The journal of Philadelphia Quaker Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker (1736-1807) is perhaps the single most significant personal record of eighteenth-century life in America from a woman's perspective. Drinker wrote in her diary nearly continuously between 1758 and 1807, from two years before her marriage to the night before her last illness. The extraordinary span and sustained quality of the journal make it a rewarding document for a multitude of historical purposes.

Published in its entirety in 1991, the diary is now accessible to a wider audience in this abridged edition. Focusing on different stages of Drinker's personal development within the context of her family, this edition of the journal highlights four critical phases of her life cycle: youth and courtship, wife and mother, in years of crisis, and grandmother and Grand Mother.

Although Drinker's education and affluence distinguished her from most women, the pattern of her life was typical of other women in eighteenth-century North America. Informative annotation accompanies the text, and a biographical directory helps the reader to identify the many people who entered the world of Elizabeth Drinker.