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lelia_t's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable and inspiring. I appreciated that Elaine Showalter didn’t gloss over Julia’s failings and foibles or paint her husband out to be a total monster, showing that there was a failure of understanding on both sides. (Not that he's particularly likeable:) Nevertheless, it was inspiring to see how, despite the social limitations imposed on women, Julia learned to be on her own side and pursue the work that was meaningful to her. Her resilience and capacity to reinvent herself was amazing. And I particularly appreciated her pluck and determination as an older woman who wasn’t going to let age deter her.
dsbressette's review against another edition
2.0
2.5/5 stars A bit more academic than I hoped. The blurb on the cover about the book being like a novel was a bit generous.
jdintr's review against another edition
5.0
America could have had its own Bronte.
She was here at the same time, born three days before Queen Victoria. She was born with remarkable resources to care for her needs as she pursued a career in literature--her father was a wealthy Wall Street banker. She certainly had the literary connections, living in Boston as she did and rubbing shoulders with Emerson and Longfellow regularly. She had a drive, if not a talent, that would have made her the equal of any writer, male or female.
So why do we know so little of Julia Ward Howe--outside of her remarkable poem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"?
That's the question that Elaine Showalter seeks to answer in The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe. Showalter lays out Howe's history, and follows her into the Black Hole of a marriage that consumed 30 years of her life. Howe's husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, was himself a striver, and typical of most husbands of the age, would not countenance a wife with an agenda of her own. Even as JWH relentlessly pursued her interests in poetry and drama, SGH blocked her, browbeat her, chided her for her ambition and single-mindedness.
The book could easily have been drawn into the maelstrom of marriage and never gotten out, but the final act of the book, as JWH becomes a suffragette and beloved elder stateswoman is inspiring and redeeming. Every chapter of this book was better than the previous one, and I was openly cheering for JWH.
Showalter's sense of literature helps the narrative. She takes breaks to compare JWH with contemporarites like Bronte and Walt Whitman. She doesn't try to oversell JWH's poetry--it doesn't really hold up--but she presents it and analyzes it wonderfully.
She could have been a Bronte or a George Sand. In Elaine Showalter's book, somehow JWH becomes something much more: an icon for American women, if not American writers.
She was here at the same time, born three days before Queen Victoria. She was born with remarkable resources to care for her needs as she pursued a career in literature--her father was a wealthy Wall Street banker. She certainly had the literary connections, living in Boston as she did and rubbing shoulders with Emerson and Longfellow regularly. She had a drive, if not a talent, that would have made her the equal of any writer, male or female.
So why do we know so little of Julia Ward Howe--outside of her remarkable poem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"?
That's the question that Elaine Showalter seeks to answer in The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe. Showalter lays out Howe's history, and follows her into the Black Hole of a marriage that consumed 30 years of her life. Howe's husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, was himself a striver, and typical of most husbands of the age, would not countenance a wife with an agenda of her own. Even as JWH relentlessly pursued her interests in poetry and drama, SGH blocked her, browbeat her, chided her for her ambition and single-mindedness.
The book could easily have been drawn into the maelstrom of marriage and never gotten out, but the final act of the book, as JWH becomes a suffragette and beloved elder stateswoman is inspiring and redeeming. Every chapter of this book was better than the previous one, and I was openly cheering for JWH.
Showalter's sense of literature helps the narrative. She takes breaks to compare JWH with contemporarites like Bronte and Walt Whitman. She doesn't try to oversell JWH's poetry--it doesn't really hold up--but she presents it and analyzes it wonderfully.
She could have been a Bronte or a George Sand. In Elaine Showalter's book, somehow JWH becomes something much more: an icon for American women, if not American writers.
charityjohnson's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent biography.
I would like to have known more about her childhood, as it seems light in that regard.
Having just read "Teacher"- a biography of Annie Sullivan and her trials, as well as her interactions with the husband of Julia Ward Howe, I came to this with a smattering of information about her husband Mr Howe, who insists on going by the nickname "Chev."
Chev Howe was the head of the Perkins School for the Blind. If I recollect correctly, Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller did not see eye to eye with Chev Howe.
It seems women of money and station, as Julia Ward How was, fared little better than their poorer counterparts in the 19th century.
At this point I am almost at its end, so this review is slightly premature. Had the passages of her early poetry been omitted, I may have given it 5 stars. But rarely do!
I would like to have known more about her childhood, as it seems light in that regard.
Having just read "Teacher"- a biography of Annie Sullivan and her trials, as well as her interactions with the husband of Julia Ward Howe, I came to this with a smattering of information about her husband Mr Howe, who insists on going by the nickname "Chev."
Chev Howe was the head of the Perkins School for the Blind. If I recollect correctly, Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller did not see eye to eye with Chev Howe.
It seems women of money and station, as Julia Ward How was, fared little better than their poorer counterparts in the 19th century.
At this point I am almost at its end, so this review is slightly premature. Had the passages of her early poetry been omitted, I may have given it 5 stars. But rarely do!
acejolras's review
2.0
I have a feeling the author really wanted to do an academic paper on Howe’s poetry, but for whatever reason couched in a biography that could have a more mainstream audience. The main addition to this work over other biographies was the dissection of Howe’s unhappy marriage. Overall I found there just wasn’t enough there for a full length book - Battle Hymn came to Howe one night in a dream, which seems more like a fun anecdote than the basis for a whole narrative. I think her children expressed it well that they were surprised their mother’s legacy has become well known, while their father is rarely discussed, though it was the opposite in life.
Then there were the several big yikes moments. In the introduction, the author explicitly says the success of Battle Hymn is what allowed Howe to “emancipate” herself...no more explanation needed there. In discussing Howe’s husband’s school for the blind, she likens a blind pupil wearing a ribbon around her eyes (by what seems to be personal preference) as the same as Jews being forced into ghettos and made to wear yellow stars.
One more interesting fact I learned was Howe had written much of an unfinished novel about a “hermaphrodite.” I don’t disagree with the author that this was a device meant to explore gender roles, but it was very disappointing that there was not a single mention on how the term shouldn’t be used and that Howe’s work reflects nothing of the actual intersex experience.
Then there were the several big yikes moments. In the introduction, the author explicitly says the success of Battle Hymn is what allowed Howe to “emancipate” herself...no more explanation needed there. In discussing Howe’s husband’s school for the blind, she likens a blind pupil wearing a ribbon around her eyes (by what seems to be personal preference) as the same as Jews being forced into ghettos and made to wear yellow stars.
One more interesting fact I learned was Howe had written much of an unfinished novel about a “hermaphrodite.” I don’t disagree with the author that this was a device meant to explore gender roles, but it was very disappointing that there was not a single mention on how the term shouldn’t be used and that Howe’s work reflects nothing of the actual intersex experience.
tonstantweader's review
4.0
I have been eagerly waiting for The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe to work its way up the hold list at the library ever since I read a little paragraph promoting it. I was intrigued by the suggestion that her own life was a civil war seeking her own emancipation. It is written by Elaine Showalter who writes with an engaging style and who occasionally addresses to the reader directly. She knows what we’re asking and she pauses to answer. It is unusual approach and I liked it.
I was captured by the book on page 13 when Julia Ward wrote about first reading George Sand. When she was young, her father carefully censored her reading, only some Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Shelley, and hymns. Her brother came home from a trip to Europe and she snuck some books from his library, including this shocking book by this shocking woman. “We knew our parents would not have us read her, if they knew. Yet we read her at stolen hours…the atmosphere grew warm and glorious about us,—a true human company, a living sympathy crept near us—the very world seemed not the same world after as before.” She began to write and even published a few poems.
Read the rest of the review at
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/the-civil-wars-of-julia-ward-howe-by-elaine-showalter/
I was captured by the book on page 13 when Julia Ward wrote about first reading George Sand. When she was young, her father carefully censored her reading, only some Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Shelley, and hymns. Her brother came home from a trip to Europe and she snuck some books from his library, including this shocking book by this shocking woman. “We knew our parents would not have us read her, if they knew. Yet we read her at stolen hours…the atmosphere grew warm and glorious about us,—a true human company, a living sympathy crept near us—the very world seemed not the same world after as before.” She began to write and even published a few poems.
Read the rest of the review at
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/the-civil-wars-of-julia-ward-howe-by-elaine-showalter/
emilyesears's review
3.0
This is a study of the life of Julia Ward Howe, first through the lenses of how she was suppressed by her strict father and then by her domineering husband. It then shifts to show how through publishing her poetry and giving talks on philosophy and, later, women's rights, she came into her own talents and became a beloved American icon. Of course, this rising fame came predominantly through her poem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
This book is super-engaging and reads quickly--my copy only had 300 pages, the last 50 being references/notes/index. I finished it in 3 days, so I would recommend it to anybody looking for a fast-paced nonfiction.
My Transcendentalism-loving heart enjoyed this book due to the fact that Julia and her husband were very much on the fringes of Transcendentalism. Julia interacted with Louisa May Alcott (who found Julia snobby!), Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and basically all your Transcendentalist faves.
On the whole, Julia was a privileged women with a love for socializing and the finer things in life who eventually found a passion for speaking out for underprivileged groups, including women, slaves, immigrants, and more.
This book is super-engaging and reads quickly--my copy only had 300 pages, the last 50 being references/notes/index. I finished it in 3 days, so I would recommend it to anybody looking for a fast-paced nonfiction.
My Transcendentalism-loving heart enjoyed this book due to the fact that Julia and her husband were very much on the fringes of Transcendentalism. Julia interacted with Louisa May Alcott (who found Julia snobby!), Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and basically all your Transcendentalist faves.
On the whole, Julia was a privileged women with a love for socializing and the finer things in life who eventually found a passion for speaking out for underprivileged groups, including women, slaves, immigrants, and more.
giddypony's review
4.0
This is the story of two very gifted people that never learned to communicate. While the author is solidly in Julia's camp, it is clear that both Samuel Howe and Julia behaved badly - to the point it almost seems they were doing things to antagonize each other. I thought it odd that the author blames Samuel for his physical ailments and Julia is blameless (even though Samuel wanted a divorce and she refused.)
However, the binds of patriarchy were what destroyed them both. Had they lived in a framework where the man did not always have to be correct, and have few emotions and a woman could explore her gifts they perhaps would have been well suited as both were intellectual powerhouses.
However, the binds of patriarchy were what destroyed them both. Had they lived in a framework where the man did not always have to be correct, and have few emotions and a woman could explore her gifts they perhaps would have been well suited as both were intellectual powerhouses.
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