Telling Her Story: A Guide to Researching and Writing about Women of the Past

by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack

Genres: Reference

Unknown Binding

About the author

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing and postgraduate coursework in American History. She is a thirty-five-year veteran Certified Genealogist®, Retired (2024).

Sharon is the best-selling author of twenty-nine books, including Madame Restell: The True Story of New City’s Most Notorious Abortionist, Her Early Life, Family, and Murder; In Search of Maria B. Hayden: The American Medium Who Brought Spiritualism to the U.K.; and If We Can Winter This: Essays and Genealogies: The Gordon Family of County Leitrim, Ireland, and The Norris Family of County Tyrone, (now) Northern Ireland.

A few of her guidebooks include Telling Her Story: A Guide to Researching and Writing about Women of the Past; Tell It Short: A Guide to Writing Your Family History in Brief, 2nd ed., and You Can Write Your Family History. Sharon is part of the English adjunct faculty for Southern New Hampshire University and the genealogy faculty for Salt Lake Community College.

Reviews

[Melanie Alberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A definitive guide to discovering women's lives. The book is geared towards researchers, but I also found it entertaining, inspirational, and full of useful tips on how to discover more about your female ancestors. Detailed but never dry, Carmack's sourcebook has been updated and expanded for the digital age, plus writing tips for creating accurate non-fiction representations of your ancestors' lives.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable guide to writing biographical non-fiction, specifically about women of the past. Good tips and interesting content, but quite a few typos which at times were distracting. Read with my genealogy group.

[Deborah Mayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally, love Sharon's work & think the content is excellent but the font is too small and some of the photos are too dark.
I wouldn't let that prevent anyone from buying the book, though, because the information she presents is invaluable.