Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is Phillips Professor of Early American History at Harvard University. Formerly a professor of American history at the University of New Hampshire, she is the author of *Good Wives* (1982) and numerous articles and essays on early American history. She won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1991 for A *Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785–1812.* Born and raised in the Rocky Mountain West, she has lived in New England since 1960. During her tenure as a MacArthur Fellow, she assisted in the production of a PBS documentary based on *A Midwife’s Tale.* Her work is also featured on an award-winning Web site called *dohistory.org.* She and her husband, Gael Ulrich, are the parents of five grown children.—Random House