Cynthia A. Kierner, professor of history, has published Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times.
Her publisher, the University of North Carolina Press, explains that "As the oldest and favorite daughter of Thomas Jefferson, Martha 'Patsy' Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836) was extremely well educated, traveled in the circles of presidents and aristocrats, and was known on two continents for her particular grace and sincerity . . . Though Patsy's name is familiar because of her famous father, Kierner is the first historian to place Patsy at the center of her own story, taking readers into the largely ignored private spaces of the founding era. Randolph's life story reveals the privileges and limits of celebrity and shows that women were able to venture beyond their domestic roles in surprising ways . . . In this extraordinary biography, Kierner offers a unique look at American history from the perspective of this intelligent, tactfully assertive woman."
April 30, 2012