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We hear about the Founding Fathers, but what about the Founding Mothers? Check out this book list about Women Revolutionary War Heroes!
Let’s Talk About Women Revolutionary War Heroes!
We will soon celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War and the men who fought for our country’s freedom. However, some incredible women shaped our history as well. In a year fraught with debate over so much when it comes to the true meanings of liberty and independence, it seems more than ever that it’s important to take a deeper look at what brought us here.
We ALWAYS hear about the Founding Fathers and the brave men involved in the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere’s Ride, George Washington’s brilliance, Hamilton’s essays, etc. But you know how the saying goes, behind every great man there is a….? Even more amazing woman! Sure enough, there were some absolutely pivotal women revolutionary war heroes as well! Let’s do as Abigail Adams once said- “Remember the Ladies!” Check out this book list below to celebrate these ladies!
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
From #1 New York Times bestselling author, Cokie Roberts, comes New York Times bestseller Founding Mothers, an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families—and their country—proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it.
Historians have written plenty about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution. But history’s paid little attention to the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters they left behind. #1 New York Times bestselling author, Cokie Roberts, brings us women who fought the Revolution as valiantly as the men. Drawing upon personal correspondence, private journals, and even favored recipes, Roberts reveals the often surprising stories of these fascinating women, bringing to life the everyday trials and extraordinary triumphs of individuals like Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Deborah Read Franklin, Eliza Pinckney, Catherine Littlefield Green, Esther DeBerdt Reed and Martha Washington— proving that without our exemplary women, the new country might have never survived.
A Founding Mother & My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Historical fiction powerhouses Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie have given us two incredible ways to immerse ourselves in the lives of the Revolution’s most formidable women. Whether you are looking for their brand-new release or a beloved fan favorite, these two novels make the perfect collaborative reading set:
The New Release Spotlight: A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams
Released in May 2026— just in time for the 250th anniversary—this sweeping biographical novel brings Abigail Adams out from the margins of history and firmly places her at the center of her own story. It tracks her journey from a fiercely independent woman raising children in war-torn Boston to an indispensable ally executing parlor politics in the early American republic. Meticulously researched using thousands of letters, it reveals a spiky, clever, and radical visionary who was often steps ahead of the famous men surrounding her.
The Epic Companion Novel: My Dear Hamilton
“Not since I read Erik Larson’s Dead Wake have I had such an edge-of-my-seat immersion into historical events. […] No study of Alexander Hamilton would be complete without reading this book.” — Karen White, New York Times bestselling author
This haunting, moving, and beautifully written novel uses thousands of letters and original sources to tell the story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. It reveals Eliza not just as a general’s daughter on the perilous frontier or a wronged wife at the center of America’s first political sex scandal, but as a crucial founding mother who fought to preserve Alexander’s legacy and shape an American legacy in her own right.
Women Heroes of the American Revolution by Susan Casey
Every schoolchild knows about Paul Revere’s 20-mile ride to warn that the British were coming. Far fewer know that 16-year-old Sybil Ludington rode twice as far to help her father, Colonel Ludington, muster his scattered troops to fight a marauding enemy. Few know about Martha Bratton, who blew up a supply of gunpowder to keep it from approaching British troops and boldly claimed, “It was I who did it!” Susan Casey gives Ludington, Bratton, and 18 other remarkable girls and women of the Revolution the spotlight they deserve in this lively collection of biographical profiles. Drawing on interviews with historians and descendants as well as primary source material, this is an invaluable resource for any student’s or history buff’s bookshelf.
Founding Friendships by Cassandra A. Good
“When Harry Met Sally” is only the most iconic of popular American movies, books, and articles that pose the question of whether friendships between men and women are possible. Cassandra A. Good, in Founding Friendships, shows that this question was embedded in and debated as far back as the birth of the American nation. Indeed, many of the nation’s founding fathers had female friends, but popular rhetoric held that these relationships were fraught with social danger, if not impossible.
Elite men and women formed loving, politically significant friendships in the early national period that were crucial to the individuals’ lives as well as the formation of a new national political system, as Cassandra Good illuminates.
Abigail Adams called her friend Thomas Jefferson “one of the choice ones on earth,” while George Washington signed a letter to his friend Elizabeth Powel with the words “I am always Yours.” Their emotionally rich language is often mistaken for romance, but by analyzing period letters, diaries, novels, and etiquette books, Good reveals that friendships between men and women were quite common. At a time when personal relationships were deeply political, these bonds offered both parties affection and practical assistance as well as exemplified republican values of choice, freedom, equality, and virtue. In so doing, these friendships embodied the core values of the new nation and represented a transitional moment in gender and culture.
Northern and Southern, famous and lesser known, the men and women examined in Founding Friendships offer a fresh look at how the founding generation defined and experienced friendship, love, gender, and power.
Poor Richard’s Women by Nancy Rubin Stuart
“An engrossing look at the human side of Benjamin Franklin . . . Using a post-feminist lens that’s critical of gender essentialism, Stuart rescues these women from obscurity . . . This is a terrific read: poignant, provocative, and probing.”
—Library Journal, Starred Review
A vivid portrait of the women who loved, nurtured, and defended America’s famous scientist and founding father.
Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin—the thrifty inventor-statesman of the Revolutionary era—but not about his love life. Poor Richard’s Women reveals the long-neglected voices of the women Ben loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between passion and prudence. The most prominent among them was Deborah Read Franklin, his common-law wife and partner for 44 years. Long dismissed by historians, she was an independent, politically savvy woman and devoted wife who raised their children, managed his finances, and fought off angry mobs at gunpoint while he traipsed about England.
Weaving detailed historical research with emotional intensity and personal testimony, Nancy Rubin Stuart traces Deborah’s life and those of Ben’s other romantic attachments through their personal correspondence. We are introduced to Margaret Stevenson, the widowed landlady who managed Ben’s life in London; Catherine Ray, the 23-year-old New Englander with whom he traveled overnight and later exchanged passionate letters; Madame Brillon, the beautiful French musician who flirted shamelessly with him, and the witty Madame Helvetius, who befriended the philosophes of pre-Revolutionary France and brought Ben to his knees.
What emerges from Stuart’s pen is a colorful and poignant portrait of women in the age of revolution. Set two centuries before the rise of feminism, Poor Richard’s Women depicts the feisty, often-forgotten women dear to Ben’s heart who, despite obstacles, achieved an independence rarely enjoyed by their peers in that era.
Hope these empowering list of books about Women Revolutionary War Heroes provides you some inspiration this summer.
Looking for other book recommendations? Here are a few more booklists you may enjoy!
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