Rating: 
Summary: Sensitive, thorough, and thought-provoking
Review: This is not a light book--in tone or weight! However, it gave me a rich, deep, understanding of Mary Baker Eddy as a person and as a figure in history--plus many hours of reading pleasure.Most well-researched biographies are dry and factual. Ms. Gill has managed to organize an unusual life into chapters that are more than chronological slices. Step by step, she takes the reader through the development of Ms. Eddy's thought and philosophy. At the same time, we learn a huge amount of Ms. Eddy as a literary, spiritual, and political leader. If you buy this book, please don't neglect to read the footnotes. Ms. Gill has packed them with tons of interesting trivia that otherwise would have cluttered up her well-turned prose. This is a rare and valuable work--one that should become the standard starting place for any serious student of either the Christian Science movement or of women's role in the late 19th century. I hope that Ms. Gill will receive the time and resources to complete other projects, such as this one.
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