American Jezebel

"[A] fast-paced and elegant. . . . stimulating . . . first-rate biography . . .of a much-neglected figure in early American religious history." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

In 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner "not comely for [her] sex."

Written by one of Hutchinson's direct descendants, American Jezebel brings both balance and perspective to Hutchinson's story. It captures this American heroine's life in all its complexity, presenting her not as a religious fanatic, a cardboard feminist, or a raging crank—as some have portrayed her—but as a flesh-and-blood wife, mother, theologian, and political leader.

The seeds of the American struggle for women's and human rights can be found in the story of this one woman's courageous life. American Jezebel illuminates the origins of our modern concepts of religious freedom, equal rights, and free speech, and showcases an extraordinary woman whose achievements are astonishing by the standards of any era.

"A fascinating portrait . . . deftly depicts the gritty world of colonial New England, too." —Booklist

"[A] powerful biography of a woman who refused to still her voice." —Dallas Morning News

"A powerful and fascinating book that deserves wide reading." —Boston Globe

"[LaPlante is] the master of biography as thriller . . . an enthralling narrative." —New York Sun