“Here is living testimony to the significance of the recovery of women in our published history. . . . [Gunderson] covers immense ground that brings to life a historic scene we hardly realized previous narratives had treated in such a lopsided manner.” — Anglican and Episcopal History
“To Be Useful to the World is a synthesis of the very highest quality. Gundersen provides an immensely rich and wide-ranging discussion of the plethora of forces that shaped the lives and experiences of women of different ethnicities, social ranks, and religious preferences during the era of the American Revolution. Moreover, she does so in a most engaging and entertaining fashion. Her examples are always well chosen, the reader is not overwhelmed by unnecessary detail, and the text is always lively.” — Betty Wood, University of Cambridge
“To Be Useful to the World clearly shows the complexity of women’s experience in revolutionary America, thus providing an excellent introduction for graduate students and scholars outside the field.” — The Journal of American History
“While the author offers her own interpretation of the process and significance of shifting gendered roles and norms, she carefully weaves her insight into a work that is primarily a presentation — even a celebration — of the growing, colorful, and complex fabric that is the historiography of women in early America.” — William and Mary Quarterly
