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Betsy Ross And The Making Of America (2010)

by Marla R. Miller(Favorite Author)

3.38 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0805082972 (ISBN13: 9780805082975)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Henry Holt and Co.

review 1: Oh,gads, I read a whole lot more than I record on Goodreads. Must take my game to another level...So, what did I like about this book? Well, it gave a context for Betsy Ross's life for me. She was quite the survivor, and businesswoman--not just someone who may or may not have sewn the first U.S. flag. I had thought (if I'd thought at all about it) she was some genteel wife of an officer in the army, not a woman running a successful business. I like reading history about daily life, and realize I knew very little about the lives of the skilled craftsmen and women who really built (literally, with wood and bricks and mortar and fabric) America. This filled in that gap quite a bit. I might not have liked it so much had I not spent some time in Philadelphia and could ea... moresily picture where the action was taking place. Since her life probably had much more in common with my own ancestors (those who were on this continent in that time period anyway) than most of the people I'd read about in American history books, that was another connection for me. A book for history buffs, but not a spell-binding story for those who don't love history.
review 2: This was one of the most challenging books to read I've ever attempted. I got it on a whim from the new books section of my local library and did not realize what a beast I had checked out. It took me a renew and 2 weeks of overdue fines to finish it and I almost gave up, twice.I'm sort of glad and proud I stuck it out. The book is dense and insanely detailed -- it reads much more like a textbook than a narrative. This is compounded by the fact that women's history is so diaphanous and impermanent; the author spent a great deal of the book drawing conclusions from sources most people would dismiss, such as affidavits from family members, diaries and journals and religious institution records. She writes in the details when she has them -- down to how many pounds of sugar and flour Betsy bought when her sister's household was auctioned off in an effort to save them for her, how many yards of bunting and fabric and tassels an upholstery shop that might have competed with Betsy's had to display the amount of product a store would contain -- but spends a great deal more time guessing at what might have happened and filling in blanks with her best educated guesses. When the work you do is soft -- fabric, child rearing, housekeeping -- it does not withstand the standard march of time as kept by (generally) male history keepers.Betsy had three husbands and seven daughters (not to mention 2 dozen grandchildren) over the course of her 83 years of life during one of the most tumultuous times during my country's history. That Ms. Miller managed to write 362 pages about a single woman's life from that period should not be surprising, but it is impressive. (That I managed to actually read all 362 pages is unbelievable as the book wasn't particularly engaging.) I learned a great deal about pre- and post-revolutionary United States life and history that I didn't elsewhere and an incredible amount about the life of artisans and craftspeople in changing times. I know a lot more about the upholstery business as it was in the 1700s and 1800s and value my bed and mattress a great deal more now even though mine is machine made. The book was a beast to read, though and I often had to force myself to continue when I was more inclined to just return the book to the library.Did Betsy Ross talk General George Washington into a 5-pointed star instead of a 6-pointed star for the flag and suggest that they be arranged in a circle as the legend suggests? Maybe not. Does Betsy have a colorful, rich history as a seamstress, upholsterer and flag-maker spanning 50 years and potentially some influence in the flag as it stands today? Absolutely. All those Founding Fathers didn't stand in an organized line to sign the Declaration of Independence either, though that's the mental image we have built based on an artist's rendering. (That signing actually took months for all the signers to arrive by the slow transport available at the time and they signed as they arrived.) History isn't as clean cut and orderly as we'd have it fit into the pages of our textbooks and I think Ms. Miller does a excellent job illustrating that mushy parts of history where so much ties together to make up the truth. less

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