To be introduced; the viewpoints of the life events of Mary Harris (Mother) Jones perceived by Simon Cordery in the biography “Mother Jones; Raising Cain and Consciousness,” and by Dale Fetherling in his biography “Mother Jones; The Miners’ Angel.” Each biography makes the argument that Mother Jones was a passionate woman. Cordery introduces her timeline by starting with her death. It is clear he felt the need to establish her legacy and level of importance to history before going into depth about how she got there. Cordery is a history professor; The sole purpose of him writing the biography was for his career. On the other hand, Fetherling wrote the biography with passion on the subject. He believes that “Mother Jones today is known to few
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Fetherling is very critical in including every detail necessary for understanding in the events being told. His explanations are hearty, and the use of complex vocabulary makes his tone sound more academically inclined than Cordery. This may be due to the time period in which each book was written. The biography written by Cordery was published in 2010. Fetherling’s was published in 1974, creating a 36 year difference between the two. Fetherling’s attention to fact, and attempt to remain unbiased may have been because of his background in non-fiction books. Cordery mentioned in the preface his gratitude for his students help in organizing the analysis of her life. He recognizes countless others, but never includes his reasoning behind his decision to write the book. Fetherling in contrast utilizes the preface to give the reader a reason why the topic is significant to not only himself, but to academics and the general audience. He states “this book is an attempt to chronicle her major actions, to sketch her personality, to begin to distill her legacy.” Both of the authors provide truth behind their words proven with citations to Mother Jones’ autobiography. Although Cordery’s words were far easier to understand than Fetherling’s, an abundance of useful and specific information used to give myself background on the topic came from Fetherling’s version. That being said, Fetherling’s biography on the life of Mother Jones is primarily factual, compared to Cordery’s dramatization of her
Fetherling is very critical in including every detail necessary for understanding in the events being told. His explanations are hearty, and the use of complex vocabulary makes his tone sound more academically inclined than Cordery. This may be due to the time period in which each book was written. The biography written by Cordery was published in 2010. Fetherling’s was published in 1974, creating a 36 year difference between the two. Fetherling’s attention to fact, and attempt to remain unbiased may have been because of his background in non-fiction books. Cordery mentioned in the preface his gratitude for his students help in organizing the analysis of her life. He recognizes countless others, but never includes his reasoning behind his decision to write the book. Fetherling in contrast utilizes the preface to give the reader a reason why the topic is significant to not only himself, but to academics and the general audience. He states “this book is an attempt to chronicle her major actions, to sketch her personality, to begin to distill her legacy.” Both of the authors provide truth behind their words proven with citations to Mother Jones’ autobiography. Although Cordery’s words were far easier to understand than Fetherling’s, an abundance of useful and specific information used to give myself background on the topic came from Fetherling’s version. That being said, Fetherling’s biography on the life of Mother Jones is primarily factual, compared to Cordery’s dramatization of her