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A review by asae324
Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion by Jean H. Baker
3.0
The book is at its' best when it is placing Sanger's stories and experiences within a broader context of other social movements or when tracing the arc of court decisions and legislation. Informative and clear.
The book is at its' worst when it tries to address without really delving into the issue - questions of whether Sanger was a "good" mother, whether her motives were driven by ambition etc. My guess is the author has a lot of messy, complicated, ambivalent feelings about Sanger and knows that those are the topic for another book but cannot quite make peace with how to mention them within her genre. Another example of an issue that peppers the book throughout but that the author never really illuminates is those who criticize Sanger for placing birth control within the province of the medical establishment, especially male doctors. I am guessing that this was a first wave feminist critique of Sanger but have no idea if I'm right because Baker never spells out just who is criticizing Sanger for that and what alternatives her critics believe may have existed through which birth control might have not fallen with the province of the medical establishment and/or men.
The book is at its' worst when it tries to address without really delving into the issue - questions of whether Sanger was a "good" mother, whether her motives were driven by ambition etc. My guess is the author has a lot of messy, complicated, ambivalent feelings about Sanger and knows that those are the topic for another book but cannot quite make peace with how to mention them within her genre. Another example of an issue that peppers the book throughout but that the author never really illuminates is those who criticize Sanger for placing birth control within the province of the medical establishment, especially male doctors. I am guessing that this was a first wave feminist critique of Sanger but have no idea if I'm right because Baker never spells out just who is criticizing Sanger for that and what alternatives her critics believe may have existed through which birth control might have not fallen with the province of the medical establishment and/or men.