HEROINES OF '76

Twelve freely dramatized sketches, in a style plain to the point of homeliness, celebrate revolutionary heroines--especially the fighters such as Margaret Corbin, Mary McCauley (the original Molly Pitcher), Deborah Sampson (who dressed as a man to enlist as a regular soldier) and Nancy Hart of Georgia. The thrust is more feminist than patriotic--some of these heroines (Ann Bates, the Baroness von Riedesel) were on the other side and a few like Mother Ann Lee of the Shakers weren't on either. There are enough flashes of gumption to pull readers along, but some of the action (as well as the entire Betsy Ross story) is more rhetorical than historical.