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Rating:  - (4.5 stars) Why don't they teach this in school?
The more I read historical fiction the more convinced I am that the educational system in America is completely inadequate (and I went to a supposedly college prep school!) "Sex Wars" by Marge Percy is a particularly good example of that failure. There is so much in this novel about women's history that should not be forgotten-especially now. There is information in this book that should be taught to everyone so that we can keep from backsliding into a nation where once again women are treated as children, with no control over their own bodies, legal matters, property, freedom or children.
"Sex Wars" is really four stories is one, though they all intertwine and weave a larger message of the battle that women faced for equality in the last quarter of the 19th century. Though the back of the book claims that the novel mainly follows Freydeh, a young Jewish woman searching for her sister in New York City and along the way she meets some of the largest influences of the age, in reality it is divided up between her and three others. The first suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Victoria Woodhull sexual freethinker and the first woman to run for president, and Anthony Comstock founder of the society for the suppression of Vice; they all have a voice in this book.
In truth the novel does follow Freydeh as she searches for her sister, but also as she begins to adopt street children to care for and begins a burgeoning condom making business so that she can make enough money to feed, cloth and house herself and her adopted children, as well as sending money back to her home country for her family to immigrate on. But it also follows Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as they fight with abolitionists to get equal time for their cause and with proper ladies who aren't ready to truly fight-not just talk politely- for equality. And Victoria Woodhull, who grew up in a family of con men but pulled herself out using her smarts and the conviction that she was meant to be a great leader some day but was constantly in scandal because of her family, belief in spiritualism and her practice of free love. And last but certainly not least is Anthony Comstock whose rampant censorship seems to be based on true fear of women and young people's corruption, which sees as leading to death.
Told in expansive, highly descriptive third person, this is a novel that truly is about the sex wars. Every person in this book is fighting in their way-sometimes simply by insisting on making a living independent of men-for equality or dominance. And not only are they fighting over the ideals of the day but against thousands of years of oppression and inequality. It's a mighty task.
This book was a revelation to me. It is crammed full of facts that they just don't teach you in school (such as: a married woman couldn't sign legal documents but a single one could, women could not testify in court because it was considered indecent, anatomical books were considered to be pornography) as well as the accounts of just some of the numerous men and women who worked their whole lives to create a better world where all are equal. In every way it is an inspiring book and I am glad to have read it.
However it's also a slow starter and a bit hard to get really absorbed in because of the constantly shifting perspective. For about the first one hundred seventy five pages I wasn't sure if this was a book I could finish, but after that it became impossible to put down.
This is a book everyone should read. If only to see how far we all have come in the last hundred and thirty years and what we could possibly loose.
Four point five stars. I look forward to reading more of this author's work!.
Rating:  - Another gem from Marge Piercy
My husband and I often read the same books, and it was particularly enjoyable to share this one together. We don't agree with the previous reviews. We loved the ways that Piercy wove together historical information with the characters lives. We were both so inspired by Victoria Woodhull that we got her biography from the library and combed through that as well. I have always liked the ways that Piercy shifts time frames and social contexts, helping the reader to imagine him or herself in the shoes and worlds of those characters. She makes history breathe with sensuality, passion, anxiety and corruption, and brings a critical analysis to her stories. I would like her to take on the topic of Jewish and Black social activists collaborating during the Civil Rights period, the effect of the McCarthy period on social activist families, and more reconstructive visions of the future from her understandings of the global justice movement. Go, Marge, Go. My other all-time favorite of hers is HE, SHE and IT.
Rating: - Quasi-Fictitious, Real Life Characters
Utterly fascinating. An exceptional book.
Weaves truth with fiction, making for a very informative, highly readable historical account of those years (in New York) right after the Civil War, and into Reconstruction (although Reconstruction is not discussed an any great length here, the well-read individual who pursues her/his interest in the Civil War and its aftermath may find some points of comparison and contrast when comparing the Reconstruction years in New York City with those in the South).
This narrative contains vivid descriptions of this period of immigration of millions of individuals who endured lives of varying degrees of poverty (much of it abject) and livelihoods of varying degrees on the streets of New York, some of it good -- much of it harsh, AND inventive.
It also brings to the fore the "Robber Barons" and the elite Rich who raced through Central Park and visited their madams and houses of prostitution -- and Women's Suffrage; initially in the background, then racing to the forefront, with varying degrees of success with setbacks, division, and imprisonment -- struggling along, then gathering speed and sureness, then splitting along divided lines, yet still gaining momentum.
And all through this narrative one finds Anthony Comstock, his notorious ways, and the Comstock Laws, meddling in and ruining the lives of many honest and dishonest shopkeepers and women trying to earn their daily bread by making condoms or selling or distributing birth control pamphlets.
The descriptions of the street gangs, the dirt and squalor, the honest individuals trying to make a living, the Woodhull sisters and their cunning ability to reach the hearts and minds and purses of those in power, the various personalities inhabiting the alleys and shacks, the 5th Avenue "castles" and whorehouses -- and then the fictional but highly possible life and quests of Freydeh and her orphans -- keeps the reader spellbound.
There is a wealth of information here about Women's Suffrage in the early days; initially Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony - two opposites who work together nonetheless, as major agents for change and reform, AND the Woodhull sisters, advocates of Free Love -- who started the first successful stockbrokerage run by women (scans of their newsletters can be found on the Internet) who then joined forces for a while with those two formidable suffragettes, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony (and caused a scandal among the other Suffragettes because of their Free Love stance).
I consider this book not only a great "read", but also fertile grounds and a springboard for further research into Women's Suffrage and the immigrant experience in New York City in that period immediately after the Civil War.
Rating: - Terrific Read
Most exciting historical novel I've read in ages, set in an unusual time, just after the Civil War. It follows several very different people, including the leading "first wave" feminists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Victoria Woodhull, along with the puritannical moral campaigner Anthony Comstock, and a struggling recent Jewish immigrant and her family. I could hardly put the book down as it ranged from one group of characters to another, and I found it just delicious. Other reviewers have felt that the dialogue was wooden, but it didn't bother me in the least, and it's an easy read, not a sociology text. It's so important to be reminded how bad life was for women and how hard women had to fight to change the laws and society. Well-written and of interest to feminists, those interested in the 19th century spiritualist movement, and the experiences of immigrants in New York City.
Rating: - Great Read -Women Lives in Post-Civil War Times
I really enjoyed reading Sex Wars. Many of the characters were real people (especially women) fighting to live out their goals and dreams in the 1870's and 1880's. When I finished the book I had to immediately look up the real life stories of Victoria Woodhull (notorious free love speaker, stockbroker and medium), Anthony Comstock (fighter of profanity who goes too far), Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Vanderbilt. The fictional character of Freydah was great too. She really made me imagine what it would be like to be an immigrant back in the late 1800's -as a woman who lost her spouse, as a non native speaker, without spousal support, without money, and without laws protecting her from harm and unfairness, and as someone who had to work tirelessly just to make it and fight against prejudice and the social grain. -How different life was for the single woman and the married woman. This book truly highlights this.
I liked the structure of the book and found it suspenseful. Each chapter was from a different character's point of view and would then rotate back to each character again chapter by chapter. This book helped me to see a glimpse of what America was like during this time period. It helps one see how the events and attitudes of the past frame and contribute to the politics and attitudes that we have today -especially concerning women. It is so interesting to think about the people who come before us. The only things I found not so great: I felt Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who are incredible women to me could have been written about a little more interestingly.
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