The women chosen by the author for his portraits are: Abigail Adams, Sarah Alden Ripley, Mary Lyon, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Louisa May Alcott, Frances Elizabeth Willard, Emily Dickinson. All of these with the exception of Miss Willard are New England women, because satisfactory material affecting their lives was most readily accessible.
“The studies are written with simplicity and charm. The author wisely lets the subjects speak much for themselves. But his own judgments are pleasantly keen.”
– The Book Review Digest