The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe, Elaine Showalter
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe, Elaine Showalter
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The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe
A Biography

Author: Elaine Showalter

Narrator: Hillary Huber

Unabridged: 10 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/05/2016

Synopsis


Julia Ward (1819–1910) was an heiress and aspiring poet when she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an internationally acclaimed pioneer in the education of the blind. Together the Howes knew many of the key figures of their era, from Charles Dickens to John Brown. But Samuel also wasted Julia's inheritance, isolated and discouraged her, and opposed her literary ambitions. Julia persisted, and continued to publish poems and plays while raising six children.

Authorship of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" made her celebrated and revered. But Julia was also continuing to fight a civil war at home; she became a pacifist, suffragist, and world traveler. She came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women's rights and social reform. Esteemed author Elaine Showalter tells the story of Howe's determined self-creation and brings to life the society she inhabited and the obstacles she overcame.

About Elaine Showalter

Elaine Showalter, emeritus professor of English at Princeton University, combines scholarly expertise in English and American literature with a passion for a wide range of cultural subjects. She is the author or coauthor of many books, including A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx, which was awarded the Truman Capote Prize for Literary Criticism. Her writing has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, People, and Vogue.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on February 02, 2016

Growing up in the Dark Ages of the 1950s I had to search hard to find female role models. Not that my teachers were not great; I admired them immensely. I longed for women who were heroic and brave--and not fictional. In junior high I read began reading biographies: Jane Addams, Clara Barton, Floren......more

Goodreads review by Anne on March 23, 2016

A fascinating examination of the life of a 19th-century woman with tremendous talent and energy who managed to overcome her husband's attempts to stifle her. Oh, and she wrote "The Battle-Hymn of the Republic."......more

Goodreads review by Derek on July 17, 2023

This is almost a dual biography of Julia Ward Howe and her almost equally famous husband, but perhaps that’s one of the points a feminist historian needs to make: the story of even the most famous historian can hardly be told without reference to her make minders. I did love the book. It’s extremely......more

Goodreads review by Mary on March 28, 2016

You know... I liked this. A solid like. I'm not much of a biography person, but I heard about this on NPR and then read about it in The NYT Book Review and, well, it hit a bunch of my personal sweet spots. A smart woman, born before her time, desperate to write -- hemmed in by family obligations and......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on July 15, 2021

An excellent biography that reads more like a novel, this book does not disappoint. We learn about the struggles Julia Ward Howe had in her life: marital, literary, and spiritual. This was an epiphany for me; I only knew her as author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The author does a great job......more

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