Free Love: The Story of a Great American Scandal

by Robert Shaplen, Louis Menand (Foreword)

On the night of July 3, 1870, Elizabeth Tilton confessed to her husband that she’d had an affair with their pastor, Henry Ward Beecher. This secret would soon transfix America, for Beecher was the most famous preacher of the day, founder of the most fashionable church in Brooklyn Heights, a presidential hopeful, an influential supporter of Abolition, and a leader of the campaign for women’s suffrage.

When Beecher tried to silence the Tiltons, it was a whisper network of suffragists, notably Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who spread news of the affair, and it was the radical Victoria Woodhull—an outspoken proponent of “free love”—who seized on it, as political dynamite, to blow up the myth of monogamy among the political elite. Her public accusations led to even more public trials, which shocked the country and divided the most progressive thinkers of the era.

In 1953, the journalist Robert Shaplen revisited the Tilton-Beecher affair in a series of articles for the New Yorker, relying on 3,000 pages of contemporary accounts—court transcripts, love-letters, newspaper reports and illustrations, even political cartoons—to reanimate a scandal that shook the American reform movement and to expose a strand of America’s cultural DNA that remains recognizable today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, American History

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Branden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and found it very interesting to read about such a scandal that occurred over a hundred and forty years ago in America. The writing is down well, though reading through the original letters and writings was a trudge at times. I would recommend to anyone that enjoys learning about early American culture to give it a read.

[Harry Smith]

It is true that I live in an agony of soul daily; nevertheless, I am profoundly happy in my privileges, opportunities, and blessings.

----
A: I had relied upon him.
Q: entirely?
A: entirely.

[Melody Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Men are the absolute scum of this earth I’m so angry

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprises at various turns. Lost my attention and then got it back.
Victoria Woodhull deserves more press.

[Ben Kruskal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating true story of late 19th century America, by a New Yorker writer--so written in a fairly light and easy style to consume. The country's most famous preacher has an affair with a congregant--and it turns out she's not the first. A contemporary theme that of course is not new at all. In this case, it was a very big juicy story, involving betrayals (of friends as well as spouses), business interests entangled with the feelings about the affairs, and getting caught up in big currents in American life, including "free love", feminism, spiritusalism as well as spirituality, and a huge courtroom drama with a trial lasting 6 months. It's livened up with occasional relevant real newspaper illustrations about the events--which being the 1890s were engravings rather than photos.

Fascinating as well as entertaining. Not quite reading like a novel, but not far off.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and disturbing. The biggest preacher of his day was a serial adulterer and a liar (surprise surprise). The scandal and court case around his adultery consumed months and months of coverage that spanned the world and looked into every nook and cranny of the situation. Shaplen wrote a no-nonsense, just the facts account that shows just how odd all Victorian era Americans seem to be. Spiritualism, free love, communism, hysteria, and the always reliable corrupt clergy are features of this tale.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recounting of the Henry Ward Beecher adultery scandal that rocked 19th century America, and shows that humanity has not really changed all that much in the last 150 years. Students of more recent sex scandals will recognize the hypocrisy, the need for ancillary characters to make the drama about themselves, the insistent that critics needed to grow up, and the justifying that the principal figures were entitled.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

DRAMA!!!! I do not usually thrive on it, or on stories of it, but the reporting on this late 19th century scandal is great, the prose impeccable, and the real-life characters involved fascinating (celebrity pastor, suffragettes, a lady candidate for president, and more). Unfortunately only solidifies a grim grim view of unenlightened menfolk.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️