author
Hannah Adams
1755–1831
An early American writer who helped readers compare religious traditions with unusual fairness for her time, she also turned a life of financial hardship into a pioneering literary career. Her books on religion and early New England history made her one of the first women in the United States to earn a living by writing.
1 Audiobook
A memoir of Miss Hannah Adams
by Hannah Adams, Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee
About the author
Born in Medfield, Massachusetts, in 1755, Hannah Adams grew up in a book-filled household and educated herself largely through reading. When her family fell on hard times, she began writing to support herself, something very few American women could do in her era.
She became known for books on religion that tried to describe different denominations in their own terms rather than simply attack them. That approach made her an early and important voice in comparative religion, and it helped set her work apart in the early United States.
Adams also wrote on New England and American history, building a reputation as a careful compiler and independent scholar. She died in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1831, and is often remembered as one of the first professional female writers in America.