"In this collection of essays George Singleton explains how he came to be a writer (he blames barbecue), why he still writes his first draft by hand (someone stole his typewriter), and what motivated him to run marathons (his father gave him beer)" --

"A biography of Eliza Harriot Barons O'Connor, an educator whose 1787 Philadelphia public lecture attended by George Washington might have inspired the gender-neutral language of the Constitution. Explores women's public roles and political power following the American Revolution through the early nineteenth century, tracing the story of white and black women's struggles for education and suffrage at a transformative moment"--