The Beecher Sisters
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A "rich, varied, sensitive" biography of three nineteenth-century women: an educator, an early feminist, and the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (Publishers Weekly).
Daughters of the famous evangelist Lyman Beecher, Catherine, Harriet, and Isabella could not follow their father and seven brothers into the ministry. Nonetheless, they carved out path-breaking careers for themselves. Catharine Beecher founded the Hartford Female Seminary and devoted her life to improving women's education. Harriet Beecher Stowe became world famous as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. And Isabella Beecher Hooker was an outspoken advocate for women's rights.
This engrossing book is a joint biography of the sisters, whose lives spanned the full course of the nineteenth century. The life of Isabella Beecher—who has never been the subject of a biography—is examined in particular detail here, as Barbara White draws on little used sources to explore Isabella's political development and her interactions with her sisters and with prominent people of the time—from Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Mark Twain.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At a time when few women entered the public sphere, the Beecher sisters made an impressive splash. Harriet Beecher Stowe became world famous after publishing her antislavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, in 1852: 300,000 copies were sold in the United States that year, and she became the unofficial "spokesperson of the anti-slavery movement." The oldest sister, Catharine Beecher, founded the Hartford Female Seminary in the 1820s and published over two dozen books on women's education and religion. Isabella, the youngest sister, has been less celebrated, and White chooses to focus this joint biography on her in part because no full-length biography of her exists, in part because a great deal of primary material on her life is available. The decision to focus on Isabella is a good one. She becomes a leader in the women's movement, intimately associated with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but she is just controversial and flighty enough to ruffle feathers and show the frayed edges of central alliances within the movement. The same holds true for her relationship with her sisters the three women represent very different perspectives on how women ought to participate in the public sphere, and it's usually Isabella's liberal leanings that create rifts within the family. White, professor emeritus of women's studies at the University of New Hampshire, brings to life the details and the ethos of an era; this volume provides not only a rich, varied, sensitive account of the sisters' lives, but a compelling overview of the many groundbreaking acts performed by intelligent, steadfast women during the 19th century. B&w photos.
