Prodigal Daughters

“Far more than an important addition to scholarship on Rowson . . . Rust provides an important reevaluation of women’s literary and public strategies during this pivotal period in American literary history.” — Journal of American History

“Marks the starting point for a new era of Rowson scholarship.” — ##William and Mary Quarterly#

“Rust’s biographical material is persuasive. . . . [She] creates a convincing link between the women readers that Rowson . . . reached and the women activists of 1848.” — Women’s Review of Books

“Marion Rust writes a wonderful narrative about why Rowson was an important woman and the impact that her writing had on the early U.S. Republic.” — BookWoman/BookMan

“Rust’s narrative style is engaging. . . . Highly Recommended.” — CHOICE

“[An] engaging and valuable study.” — Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature

“Splendidly researched. . . . Rust is especially good at parsing major critical debates in early American studies and engaging in critical dialogue. . . . Firmly persuades readers that Rowson is both extraordinary and metonymic.” — Legacy

“Argues persuasively that Rowson’s most famous creation is not representative of her larger body of work. . . . Certainly demonstrates Rowson’s significance.” — The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

“Draw[ing] on some excellent research . . . [Prodigal Daughters] is a nice example of a successful interdisciplinary work and provides us with crucial insights into the life and writings of one of the most important female authors of the new nation.” — Journal of the Early Republic

“Appealing to readers interested not only in Rowson but in the larger culture of the new republic. . . . Seamlessly combines Rowson’s biography with her large oeuvre and careful literary criticism with the history of the young nation to create a fascinating study on one of the new republic’s most successful authors.” — Early American Literature