SWEEPER IN THE SKY

by Helen Wright ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 8, 1948

A biography of Maria Mitchell, famous astronomer and teacher, leader in the battle for women's rights, and here for the first time given stature as a woman in a rounded biography. As rounded, that is, as the limitations of primary source material permit. Her character emerges- brilliant, forthright, challenging, pungent in her blunt approach. She was stimulating even to those she irritated. Her life began on Nantucket Island; her Quaker heritage was a vital part of her life, though she was read out of Meeting as a rebel. The feel of Nantucket, where women were dominant -- the place of women in science, as in other roles claimed by men -- the personalities of the times- Maria Mitchell's unusual opportunities, and more unusual use of them, all this leads up to the years at Vassar, the revolutionary experiment in women's education, and world recognition. The factual content, the background of time and place, make interesting reading. But the personality of Maria Mitchell somehow remains on the surface, the emotional and intellectual values suggested, rather than explored.

Pub Date: Feb. 8, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1948

Categories: NONFICTION