Susanna Haswell Rowson was a pioneer feminist as well as the author of America's first best-selling novel, Charlotte Temple, published in 1794 and since then reprinted in nearly two hundred editions. During her sixteen years as a writer Mrs. Rowson produced seven other novels, seven theatrical works, two collections of poetry and two of fictional sketches, many lyrics for popular songs, contributions to two magazines, and six pedagogical works--all this while directing a school for young women, acting with several theater companies, running a household, and taking a leading role in her church and community. 'A list of Susanna Rowson's achievements suggests a personality unchecked by the traditional constraints of which women complain,' Dr. Weil argues in this biography, which also is an introduction to the social and cultural history of the early years of the American Republic. The author defends her subject against attacks upon her as 'female chauvinist' by male critics from William Cobbett to Leslie Fiedler. In all her writings and other activities, Mrs. Rowson attempted to create new models for the behavior of young women (or 'ladies' in her word), on the implied ground that young men had models enough. Although her prejudices remained Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, and genteel, she was a staunch advocate of democracy, education, and social equality--equality among those, male or female, who cultivate their character by intellect.The daughter of a Loyalist British naval officer, Susanna Haswell was forced to return to England with her parents during the Revolution. At 26, a self-educated governess, she published her first novel and married a trumpeter in the Horse Guards, William Rowson. At 31, Susanna and William joined the New Theatre in Philadelphia. At 35, having achieved modest success as an actress and playwright--and with a husband who drank--Susanna opened a school for young ladies in Boston. During her twenty-five years as a schoolmistress she wrote six textbooks besides continuing to write fiction, drama, and verse. In addition, Susanna adopted several children, including her husband's natural son, and served as president of the Fatherless and Widow's Society.

In Defense of Women: Susanna Rowson (1762-1824)

Literature & Fiction

Weil, Dorothy

History & Criticism

Pennsylvania State Univ Pr

Continuing Education

Self-Help

Motivational

Fawcett

The death of her father begins Dorothy Weil’s search for what causes the family’s spinning of in all directions like the pieces of Chaos.” She embarks on a river odyssey, traveling the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers by steamboat, towboat, and even an old-fashioned flatboat. The river brings her family back, as she records the stories of her fellow river rats”: steamboat veterans, deckhands, captains, and cooks. The River Home takes the reader into a world few ever glimpse, that of America’s riverboats. In the fast-paced narrative, with incisive characterizations and dialogue, the author introduces us to this vivid milieu and a gallery of fascinating people. We meet her father, a wild river man from the Kentucky hills,” her mother, a proper girl from a Cincinnati Dutch clan,” and her brother, a fourth-generation river man, as well as the artists and academics she meets in her adult life. Weil’s voice is clear and wry, as well as poetic, bringing out both the sadness and joys of a family torn by mismatched backgrounds. Her themes speak to all: the confusion brought by family conflict, the strength of family love no matter how troubled the relationships, the mortality we all face, the importance of where we come from and where we go.

The River Home: A Memoir (Ohio Bicentennial)

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Ohio University Press

Continuing education

Rawson, Wade

River Rats is a mystery-love story set in the world of today's Ohio River towboats, a world few may enter. A series of shootings and the unexplained demise of an old-time steamboat bring three childhood friends together. Jerry Burnside, a romantic harbor owner, and Charlie Summers, a wealthy all-river man, compete as they did as youngsters for the love of Kay Kenny, the seductive owner of a barge line. The search for the sniper and the answers to the mystery that has haunted the three friends' lives takes the reader to dangerous out-of-the-way places of the river past and present: a tiny fishing village deep in the Kentucky backwoods; a depressed river town full of secrets; and the drought-stricken Mississippi banks where the old steamboat is sunk in the sand. Legends and lore of the river play a large part in the characters' lives and enrich the magical atmosphere and style of River Rats.

River Rats

Romance

Publishamerica Inc

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