The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria ChildFor half a century Lydia Maria Child was a household name in the United States. Hardly a sphere of nineteenth century life can be found in which Lydia Maria Child did not figure prominently as a pathbreaker. Although best known today for having edited Harriet A. Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she pioneered almost every department of nineteenth century American letters the historical novel, the short story, children's literature, the