REVIEWS
eradication of "what actually hap-
because the system of slavery was
pened." So Marshall, unlike Hunt,
destroyed by it, Kentuckians, by and
does not validate the accounts she
large, rejected the Union cause that
she repeatedly
they had formerly supported. Both
reveals how "Civil War Memory"
Hunt and Marshall explore the role
does not square with the facts. And,
that whiteness played in shaping
ironically, she wants her readers to
these two quite different views of the
explores-instead,
remember what the actors in her nar-
Civil War. As it turned out, the win-
rative forgot.
ners and the losers had one common
The most significant common
lapse of "memory" that would not be
feature of these two books is not,
dealt with directly until the civil
however, their consideration of mem-
rights era. What will we remember
ory versus facts. More strikingly, both
next?
authors discover racism as the prevalent motivation in the alterations that
RICHARD SEARS is Tripp Professor of
Civil War "memory" performs on his-
the
tory.
soldiers
(retired). He is the author of Camp
claimed the moral victory of emanci-
Nelson: A Civil War History (2002);
pation without facing the failure of
and A Utopian Experiment in Ken-
Reconstruction or the position of
tucky: Integrationand Social Equality
at Berea, 1866-1904 (1996).
The
Cumberland
freed slaves in postwar America;
Humanities,
Berea
College
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
An American Life
By Lori D. Ginzberg
(New York: Hill and Wang, 2009. Pp. 254. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Paperbound,
$16.00.)
Through a detailed and engaging
of evolving conceptions of gender
biography, Lori Ginzberg has attempt-
within the dynamic nineteenth-cen-
ed to humanize the larger-than-life
tury political debates
women's rights reformer, Elizabeth
women's and African American rights
Cady Stanton. Culling rich primary
that, as Ginzberg aptly shows, both
resources, Ginzberg explores Stanton's
unified and polarized reformers them-
often strained personal relationships,
selves. Stanton was, in Ginzberg's
her ever-changing reform activities,
telling, an "extraordinary American
and the complicated connections
who, in many respects, lived a very
between
the two.
Additionally,
over both
ordinary life" (p. 8).
Ginzberg attempts to place Stanton
Ginzberg argues that Stanton was
and her activism within the context
one of the first reformers to devote
391
392
INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
her considerable intellectual and per-
the
suasive powers exclusively to the
research, Ginzberg successfully pres-
cause of women's rights and that, in
ents the image of a woman at times
the process, she came to define fem-
blinded by her own dedication to the
inism and feminist reforms for gen-
cause of women's rights and never
erations. However, as Ginzberg ably
truly invested in abolition, making
demonstrates, Stanton was also a
it logical for Stanton to argue against
mother
the
the cause of African American rights
demands of raising a large family, a
when she saw the Fifteenth Amend-
wife who mourned a strained and dis-
ment as detrimental
tant relationship with her husband, a
suffrage.
who struggled
with
use of
exceptional
primary
to women's
friend who frequently misunderstood
Sadly, the subsequent chapters
the needs of those who cared most
examining the period from 1868 to
about her, and a woman who loved
the end of Stanton's life in 1902 are
comfort and luxury to the point of
not as detailed or as brilliant as the
hypocrisy.
first section of the work. However,
The greatest contribution of this
they still provide interesting insights
work lies in its early chapters, where
into the early functioning of the
Ginzberg explores Stanton's attrac-
National Women's Suffrage Associa-
her
tion, the writing of the Women's
abolitionist
Bible, and Stanton's other extensive
cause, and her integral role in the
women's rights activism during this
women's rights movement up to the
period. Ginzberg's gift for culling a
passage of the Fifteenth Amend-
wide variety of primary sources is also
ment.
is
prevalent in these chapters, as she
Ginzberg's exploration of a number
explores Stanton's complicated per-
surrounding
sonal and professional relationship
Stanton's childhood and early reform
with Susan B. Anthony, the reactions
activities and their impact on her
of other reformers to her personality
tion
to reform movements,
involvement
in
the
Particularly
valuable
of prevalent myths
work.
and her activism, as well as her
Ginzberg contends that Stanton's
strained and at times heartbreaking
own fastidious editing of her papers
connections to her family.
ultimate
women's
rights
resulted in inaccurate accounts of
Overall, Elizabeth Cady Stanton:
the reformer's early activism, includ-
An American Life provides a valuable
ing the well-known gender discrim-
contribution to nineteenth-century
ination
American
that
she
faced
on
her
reform
history.
Lori
honeymoon at the World Anti-Slav-
Ginzberg fills a substantial need in
ery Convention. The result of such
the historiography of the women's
changes was to inflate her impor-
rights movement, providing a well-
tance within, and her dedication to,
researched and accessible biography,
the abolitionist movement. Through
and ably demonstrating that Eliza-
REVIEWS
beth Cady Stanton was at once a
MICHELE GRIGSBY COFFEY is Visiting
remarkable intellectual, a vastly influ-
Assistant Professor of History and
ential reformer, and a complex and
Southern Studies at the University of
flawed human being.
Mississippi.
Hamlin Garland, PrairieRadical
Writings from the 1890s
Edited by Donald Pizer
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010. Pp. xxvii, 162. Notes, index. $45.00.)
Hamlin Garland's standing in con-
The figure that emerges in these
temporary American literary studies
pages is, however, not always entire-
rests largely on his tales of the Mid-
ly persuasive. After a typically thor-
dle Border found in Main-Travelled
ough and informative introduction
Roads (1891), a collection of short
from Pizer that emphasizes the per-
stories that present an honest and
sonal motivations behind Garland's
often excoriating portrait of mid-
work and that highlights, especially,
western farm life in the 1880s. For a
the importance of Henry George and
while he was an essential reference
Herbert Spencer to his intellectual for-
point in the history and teaching of
mation, the book splits into two sec-
American realism and naturalism, but
tions: four examples of his Middle
his stock fell sharply in the culture
Border fiction not previously collect-
wars of the 1970s and '80s, and it has
ed, and a small but indicative selec-
only been with the recovery of local
tion of "Social, Political, and Critical
color writing and regionalism in the
Writing" that captures the anger and
last twenty years that his name has
vigor of Garland's early life. The fic-
begun to creep back into mainstream
tion is a welcome addition to Garland
academic discussion. Donald Pizer's
scholarship and will prove invaluable
collection attempts to contribute to
to a fuller picture of his literary out-
this small resurrection of Garland's
put, but does present a vision of mid-
reputation, and does so not by reiter-
western
ating his position within the field of
forbiddingly hopeless. The first story,
regional
farm
life
that
can
be
fiction but by bringing
"A Common Case" (1888), tells of a
together for the first time a series of
work-worn woman dying from can-
his writings from the late 1880s and
cer whose delirious and desperate
'90s-the "first act" of his career,
final moments are spent denouncing
before he turned to writing more con-
her entire life, particularly her hus-
ventional
band; "John Boyle's Conclusion" (also
romantic
novels-that
reveal him as an engaged and some-
1888), whose eponymous character
times radical political writer.
is driven to suicide by failed crops and
393