Jeanette Eaton (1886–1968)
Author of Gandhi: Fighter Without a Sword
About the Author
Works by Jeanette Eaton
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1886-11-30
- Date of death
- 1968-02-19
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Vassar College
Ohio State University (MA) - Occupations
- children's book author
suffragist
women's rights activist
biographer
young adult writer - Organizations
- American Woman's Association
Story Parade - Short biography
- Jeannette Eaton was born in Columbus, Ohio. In 1908, she received a bachelor's degree from Vassar College and then earned a master's degree from Ohio State University. She supported women's rights and gave her first public women's suffrage speech soon after her college graduation. She co-authored, with Bertha Morton Stevens, the 1915 book Commercial Work and Training for Girls, which examined the harsh working conditions of women of the time. She also wrote at least one article for The Masses (1911-1917), the radical socialist, feminist, and free-love periodical. By the late 1920s, she was a nationally recognized writer. She worked as an editor for the children's magazine Story Parade and contributed to feminist periodicals such as the AWA Bulletin (American Woman's Association) and Woman's Journal. She also was a prolific writer of biographies for young adults, including Gandhi, Fighter Without a Sword (1950), which was named a 1951 Newbery Honor book.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Place of death
- Central Valley, New York, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Born Marie-Jeanne Philipon in 1754, the heroine of A Daughter of the Seine - and heroine she must be called, for although this is a biography, it is written with such sympathetic partisanship for its subject, that it might just as easily be a romance - would go on to become the famous Madame Roland, the muse of the Girondist faction, and an important figure in the French Revolution. From her early years as a precocious and very willful student; her gradual awakening to the pernicious French show more class system which denied the meritorious the recognition they deserved, while elevating others through the accident of birth; her marriage to Jean-Marie Roland, de la Platière, an economist of some renown, who served the government in various positions; and the married couple's growing involvement in those political circles which would bring about the revolution, Jeanette Eaton traces the life of Madame Roland, painting a moving portrait of a woman of great ability and intellect, who, through her marriage, her entertaining, and her networking - the only methods available to her, as a woman of that time - influenced the history of her country.
Published in 1929, A Daughter of the Seine was one of six titles - together with Pran of Albania, The Jumping-Off Place, The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales, Vaino: A Boy of New Finland, and Little Blacknose - to be chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1930. An immensely engaging biography of a fascinating historical figure, it was also a Junior Literary Guild selection, and is, in my judgment, probably best suited for older children and young adults. The text is simple enough to be followed by readers who have little familiarity with the period in question - I myself am not as well-versed in the intricacies of the French Revolution, as I no doubt should be - but never "dumbed down" in a way that would be insulting to young readers. I'm very impressed, in fact, that a book on this subject, running to this length (324 pages, including bibliography and index) would be considered juvenile fare. One wonders if modern children would be interested in reading it.
As already mentioned, this is a very sympathetic portrait of Madame Roland, although Eaton does occasionally insert some criticism - as when she mentions Roland's inability to see the "romance" of the royal family's story - and offer some apologia for her lack of foresight, when it came to her judgment of the more dangerous extremists who would one day be the cause of her death. The authorial interjections are fairly minimal however - with a notable exception, in which Eaton makes mention of Americans recently fighting in the Argonne in the "Great War," thereby dating her book - and the narrative reads smoothly. The final section, in which the Rolands find themselves caught in the growing tide of violence that would become "The Terror," is most involving, and simply flies by.
All in all, I enjoyed A Daughter of the Seine, finding it both engaging and informative. I am encouraged by this, as three more of Eaton's biographies - Leader by Destiny: George Washington, Man and Patriot (1938), Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams (1944), and Gandhi: Fighter Without a Sword (1950) - were also chosen as Newbery Honor Books. I will look forward to reading them, in this long Newbery Project of mine! show less
Published in 1929, A Daughter of the Seine was one of six titles - together with Pran of Albania, The Jumping-Off Place, The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales, Vaino: A Boy of New Finland, and Little Blacknose - to be chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1930. An immensely engaging biography of a fascinating historical figure, it was also a Junior Literary Guild selection, and is, in my judgment, probably best suited for older children and young adults. The text is simple enough to be followed by readers who have little familiarity with the period in question - I myself am not as well-versed in the intricacies of the French Revolution, as I no doubt should be - but never "dumbed down" in a way that would be insulting to young readers. I'm very impressed, in fact, that a book on this subject, running to this length (324 pages, including bibliography and index) would be considered juvenile fare. One wonders if modern children would be interested in reading it.
As already mentioned, this is a very sympathetic portrait of Madame Roland, although Eaton does occasionally insert some criticism - as when she mentions Roland's inability to see the "romance" of the royal family's story - and offer some apologia for her lack of foresight, when it came to her judgment of the more dangerous extremists who would one day be the cause of her death. The authorial interjections are fairly minimal however - with a notable exception, in which Eaton makes mention of Americans recently fighting in the Argonne in the "Great War," thereby dating her book - and the narrative reads smoothly. The final section, in which the Rolands find themselves caught in the growing tide of violence that would become "The Terror," is most involving, and simply flies by.
All in all, I enjoyed A Daughter of the Seine, finding it both engaging and informative. I am encouraged by this, as three more of Eaton's biographies - Leader by Destiny: George Washington, Man and Patriot (1938), Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams (1944), and Gandhi: Fighter Without a Sword (1950) - were also chosen as Newbery Honor Books. I will look forward to reading them, in this long Newbery Project of mine! show less
A biography of George Washington for kids, ostensibly. It's such a shame when biographies are dull and dry. People's lives aren't dull, so how is it that some accounts of those lives are so brain-numbing? And it's an especial tragedy when that biography is intended for kids. Tsk. TSK, I say! *And* this won a Newbery Honor! *Shakes head in dramatic disbelief*
This book was originally published in 1950, so I'm going to tell you, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Gandhi's amazing story is told in an entertaining and engaging way to hook readers young and old.
A narrative biography for children surprisingly full of material devoted to Sally Fairfax and her relationship with Washington. I actually found the book to be rather tedious. If a student can handle the length and details of this (386 pages, plus index) book, I'd rather see them reading a biography not written for children. For a younger student, I'd rather see a shorter biography and better illustrations (houses and portraits aren't exactly appealing to the younger set).
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 28
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 626
- Popularity
- #40,248
- Rating
- 3.2
- Reviews
- 8
- ISBNs
- 18
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 1