The Tory's Wife: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America

Cynthia Kierner gives us the mesmerizing story of Jane Spurgin, an abandoned wife in the Carolina backcountry who could have appealed for sympathy but instead defied centuries of patriarchal precedent by demanding the 'common rights of other citizens.' More broadly, The Tory?s Wife persuades even a skeptic like me that the American Revolution?s influence on nominally-free women was positive and powerful.

Woody Holton, University of South Carolina, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution

Can focusing on an obscure North Carolina woman provide novel insights into the American Revolution? In a study of Jane Welborn Spurgin and her family, Cynthia Kierner answers that question with an emphatic yes! Thoroughly researched and well written, this engaging narrative brings to life the Spurgins' experiences amid the chaos of backcountry warfare?and reveals the untiring efforts of the indomitable Jane to claim her rights as a citizen of the new republic.

Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University, author of Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women

"The Revolutionary War liberated Americans from the oppressive colonial rule of the British, but as the postwar era began, it wasn't clear how much women benefited from the hard-won freedoms accorded to men. . . . Had the Revolution changed anything? Cynthia Kierner, a professor of history at George Mason University, examines this question in "The Tory's Wife." Her short, readable volume recounts the story of Jane Welborn Spurgin. . . .providing often fascinating details about life in rural North Carolina-especially about women who struggled to survive the upheavals of war." Melanie Kirkpatrick, Wall Street Journal