<p> Deborah Franklin was the wife of patriot Benjamin Franklin. She kept his business enterprise going and the home fires burning while Benjamin lived the good life in France and other European countries as a representative of the new United States government. Historians have described Lydia Mather as "mad" for almost 300 years, a claim based entirely on her husband's diary entries. Lydia's second husband was Cotton Mather and when anyone dared argue with him, he believed that the person must be deranged.</p><p> These two women and 23 others, as with the 1999 volume, are profiled in this new book of biographies. Each contributed to the development of her country in her own way. Most of the men they lived and worked alongside have been honored over and over while their own names, almost without exception, are unknown.</p>