Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale creates an intimate portrait of early American life from the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife in Hallowell, Maine, from 1785 to 1812. Ballard's diary, with its terse entries about weather, deliveries, and household tasks, had been dismissed as mundane. Ulrich, a historian at Harvard, recognized it as an extraordinary source for understanding women's work, community life, and the social fabric of the early republic. Over 27 years, Ballard delivered 816 babies, traveling through all weather to attend births, collecting payments in cloth and labor, and recording deaths, illnesses, and family conflicts. Ulrich weaves Ballard's entries into a rich narrative, supplementing the diary with other sources to illuminate what Ballard took for granted. The book examines sexuality, medicine, economic exchange, and gender relations, revealing the texture of daily life. A Midwife's Tale won the Pulitzer Prize for History and demonstrated that ordinary lives deserve the same attention historians lavish on presidents and generals. Ulrich's method has influenced a generation of social historians. Essential reading for anyone interested in early American history, women's history, or what microhistory can reveal about the past.