Skip to main content

To Find Out More

July 2024
1min read

Although there is no accurate single-volume account of all three sisters’ lives, Megan Marshall recommends several books about the individual women: Letters of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, American Renaissance Woman , edited by Bruce A. Ronda (Wesleyan University Press, 1984), is a good selection of Elizabeth’s correspondence that emphasizes her connection with the famous men of her time. Louise Hall Tharp’s Until Victory, Horace Mann and Mary Peabody , written in 1953, was reprinted in 1977 by Greenwood Press and covers Mary’s life. As for Sophia, her son, Julian Hawthorne, wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife in 1884, and the memoir was reprinted by Archon Books in 1968. He quotes many of his mother’s and father’s letters, but with modifications that somewhat tamed his parents’ passionate prose.

Enjoy our work? Help us keep going.

Now in its 75th year, American Heritage relies on contributions from readers like you to survive. You can support this magazine of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it by donating today.

Donate