91. Hidden in Plain History: Denise Kiernan's OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS
91. Hidden in Plain History: Denise Kiernan's OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS  
Podcast: In Walks a Woman
Published On: Sun Nov 01 2026
Description: You think you know what happened in the American Revolutionary War. But how could you, when so many of the stories were left out?Did you know the Cherokee were involved? That women led boycotts? That enslaved people played a part in the war, and that Native Americans showed up to fight at Bunker Hill? So many people did so much, despite how little power was given to them.Denise Kiernan has spent three decades researching and writing about the forgotten stories of American history. In her newest book, Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution (Dutton), she brings those voices back into the story of our nation’s founding.On a show like ours, we believe that stories shape reality. If the only stories you’ve heard about the Revolution are about a group of white men, it makes sense that you’d picture them as the whole “reality” of it. Read Denise’s book about everyone else who contributed, and your understanding of how this nation began will change.In this episode, Denise shares:How she found marginalized voices that history left outSome of her favorite discoveries from her researchHow her journalism training shapes the way she researchesThe roles women, Native Americans, and enslaved people played in the fight for independence“To look at a moment in history like the Revolutionary War, or any other significant moment, for that matter, and leave out more than half the population, for the most part, lacks context, if nothing else. It’s just incomplete.”— Denise KiernanGet the book:  Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution by Denise Kiernan (Dutton)