Product Description

She was the first woman to address the U.S. Congress, the first to operate a brokerage firm on Wall Street, and the first to run for president. She's the woman Gloria Steinem called "the most controversial suffragist of them all." In this extensively researched biography, journalist Mary Gabriel has written a comprehensive account of one of American history's most unusual and fascinating women, who, in an era of Victorian morality, was the loudest and most radical voice for women's equality. "One of the most controversial American women of the late nineteenth century springs to life in this study that leaves no stone unturned."--Publishers Weekly; "Deftly written biography . . . of a hell-raising visionary."--Mirabella; "A meaty slice of feminist history peppered with Victorian drama."--Civilization; "Remarkable . . . warrants a spot on every serious American history student's bookshelf."--Kirkus Reviews, pointer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #287288 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .2 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Amazon.com Review
Journalist Mary Gabriel hews more closely to the particulars of Victoria Woodhull's life than Barbara Goldsmith does in Other Powers, but in its more focused way her traditional biography is just as revelatory of larger issues in American society. Gabriel prompts new respect for the feminist who was so scandalous that she was erased from traditional feminist history. Woodhull was an intrepid go-getter who rose from a wooden shack in Ohio to a manor house in England, pausing along the way to become America's first female stockbroker (in 1870) and the first woman to run for president (in 1872).

From School Library Journal
YA?A fine biography of a little-known 19th-century suffragette. Woodhull's achievements read like fiction, especially considering her times. Born into poverty in 1837 to a family largely unconcerned with nuances of the law, she showed great promise early on. Taking advantage of the contemporary enchantment with spiritualism, she and her sister worked as clairvoyants while teenagers. Married at age 15 to an alcoholic and soon the mother of a retarded child, she worked on the stage until summoned home by her sister. The pair traveled as spiritual healers for several years until guided to New York by Victoria's second husband, James Blood, a progressive idealist who encouraged his wife's interest in women's rights. In New York she and her sister procured a patron, millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt, and established a brokerage firm and a newspaper to voice their liberal views. Both succeeded, testifying to Woodhull's capability, credibility, and vision. She ran for President of the U.S and espoused the fledgling Communist cause. She was a promoter of free love, to the horror of the nation. When it was revealed that she lived with her husband, ex-husband, and lover at the same time, she was widely reviled, financially ruined, jailed on trumped-up charges, and hounded out of the country. Young adults will enjoy her story, and marvel at 19th-century morals. A highly readable addition to biography and women's rights shelves.?Catherine Noonan, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Journalist Gabriel wonders why popular historical accounts of the suffrage movement minimize the role of Woodhull, the tireless, bold, flamboyant, and controversial 19th-century advocate of women's equality. Gabriel covers the familiar: Woodhull as the first woman stockbroker and presidential candidate; first woman to address Congress; as well as Woodhull's spiritualist healing practice, the men in her life, her political radicalism and association with Karl Marx's First International, her free-love philosophy and imprisonment for publishing information on sexuality. Gabriel details Woodhull's efforts to practice her belief that women are truly free when they achieve the right to self-ownership. Gabriel feels that Woodhull's disregard of 19th-century sexual and social morality was the reason for being disowned and vilified by the suffrage movement. Gabriel's flowing narrative is a sympathetic biography of a person who seemed to live before her times. Recommended for academic and research libraries.?Charles L. Lumpkins, Pennsylvania State Univ., State College
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.