The Icon and the Idealist

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PLUTARCH AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHY

WINNER OF THE ASJA AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY

A riveting history about the little-known rivalry between Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett that profoundly shaped the fight for reproductive rights in America.

In the 1910s, as the American birth control movement was born, two leaders emerged: Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. While Sanger would go on to found Planned Parenthood, Dennett’s name has largely faded from public knowledge. Each held a radically different vision for what bodily autonomy and birth control access should look like in America.

Few are aware of the fierce personal and political rivalry that played out between Sanger and Dennett over decades—a battle that had a profound impact on the lives of American women. Meticulously researched and vividly drawn, The Icon and the Idealist reveals how and why these two women came to activism, the origins of the clash between them, and the ways in which their missteps and breakthroughs have reverberated across American society for generations.

With deep archival scope and rigorous execution, Stephanie Gorton weaves together a personal narrative of two fascinating women and the political history of a country rocked by changing social norms, the Depression, and a fervor for the eugenics movement. Refusing to shy away from the enmeshed struggles of race, class, and gender, Gorton has made a sweeping examination of every force that has come in the way of women’s reproductive freedom.

Brimming with insight and compelling portraits of women’s struggles throughout the twentieth century, The Icon and the Idealist is a comprehensive dual biography of a radical cultural movement.

This sweeping work of women’s history reveals:
A Forgotten Rivalry: Uncover the fierce, decades-long clash between Margaret Sanger, the iconic founder of Planned Parenthood, and the lesser-known but equally pivotal Mary Ware Dennett.The Fight Over the Comstock Act: Delve into the legal battles that defined the era as both women fought to overturn federal obscenity laws and establish a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.Conflicting Visions for a Movement: Explore their two radically different strategies for gaining birth control access—one advocating for medical control and the other for open access and free speech.A Complicated Legacy: Examine the uncomfortable intersections of the birth control movement with the fervor for eugenics and the enmeshed struggles of race, class, and gender that continue to shape the debate today.