Clara Barton Biography by Elizabeth Brown PryorThe author, Elizabeth Brown Pryor, wrote her biography of Clara Barton with the intent not only to chronicle her life, but to use personal items (diary and letters) Clara found to help provide information about how Clara felt about incidents in her life. His writing style is easy to understand and also allows you to really immerse yourself in the person's story. While other biographical books are simply dry facts, this book, with the help of newly found documents, allows Pryor to take a modern look at Barton's life. This book provided a lot of information about Mrs. Barton while also opening new doors to the real Clara Barton who wasn't always the angel we hear about. Pryor's admiration for Mrs. Barton is clear in her writings, but she does not see her flaws as a bad thing, but rather as a person who used all available means to help her fellow soldiers and friends in life. Born on December 25, 1921, Clara grew up in a family of four children, all at least 11 years older than her (Pryor, 3). Clara's childhood was characterized more by babysitters than siblings, all of whom took part in her upbringing. Clara excelled in the academic part of life, but was very shy around strangers. School wasn't a particularly happy time in his life, failing to fit in with his rowdy classmates after having such a peaceful childhood. The idea of ​​being a burden to the family was in Clara's head and she felt that the way to win her family's affection was to do very well in her classes to find the love she felt was necessary to earn. She was extremely proud of the positive attention given to her earning an academic scholarship (Pryor, 12). This praise for his achievements in the academic field enriched his "taste for masculine achievement". Her mother, however, began to realize this and began teaching her to "be more feminine" by cooking dinners and making fires (Pryor, 15). The 1830s were a time when women in the United States really began to take a stand for the rights they deserved (Duiker, 552). Growing up in the fog of it all most likely helped Barton become the woman she turned out to be.