American Jezebel
The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson

By Eve LaPlante

          Eve LaPlante has done a wonderful study of the life of her relative and put it all together with skill and love. This is a book about a most remarkable woman who preceded the times of the land and stood for her thoughts and desires and needs in a most uncommon way. I have a strong interest in this period as many of my ancestors were in the same villages and townships in England and Massachusetts as LaPlante's were, and in the same period. I read this with a strong desire to understand the motives of the Puritan renegades and eventually founders of some of the most notable cities in this country. The Puritans were a very straight group that was strongly male-dominated and therefore not very tolerant of the woman's point of view; thus Anne Hutchinson did not fit in very well with that society. She chose to want education and strength in the women and girls around her and tried every way she could think of to get them to pay attention. She schooled them and had private tutoring groups. She made them think, and structure their lives with ideas and desires of helping others. For this, she was banished, tried for heresy, and held in contempt by the courts of the time and society. I would say that this book is a must read for anyone who wants to know how this country was founded. It is a study of the many trials and tribulations that women had to overcome when they came with their husbands and families to fledgling America. The Puritans had a very concise idea of a woman's place in this land and Ms. Hutchinson disregarded and ignored all of those ideas and went off to do what she wanted, regardless of the consequences. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. For hundreds of years, women have had to take a back seat in the ruling and governance of every part of the world, and this book truly makes one realize the extent that one and/or many women along the way have pushed to make things the way they are today for us.

    American Jezebel is a gripping, well-written, very articulate study of the history and founding of this country, if you are interested in what has made this country become what it has become. One should appreciate the strife and horrors that many women suffered along the way to make us the people we are today. This book helps in gaining that understanding. It is a must read if you have any inclination to look at the reasons of our society being the way it is, and how it is directed and why. If you have relatives that were in that time and place, it makes it much closer to home, such as my reading of it was. Ms. LaPlante did a wonderful job of bringing to life her great ancestor, Anne Hutchinson, and making her a real person who had heart, hope, and faith and wanted more for herself and every other female that she encountered, as well as all the males in her domain and dominion. Anne Hutchinson was indeed a hero among the best of the time, and should be recognized as such by all. I simply cannot compliment Ms. LaPlante enough for this book, perhaps because it is so close to my own history, the teachings of my past, and what makes me the way I am. Also because it is a well-rounded study of a woman of passion who wanted to make a difference to those close to her.