Several chapters in the book open this way. The book begins by detailing Ann’s first trial and then starts to get into into Hutchinson early life and events there that lead to her becoming the woman that she was during her later years.

Given her outspoken nature in religious matters, by comparing Hutchinson to the biblical queen who praised Phoenician gods, Winthrop wanted to portray her as a false prophet in the eyes of the colonists and ministers alike. The name “Jezebel” was originally given to Hutchinson by the first governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop. She is the the direct descendant of Ann Hutchinson. Many historians argue that Hutchinson would not have had such a tremendous influence over women (and eventually their husbands and single men) in her colony without the training from her mother. In her early years, she spend a lot of time with her mother (who was also a midwife), and was trained by her in midwifery.

She was a mother to fourteen children, and around the newly formed Massachutes colony, Hutchinson was known as a midwife. Hutchinson immigrated to Massachusetts in the fall of 1934. American Jezebel is an incredible story about Ann Hutchinson - a woman most would consider to be a religious fanatic by today’s standards, and how her staunch religious beliefs lead to her banishment from the Massachuchtes colony.

American jezebel by eve laplante