A review by samkv
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography by Elaine Showalter

3.0

I've gotten more interested in my ancestry, so read this of my great-great-great grandmother--a poet, author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," early suffragette/women's rights advocate, socialite, and wife of Samuel Gridley Howe-the founder of Perkins School for the Blind. Main takeaways: JWH was an extremely hardworking and dedicated poet and activist, but she was limited by her husband, who despite being progressive in terms of abolition and care for disabled people, was a huge sexist. She made a name for herself despite his efforts to silence her. Showalter uses lots of excerpts from letters and diaries, and hearing how Julia (and other women) were so limited by the lack of birth control was heartbreaking and made me glad to live in a time with many tools at my disposal. More cynically, she sounds like a pretty normal rich entitled white person.