book provides not only a well-balanced selection of meticulously edited letters to and from Dolley, but also a series of short, factual essays which frame and give context to each period of her life. In addition, a marvelous 24-page biographical directory provides thumbnail biographies of persons mentioned in her letters. I pre-ordered this book the moment I learned of its intended publication, and it now forms a cornerstone for the research on my forthcoming biography of this amazing First Lady, "Strength and Honor: The Life of Dolley Madison" (Corinthian Books, September 2004). -Richard N. Cote', author of "Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston" and "Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy."