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The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe
“Unfailingly vivid—and fair-minded” — The Atlantic
“Riveting” — The New York Times Book Review
“A biography with the verve and pace of a delicious novel...a polemic and a pleasure.” — The Boston Globe
The first biography to reveal Julia Ward Howe—the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic —as a feminist pioneer who fought her own battle for creative freedom and independence.
Julia Ward (1819–1910) was a heiress and aspiring poet when she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an internationally-acclaimed pioneer in the education of the blind. Together the Howes knew many of the key figures of their era, from Charles Dickens to John Brown. But he also wasted her inheritance, isolated and discouraged her, and opposed her literary ambitions. Julia persisted, and continued to publish poems and plays while raising six children.
Authorship of the Battle Hymn of the Republic made her celebrated and revered. But Julia was also continuing to fight a civil war at home; she became a pacifist, suffragist, and world traveler. She came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women’s rights and social reform. Esteemed author Elaine Showalter tells the story of Howe’s determined self-creation and brings to life the society she inhabited and the obstacles she overcame.
“Riveting” — The New York Times Book Review
“A biography with the verve and pace of a delicious novel...a polemic and a pleasure.” — The Boston Globe
The first biography to reveal Julia Ward Howe—the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic —as a feminist pioneer who fought her own battle for creative freedom and independence.
Julia Ward (1819–1910) was a heiress and aspiring poet when she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an internationally-acclaimed pioneer in the education of the blind. Together the Howes knew many of the key figures of their era, from Charles Dickens to John Brown. But he also wasted her inheritance, isolated and discouraged her, and opposed her literary ambitions. Julia persisted, and continued to publish poems and plays while raising six children.
Authorship of the Battle Hymn of the Republic made her celebrated and revered. But Julia was also continuing to fight a civil war at home; she became a pacifist, suffragist, and world traveler. She came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women’s rights and social reform. Esteemed author Elaine Showalter tells the story of Howe’s determined self-creation and brings to life the society she inhabited and the obstacles she overcame.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 8, 2016
47 people are currently reading
1421 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Showalter
77 books143 followersElaine Showalter is an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues. She is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in United States academia, developing the concept and practice of gynocritics.
She is well known and respected in both academic and popular cultural fields. She has written and edited numerous books and articles focussed on a variety of subjects, from feminist literary criticism to fashion, sometimes sparking widespread controversy, especially with her work on illnesses. Showalter has been a television critic for People magazine and a commentator on BBC radio and television.
(source: Wikipedia)
She is well known and respected in both academic and popular cultural fields. She has written and edited numerous books and articles focussed on a variety of subjects, from feminist literary criticism to fashion, sometimes sparking widespread controversy, especially with her work on illnesses. Showalter has been a television critic for People magazine and a commentator on BBC radio and television.
(source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
April 25, 2016
While most remember Julia Ward Howe as the writer of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, she was a noted poet and lecturer before and after this. She broke the glass ceiling in Boston's literary circles despite being undermined by her husband and by the misogyny of the era. As she experienced the inordinate legal and social power a man had over his wife, she became a feminist, advocating a broad agenda including voting rights for women.
At age 24 she married a man who despite a 20 year age difference, appeared to be a good match. The handsome Samuel Howe was an adventurer, a reformer, an altruist and well connected to Boston’s intellectual community. Julia brought scholarship, music, charm and wealth to the match, but quickly learned that none of it was valued. As far as his wife was concerned, Samuel Howe was a Taliban.
Author Elaine Showalter shows how Julia came to understand this dynamic and described her coping strategies. Forbidden to publish, she did it secretly. She couched her loveless and emotionally abusive marriage into her poems and plays and was credited with an authentic voice.
Howe’s cruelty to his wife is shown as both petty and significant. It is notable compared with his commitments and other behavior. He was an abolitionist who supported rights for former slaves. He ran an institution for the blind where his star pupil was a female. He seems to be a devoted father and seemed to favor two of his daughters over his son. Was he envious? Was he threatened by Julia’s strength and intellect? Was he in love with someone else? In his eyes, was Julia a snob?
This is a short book with many cameos (Florence Nightingale, Charles Dickens, Margaret Fuller, Horace Mann, Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes and several presidents to name a few) that show the social reach of what might be a power couple of its day. Other notables such as Charles Sumner and John Brown that had an larger impact on their lives and have more text devoted to them.
There is a lot of travel, to Europe, Cuba, New Orleans and across the US. A bibliography shows that some works on this travel (and on Horace Binney Wallace, whom Julia met in Italy) are available.
There are a good number of B & W photos. The index worked for my needs. A chart of the family showing the birth, death and marriage dates of her children and grandchildren would have been helpful.
This is an eye opening work recommended for those interested in Victorian family dynamics or in the early feminists and their era.
At age 24 she married a man who despite a 20 year age difference, appeared to be a good match. The handsome Samuel Howe was an adventurer, a reformer, an altruist and well connected to Boston’s intellectual community. Julia brought scholarship, music, charm and wealth to the match, but quickly learned that none of it was valued. As far as his wife was concerned, Samuel Howe was a Taliban.
Author Elaine Showalter shows how Julia came to understand this dynamic and described her coping strategies. Forbidden to publish, she did it secretly. She couched her loveless and emotionally abusive marriage into her poems and plays and was credited with an authentic voice.
Howe’s cruelty to his wife is shown as both petty and significant. It is notable compared with his commitments and other behavior. He was an abolitionist who supported rights for former slaves. He ran an institution for the blind where his star pupil was a female. He seems to be a devoted father and seemed to favor two of his daughters over his son. Was he envious? Was he threatened by Julia’s strength and intellect? Was he in love with someone else? In his eyes, was Julia a snob?
This is a short book with many cameos (Florence Nightingale, Charles Dickens, Margaret Fuller, Horace Mann, Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes and several presidents to name a few) that show the social reach of what might be a power couple of its day. Other notables such as Charles Sumner and John Brown that had an larger impact on their lives and have more text devoted to them.
There is a lot of travel, to Europe, Cuba, New Orleans and across the US. A bibliography shows that some works on this travel (and on Horace Binney Wallace, whom Julia met in Italy) are available.
There are a good number of B & W photos. The index worked for my needs. A chart of the family showing the birth, death and marriage dates of her children and grandchildren would have been helpful.
This is an eye opening work recommended for those interested in Victorian family dynamics or in the early feminists and their era.
March 6, 2016
3.5
I won this book thru GoodReads giveaway. Here is my honest opinion.
Very interesting for me as I had seen this name in history but never knew anything about Howe. I must've known somewhere down the line that she had written The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I did know she was a feminist.
She married a man almost twenty years her senior. He was not very enlightened, even for the mid 1800s. He was, in fact, pretty much a jerk. Howe published a number of works in her lifetime and at different times in her life she was fairly celebrated.
She had six children and only one failed to make it to adulthood. Howe was not always loving towards her husband or children. Her work was more important.
The book is written well and would make for a great novel. Lots going on. The book kept my attention and I enjoyed the read. Would recommend to history lovers and anyone who wants to find out more about this remarkable woman.
Thanks GoodReads!
I won this book thru GoodReads giveaway. Here is my honest opinion.
Very interesting for me as I had seen this name in history but never knew anything about Howe. I must've known somewhere down the line that she had written The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I did know she was a feminist.
She married a man almost twenty years her senior. He was not very enlightened, even for the mid 1800s. He was, in fact, pretty much a jerk. Howe published a number of works in her lifetime and at different times in her life she was fairly celebrated.
She had six children and only one failed to make it to adulthood. Howe was not always loving towards her husband or children. Her work was more important.
The book is written well and would make for a great novel. Lots going on. The book kept my attention and I enjoyed the read. Would recommend to history lovers and anyone who wants to find out more about this remarkable woman.
Thanks GoodReads!
February 2, 2016
Growing up in the Dark Ages of the 1950s I had to search hard to find female role models. Not that my teachers were not great; I admired them immensely. I longed for women who were heroic and brave--and not fictional. In junior high I read began reading biographies: Jane Addams, Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc. And I have been reading biographies of women ever since.
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe by Elaine Showalter is a biography that, unlike the biographies of my childhood reading, portrays a woman both driven and intelligent and flawed and human. I liked it immensely.
Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) is remembered today for writing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a rousing anthem with powerful, Biblical inspired words. Otherwise most know little about her. Her poetry, plays, and failed opera did not pass the critical eye or become timeless. Her activism as an abolitionist and suffragette now is forgotten. She worked for abolition of the death penalty and prison reform, education reform, immigrant rights, Indian affairs, worker's rights, and was instrumental in the creation of Mother's Day and the Association of American Women. In her youth she was called the 'Diva' for her sparkling wit, beauty, and intelligence; in maturity she was the 'Mother Superior' of Boston philanthropy and 'the grand old lady of America'.
Julia was born to wealth and had a top-notch education. She studied French six hours a day. Her vocal teacher was from the Italian opera company. Her father had commissioned Thomas Cole for The Voyage of Life , a series of four allegorical paintings depicting the stages of life. Julia met the greats of her time including Longfellow, Dickens, Margaret Fuller, and Charles Sumner. Still, her father kept a strong hold on Julia and she felt bored and yearned for a fuller, freer life. She became a vegetarian, secretly read George Sand, and spent her nights writing. Julia's life altered with her father's death; she adopted his strict Calvinism and was depressed for two years. Finally her friend brought her to Unitarianism and freed from guilt she bloomed. At twenty-two she was a beautiful 'bluestocking', a Diva, an heiress. And unmarried, both longing for love and fearful of childbirth with it's threat of death and the chains that came with childrearing.
Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe came, literally, into her life 'a noble rider on a noble steed'. He was devastatingly handsome, a 'manly man', commanding and stern. He was eighteen years her senior, like Lord Byron was a hero in the Greek Revolution, had pioneered work in education of the blind, and was admired as a philanthropist. Samuel and Julia were both intelligent, passionate, idealistic--they should have been a perfect match. But the honeymoon ended on the honeymoon. Sam could never get past his image of woman as help-meet, mother, the angel in the house who should want for nothing more than house and home. And Julia chaffed against his tight hold, fighting for the right to a voice, artistic expression, and equality in every form. Their marriage was a failure.
Julia was an anomaly: her husband entertained John Brown in his home and she supported abolition, but also felt that slaves needed to be 'raised up' by European culture into civilization and wrote disparagingly of Southern slaves. During the Civil War she was part of a group that had gone to see the troops outside of Washington, D.C. On the long ride home she sang to entertain the men and her companions. A friend suggested she write new words to the song John Brown's Body, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Showalter's book was engrossing and fast reading; I devoured it in two days. Julia was a complex woman, the best kind to read about. I enjoyed learning how critics reviewed Howe's literary works during her life, then tracing changing views of her work across time. I was fascinated by Howe's secret manuscript about a hermaphrodite's life, now perceived as an expression of the angst and struggle that Howe and other Victorian age women endured.
I received a free ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Read Howe's works on the electronic archives at http://www.juliawardhowe.org/writings...
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe by Elaine Showalter is a biography that, unlike the biographies of my childhood reading, portrays a woman both driven and intelligent and flawed and human. I liked it immensely.
Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) is remembered today for writing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a rousing anthem with powerful, Biblical inspired words. Otherwise most know little about her. Her poetry, plays, and failed opera did not pass the critical eye or become timeless. Her activism as an abolitionist and suffragette now is forgotten. She worked for abolition of the death penalty and prison reform, education reform, immigrant rights, Indian affairs, worker's rights, and was instrumental in the creation of Mother's Day and the Association of American Women. In her youth she was called the 'Diva' for her sparkling wit, beauty, and intelligence; in maturity she was the 'Mother Superior' of Boston philanthropy and 'the grand old lady of America'.
Julia was born to wealth and had a top-notch education. She studied French six hours a day. Her vocal teacher was from the Italian opera company. Her father had commissioned Thomas Cole for The Voyage of Life , a series of four allegorical paintings depicting the stages of life. Julia met the greats of her time including Longfellow, Dickens, Margaret Fuller, and Charles Sumner. Still, her father kept a strong hold on Julia and she felt bored and yearned for a fuller, freer life. She became a vegetarian, secretly read George Sand, and spent her nights writing. Julia's life altered with her father's death; she adopted his strict Calvinism and was depressed for two years. Finally her friend brought her to Unitarianism and freed from guilt she bloomed. At twenty-two she was a beautiful 'bluestocking', a Diva, an heiress. And unmarried, both longing for love and fearful of childbirth with it's threat of death and the chains that came with childrearing.
Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe came, literally, into her life 'a noble rider on a noble steed'. He was devastatingly handsome, a 'manly man', commanding and stern. He was eighteen years her senior, like Lord Byron was a hero in the Greek Revolution, had pioneered work in education of the blind, and was admired as a philanthropist. Samuel and Julia were both intelligent, passionate, idealistic--they should have been a perfect match. But the honeymoon ended on the honeymoon. Sam could never get past his image of woman as help-meet, mother, the angel in the house who should want for nothing more than house and home. And Julia chaffed against his tight hold, fighting for the right to a voice, artistic expression, and equality in every form. Their marriage was a failure.
Julia was an anomaly: her husband entertained John Brown in his home and she supported abolition, but also felt that slaves needed to be 'raised up' by European culture into civilization and wrote disparagingly of Southern slaves. During the Civil War she was part of a group that had gone to see the troops outside of Washington, D.C. On the long ride home she sang to entertain the men and her companions. A friend suggested she write new words to the song John Brown's Body, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Showalter's book was engrossing and fast reading; I devoured it in two days. Julia was a complex woman, the best kind to read about. I enjoyed learning how critics reviewed Howe's literary works during her life, then tracing changing views of her work across time. I was fascinated by Howe's secret manuscript about a hermaphrodite's life, now perceived as an expression of the angst and struggle that Howe and other Victorian age women endured.
I received a free ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Read Howe's works on the electronic archives at http://www.juliawardhowe.org/writings...
March 23, 2016
A fascinating examination of the life of a 19th-century woman with tremendous talent and energy who managed to overcome her husband's attempts to stifle her. Oh, and she wrote "The Battle-Hymn of the Republic."
February 5, 2017
Julia Ward Howe wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic and was an accomplished writer and lecturer. Unfortunately for her, she chose poorly in her husband and was unhappy in her marriage. Her husband was very controlling and resented Julia's writing and her success.
As I read this shortly after I read Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, I couldn't help but contrast these two women's lives. Both were intelligent and independent-minded. Both women's marriages started out rocky, but Louisa and John Adams were able to work through their disagreements and seemed to settle in to a mostly comfortable and loving marriage. The Howes, on the other hand, were never happy. Julia's husband was dictatorial and controlling. Julia resented his patronizing and demanding expectations and she wrote and published poems about her unhappiness which enraged her husband. Not until he died was she able to blossom into her full potential. (He left her nothing in his will because he resented the fact that she had a means to earn income.)
The second half of Julia's life was much more fulfilling for her. She travelled the world with her daughter. She became an active suffragette and organizer for women's causes. She wrote and lectured across the country and was widely admired.
This biography is good--not outstanding--but the author does a very good job of putting Julia's strained marriage in context and highlighting how difficult Julia's situation was during her husband's life. It made me much more aware of how few opportunities for independence women had, and how they had to subtly manipulate whatever situations they could in order to keep their children close and their husbands at a distance.
As I read this shortly after I read Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, I couldn't help but contrast these two women's lives. Both were intelligent and independent-minded. Both women's marriages started out rocky, but Louisa and John Adams were able to work through their disagreements and seemed to settle in to a mostly comfortable and loving marriage. The Howes, on the other hand, were never happy. Julia's husband was dictatorial and controlling. Julia resented his patronizing and demanding expectations and she wrote and published poems about her unhappiness which enraged her husband. Not until he died was she able to blossom into her full potential. (He left her nothing in his will because he resented the fact that she had a means to earn income.)
The second half of Julia's life was much more fulfilling for her. She travelled the world with her daughter. She became an active suffragette and organizer for women's causes. She wrote and lectured across the country and was widely admired.
This biography is good--not outstanding--but the author does a very good job of putting Julia's strained marriage in context and highlighting how difficult Julia's situation was during her husband's life. It made me much more aware of how few opportunities for independence women had, and how they had to subtly manipulate whatever situations they could in order to keep their children close and their husbands at a distance.
July 17, 2023
This is almost a dual biography of Julia Ward Howe and her almost equally famous husband, but perhaps that’s one of the points a feminist historian needs to make: the story of even the most famous historian can hardly be told without reference to her make minders. I did love the book. It’s extremely well-written and filled with fascinating history about Howe, America, and the history of upper class women in the 19th century.
March 29, 2016
You know... I liked this. A solid like. I'm not much of a biography person, but I heard about this on NPR and then read about it in The NYT Book Review and, well, it hit a bunch of my personal sweet spots. A smart woman, born before her time, desperate to write -- hemmed in by family obligations and social conventions. The drama! In other words, yes, please. I learned a lot about Julia Ward Howe (of course), and while that's a low bar (I knew zilch about her before this book), I mean it as high praise. It also helped me think about bigger questions of women and writing, and what it meant and to a degree still means to be a woman writing. In one passage in particular, Elaine Showalter does a nice job making the case that Howe was held back -- in contrast to a Whitman, who apparently was quite a self promotor. (Who knew? Probably a lot of people. I didn't.) Anyway, I liked the book and liked learning about JWH's life and work but what really got my head spinning was thinking of all the abandoned and half-finished poems and stories out there, stashed in dresser drawers or hidden in notebooks or on hard drives. All that art. Half-finished. Not wasted but not -- finished. I knew that before (right? I must have) but Showalter helped clarify my thoughts.
July 16, 2021
An excellent biography that reads more like a novel, this book does not disappoint. We learn about the struggles Julia Ward Howe had in her life: marital, literary, and spiritual. This was an epiphany for me; I only knew her as author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The author does a great job of balancing the story and keeping the reader's attention. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history, but more so to anyone interested in the lives of famous women. A delightful surprise.
January 16, 2023
I really enjoyed this biography of Julia Ward Howe; in the time period, location, and social networks covered, it nicely complements Megan Marshall's biography of the Peabody Sisters, which I read a couple years ago. Many of the same names appear, and both books give an impression of how ...small the world of America's 19th century intellectual elite was.
I come away from this book with a much greater appreciation for Julia Ward Howe's contributions to 19th century literary and intellectual history and her advocation for women's rights. While the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a beautiful and powerful piece of writing, it is only one aspect of a much bigger body of work as a writer, intellectual, and advocate. Through Showalter's portrayal of Howe's relationship with her husband and comparison of her experience as an author to that of her contemporary Walt Whitman, she makes the barriers Howe faced as a woman author very real to the reader (while also showing how Howe's sharp tongue got her into some trouble at times).
Howe is a perfect example of two things being true at once: she both enjoyed a degree of class privilege that gave her access to education and social networks that helped her become an author (in ways that poor women and Black women of the period certainly did not have), while also still being limited by her status as a woman who was supposed to remain in the "safe lane" of motherhood and charitable work, rather than writing novels and poems that dealt with gender inequality and her unhappy marriage. I think Showalter could have done a better job of emphasizing the degree to which Howe's social class did afford her opportunities, but she does convey the image of someone who is a bit spoiled and has to encounter some harsh realities.
Her portrayal of Samuel Gridley Howe as ambitious, insecure, and egotistical makes him feel very real and at times, quite infuriating. And yet, the thing that bothered me most about him was not so much his treatment of his wife (which is indeed hard to swallow), but how much he used the disabled children he treated for the advancement of his own career. His work as an educator for the blind seems as much about his own self-aggrandizement as about improving the lives of those in his care. I suspect his is quite a complicated legacy.
I come away from this book with a much greater appreciation for Julia Ward Howe's contributions to 19th century literary and intellectual history and her advocation for women's rights. While the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a beautiful and powerful piece of writing, it is only one aspect of a much bigger body of work as a writer, intellectual, and advocate. Through Showalter's portrayal of Howe's relationship with her husband and comparison of her experience as an author to that of her contemporary Walt Whitman, she makes the barriers Howe faced as a woman author very real to the reader (while also showing how Howe's sharp tongue got her into some trouble at times).
Howe is a perfect example of two things being true at once: she both enjoyed a degree of class privilege that gave her access to education and social networks that helped her become an author (in ways that poor women and Black women of the period certainly did not have), while also still being limited by her status as a woman who was supposed to remain in the "safe lane" of motherhood and charitable work, rather than writing novels and poems that dealt with gender inequality and her unhappy marriage. I think Showalter could have done a better job of emphasizing the degree to which Howe's social class did afford her opportunities, but she does convey the image of someone who is a bit spoiled and has to encounter some harsh realities.
Her portrayal of Samuel Gridley Howe as ambitious, insecure, and egotistical makes him feel very real and at times, quite infuriating. And yet, the thing that bothered me most about him was not so much his treatment of his wife (which is indeed hard to swallow), but how much he used the disabled children he treated for the advancement of his own career. His work as an educator for the blind seems as much about his own self-aggrandizement as about improving the lives of those in his care. I suspect his is quite a complicated legacy.
June 15, 2016
What stands out most to me a few weeks after reading, and what will likely remain, is Showalter's account of JWH's truly horrible marriage and the series of unwanted pregnancies forced upon her by the shameful Samuel Gridley Howe. Also lasting is, this sounds vague I know, how Julia Ward's irrepressible intellect and social conscience reemerged after her husband's death. I'm ignorant of how or if Showalter's treatment differs from other biographers, but I found this an elegant feminist biography.
June 1, 2018
Showalter's biography declares itself to be a feminist biography from the outset. The author succeeds though in noting that Howe's feminism always made itself present on its own terms, rather than those of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Because of her focus of gender, she seems uninterested in the intellectual dispositions that drove her often erratic and irreconcilable choices and positions.
September 14, 2017
America could have had its own Bronte.
She was here at the same time, born three days before Queen Victoria. She was born with remarkable resources to care for her needs as she pursued a career in literature--her father was a wealthy Wall Street banker. She certainly had the literary connections, living in Boston as she did and rubbing shoulders with Emerson and Longfellow regularly. She had a drive, if not a talent, that would have made her the equal of any writer, male or female.
So why do we know so little of Julia Ward Howe--outside of her remarkable poem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"?
That's the question that Elaine Showalter seeks to answer in The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe. Showalter lays out Howe's history, and follows her into the Black Hole of a marriage that consumed 30 years of her life. Howe's husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, was himself a striver, and typical of most husbands of the age, would not countenance a wife with an agenda of her own. Even as JWH relentlessly pursued her interests in poetry and drama, SGH blocked her, browbeat her, chided her for her ambition and single-mindedness.
The book could easily have been drawn into the maelstrom of marriage and never gotten out, but the final act of the book, as JWH becomes a suffragette and beloved elder stateswoman is inspiring and redeeming. Every chapter of this book was better than the previous one, and I was openly cheering for JWH.
Showalter's sense of literature helps the narrative. She takes breaks to compare JWH with contemporarites like Bronte and Walt Whitman. She doesn't try to oversell JWH's poetry--it doesn't really hold up--but she presents it and analyzes it wonderfully.
She could have been a Bronte or a George Sand. In Elaine Showalter's book, somehow JWH becomes something much more: an icon for American women, if not American writers.
She was here at the same time, born three days before Queen Victoria. She was born with remarkable resources to care for her needs as she pursued a career in literature--her father was a wealthy Wall Street banker. She certainly had the literary connections, living in Boston as she did and rubbing shoulders with Emerson and Longfellow regularly. She had a drive, if not a talent, that would have made her the equal of any writer, male or female.
So why do we know so little of Julia Ward Howe--outside of her remarkable poem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"?
That's the question that Elaine Showalter seeks to answer in The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe. Showalter lays out Howe's history, and follows her into the Black Hole of a marriage that consumed 30 years of her life. Howe's husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, was himself a striver, and typical of most husbands of the age, would not countenance a wife with an agenda of her own. Even as JWH relentlessly pursued her interests in poetry and drama, SGH blocked her, browbeat her, chided her for her ambition and single-mindedness.
The book could easily have been drawn into the maelstrom of marriage and never gotten out, but the final act of the book, as JWH becomes a suffragette and beloved elder stateswoman is inspiring and redeeming. Every chapter of this book was better than the previous one, and I was openly cheering for JWH.
Showalter's sense of literature helps the narrative. She takes breaks to compare JWH with contemporarites like Bronte and Walt Whitman. She doesn't try to oversell JWH's poetry--it doesn't really hold up--but she presents it and analyzes it wonderfully.
She could have been a Bronte or a George Sand. In Elaine Showalter's book, somehow JWH becomes something much more: an icon for American women, if not American writers.
December 2, 2017
In THE CIVIL WARS OF JULIA WARD HOWE, author Elaine Showalter spins an interesting yet comprehensive biography of one of the pioneers of American history . Known for penning THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC, Julia Ward Howe was also a poet, abolitionist, mother, lecturer, suffragist, and feminist. Married to an acclaimed pioneer in the education of the blind, she rubbed elbows with many of the key figures of her era, including Helen Keller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Brown, and Teddy Roosevelt. Even though she was on the forefront on issues of human rights and intellectual freedom, she struggled with the fact that her husband's paternalistic viewpoints regarding a woman's place in society often often stymied her enlightened efforts. This book opens up aspects of Howe's life, of which many people are not aware. She was a remarkable American woman ahead of her time. This is a book that I highly recommend.
September 14, 2018
Interesting, especially all the famous and important people she came into contact with, including Charles Sumner and briefly, John Brown.
She was such an admirable woman, who put up with a lot from her much older and traditional husband, who became defensive and cruel when she started to outshine him --altho he did a lot of good with blind children and was ahead of the times in being an ardent abolitionist.
I hated how he used and wasted HER money --both her inheritance and her earnings, altho' that was the law of the day. Some of her children, whom she really didn't want to have, turned out to be very supportive later on.
Could have used more editing, imo, as not sure why so much detail, eg about entire life of her husband, long before they met.
Overdrive 1.25
She was such an admirable woman, who put up with a lot from her much older and traditional husband, who became defensive and cruel when she started to outshine him --altho he did a lot of good with blind children and was ahead of the times in being an ardent abolitionist.
I hated how he used and wasted HER money --both her inheritance and her earnings, altho' that was the law of the day. Some of her children, whom she really didn't want to have, turned out to be very supportive later on.
Could have used more editing, imo, as not sure why so much detail, eg about entire life of her husband, long before they met.
Overdrive 1.25
May 2, 2019
This is a comprehensive account of the life of my distant cousin (5th cousin, 5 times removed). Ms. Howe struggled against the constraints endured by most 19th century women. Ultimately, she asserted her independence while maintaining her own unique personality.
May 29, 2020
I am in awe. I just knew Howe as the author of the Battle Hymn but she broke loose from a domineering husband and embraced all the worthy causes of her long life - and she did it in fine clothes. She was a dynamo!
July 20, 2017
Fast moving and full of insight into 19th century America, in particular the lives of privileged women of the era.
April 17, 2024
Fascinating, probing, intelligent - the story behind the woman who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
January 6, 2026
I picked this book by accident- I just listened to a podcast about Sarah Josepha Hale but I must not have listened very carefully because this book is not about her. Ha! Anyway, I read this about Julia Ward Howe by mostly audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it.
June 5, 2020
I have a feeling the author really wanted to do an academic paper on Howe’s poetry, but for whatever reason couched in a biography that could have a more mainstream audience. The main addition to this work over other biographies was the dissection of Howe’s unhappy marriage. Overall I found there just wasn’t enough there for a full length book - Battle Hymn came to Howe one night in a dream, which seems more like a fun anecdote than the basis for a whole narrative. I think her children expressed it well that they were surprised their mother’s legacy has become well known, while their father is rarely discussed, though it was the opposite in life.
Then there were the several big yikes moments. In the introduction, the author explicitly says the success of Battle Hymn is what allowed Howe to “emancipate” herself...no more explanation needed there. In discussing Howe’s husband’s school for the blind, she likens a blind pupil wearing a ribbon around her eyes (by what seems to be personal preference) as the same as Jews being forced into ghettos and made to wear yellow stars.
One more interesting fact I learned was Howe had written much of an unfinished novel about a “hermaphrodite.” I don’t disagree with the author that this was a device meant to explore gender roles, but it was very disappointing that there was not a single mention on how the term shouldn’t be used and that Howe’s work reflects nothing of the actual intersex experience.
Then there were the several big yikes moments. In the introduction, the author explicitly says the success of Battle Hymn is what allowed Howe to “emancipate” herself...no more explanation needed there. In discussing Howe’s husband’s school for the blind, she likens a blind pupil wearing a ribbon around her eyes (by what seems to be personal preference) as the same as Jews being forced into ghettos and made to wear yellow stars.
One more interesting fact I learned was Howe had written much of an unfinished novel about a “hermaphrodite.” I don’t disagree with the author that this was a device meant to explore gender roles, but it was very disappointing that there was not a single mention on how the term shouldn’t be used and that Howe’s work reflects nothing of the actual intersex experience.
May 1, 2016
At first I didn't like Julia Ward Howe. She was such a snob, always putting down individuals or groups. After her husband died, she blossomed. She took no time at all before she was organizing women's rights groups, anti-lynching organizations, and speaking tours all over America and Europe. She kept right on speaking publically on human rights until she was ninety years old. So why the animosity toward people when she was young? I think if was just frustration. Her husband kept her isolated. He thought eight was the right number of children to have so he kept her pregnant all the time. (They had six children.) He frowned on her poetry so she wrote and published in secret. After she wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic, instead of being proud of her he was jealous.
Isn't it sad when the person who claims to love another hinders their spouse instead of helping her or him reach their goals?
Isn't it sad when the person who claims to love another hinders their spouse instead of helping her or him reach their goals?
April 4, 2016
***I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway***
This is just an all around excellent book. It is well written, fluid, and interesting. Elaine Showalter clearly did her research and managed to impart a lot of personality into all the facts. Julia Ward Howe is not someone I knew much about, but I totally and completely admire her now. I think every woman can relate, in some small way, to her struggle to be heard and feelings of inadequacy.
I do warn anyone who reads this...her husband was terrible. He will make you angry and get all your feminist dander up in a fluff. He's difficult to read about.
This is just an all around excellent book. It is well written, fluid, and interesting. Elaine Showalter clearly did her research and managed to impart a lot of personality into all the facts. Julia Ward Howe is not someone I knew much about, but I totally and completely admire her now. I think every woman can relate, in some small way, to her struggle to be heard and feelings of inadequacy.
I do warn anyone who reads this...her husband was terrible. He will make you angry and get all your feminist dander up in a fluff. He's difficult to read about.
March 14, 2016
Showalter is such a lively and opinionated writer that this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I will never again think of Julia Ward Howe as simply the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic; she was a philosopher, poet, playwright, and critic who struggled against the prejudices that all women of her day confronted. Thwarted at every turn by her controlling husband, who never did "approve of any act of mine which I myself valued," she ultimately dedicated her efforts toward feminist causes. I highly recommend this vivid account of a complex and intriguing woman.
May 21, 2020
She struggled to have her voice heard all her life.
December 18, 2019
Elaine Showalter's biography of Julia Ward Howe is a profound and important contribution to American history. Ward Howe, lost to popular memory except for the one poem she wrote that everyone remembers (The Battle Hymn of the Republic) is generally relegated to the margins even of period histories. She is overshadowed by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Mary Livermore, Cornelia Hancock, Louisa May Alcott, even Mary Chestnut. Upon mention of her name, histories often give a nod to her eminent husband and move on...
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe does not dig indepth into the particulars of its eponymous subject's involvement in suffrage and the many altruistic causes to which she devoted much of the time in her later years. Instead, it is a brutal, incisive, and very sensitive portrait an abusive, patriarchal upbringing and an even more brutal and repressive marriage. Bringing to life the realities fictionally portrayed in Ibsen's A Doll's House and Chopin's The Awakening, there are many elements of the portrait in this biography that correspond tightly to the observations of Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique. Ward Howe, daughter of a wealthy real estate barren in NYC, loved language and art, and longed to be a writer, perhaps a dramatic actor, a poet, maybe even a novelist. Overbearing and ferociously misogynist men dominated her throughout the first fifty odd years of her life though, hemming in all of her ambitions and interests, and forcing her to tend house and raise children.
The clarity of the picture of Ward Howe's life that Showalter draws is heart wrenching, infuriating, and blisteringly clear. What is remarkable is that all of the primary source material for this narrative has existed casually in archives for decades and no one has heretofore undertaken the effort to popularize this story. As modern society continues to grapple with the entrenched ugliness of gender politics, from bathroom regulations, to persistently unequal pay, to abortion rights, to the gauntlet that women must run to achieve elective office, narratives like this biography have never been more relevant. It is inspiring to read of Ward Howe's numerous acts of subversive rebellion and how she stood tall and ultimately earned her freedom from patriarchy in the gleaming twilight of her life.
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe does not dig indepth into the particulars of its eponymous subject's involvement in suffrage and the many altruistic causes to which she devoted much of the time in her later years. Instead, it is a brutal, incisive, and very sensitive portrait an abusive, patriarchal upbringing and an even more brutal and repressive marriage. Bringing to life the realities fictionally portrayed in Ibsen's A Doll's House and Chopin's The Awakening, there are many elements of the portrait in this biography that correspond tightly to the observations of Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique. Ward Howe, daughter of a wealthy real estate barren in NYC, loved language and art, and longed to be a writer, perhaps a dramatic actor, a poet, maybe even a novelist. Overbearing and ferociously misogynist men dominated her throughout the first fifty odd years of her life though, hemming in all of her ambitions and interests, and forcing her to tend house and raise children.
The clarity of the picture of Ward Howe's life that Showalter draws is heart wrenching, infuriating, and blisteringly clear. What is remarkable is that all of the primary source material for this narrative has existed casually in archives for decades and no one has heretofore undertaken the effort to popularize this story. As modern society continues to grapple with the entrenched ugliness of gender politics, from bathroom regulations, to persistently unequal pay, to abortion rights, to the gauntlet that women must run to achieve elective office, narratives like this biography have never been more relevant. It is inspiring to read of Ward Howe's numerous acts of subversive rebellion and how she stood tall and ultimately earned her freedom from patriarchy in the gleaming twilight of her life.
March 3, 2019
"The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe" is an illuminating picture into the life of a prominent American woman. Her experiences and accomplishments are so vast, it seems that her story could span volumes. However, Elaine Showalter does some justice to her story within the pages of this biography. However, it is not as one might expect. This kind of figure in history, known for her activism and writings, usually has a biography that highlights these positive facets of character and person. However, throughout the text, one finds Julia Ward Howe to be spoiled, narcissistic, problematic, and in many ways, down-right unlikable. Though we do often still feel sorry for her situation, this sympathy does not eclipse the unsavory aspects, though. This is not much a comment on the writing, but rather on the expectations of such a book. Rather, it's refreshing to have a realistic portrayal of such an influential figure in American history.
One final note: Showalter, while an excellent writer, does show her hand as a English professor (I speak as one also in the field). This is not a detriment, but it does narrow her audience a bit, as she often discusses things through a lens of gender and sexuality theories, and also mentions many figures in assumption her readers will know exactly who she speaks of. Of the former, this isn't an issue, but can make it a little odd for someone not familiar with such a reading of both life and text. In regards to the latter, this does cause a bit of a problem, as it becomes annoying to continually have to do extra research to become familiar with some of the figures she mentions and assumes her readers already knows about.
All in all, an excellent, informative read. I'd recommend to anyone interested in American history, women's history, and/or American literature.
One final note: Showalter, while an excellent writer, does show her hand as a English professor (I speak as one also in the field). This is not a detriment, but it does narrow her audience a bit, as she often discusses things through a lens of gender and sexuality theories, and also mentions many figures in assumption her readers will know exactly who she speaks of. Of the former, this isn't an issue, but can make it a little odd for someone not familiar with such a reading of both life and text. In regards to the latter, this does cause a bit of a problem, as it becomes annoying to continually have to do extra research to become familiar with some of the figures she mentions and assumes her readers already knows about.
All in all, an excellent, informative read. I'd recommend to anyone interested in American history, women's history, and/or American literature.
January 31, 2017
I typically pick up biographies of what was once called "great men" (not so much because of hero worship of their accomplishments but because of the complexity of their character). I thought I would try something a bit different in looking at a biography of a women poet who is best known as the author of the civil war anthem, Battle Hymn of the Republic. The author writes from a feminist perspective while still describing Howe's growth as both a human being and writer within the context of the culture in which she lived. The civil wars of the title refers to both the US civil war and the subject's difficult family life. It speaks well of the author that she does not make Howe's husband into the bad guy but explains how they were both greatly disappointed when their expectations of family life did not meet up with the actual experiences.
In some respects I found Howe as a woman from a wealthy background who felt overly entitled. But it was interesting and promising to see that she was able to learn and grow. In the end this is probably just my own clumsy way of saying she had an artistic temperament. As someone married to a poet, I became interested in the question -- is there such a thing as a great poet? Howe wanted to be recognized as a great poet. Or is looking for a great poet the wrong way to look at such things and that how one sees a poet is merely a reflection of one's aesthetic preference. For myself I greatly prefer Longfellow (a friend of Howe's) who the author describes as someone no one reads anymore. In that respect Showalter is wrong but in many other respects her biography is an excellent work
In some respects I found Howe as a woman from a wealthy background who felt overly entitled. But it was interesting and promising to see that she was able to learn and grow. In the end this is probably just my own clumsy way of saying she had an artistic temperament. As someone married to a poet, I became interested in the question -- is there such a thing as a great poet? Howe wanted to be recognized as a great poet. Or is looking for a great poet the wrong way to look at such things and that how one sees a poet is merely a reflection of one's aesthetic preference. For myself I greatly prefer Longfellow (a friend of Howe's) who the author describes as someone no one reads anymore. In that respect Showalter is wrong but in many other respects her biography is an excellent work
June 10, 2017
"The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe" is a compelling biography of the woman who wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Her paternalistic husband attempted to control her writing the way he controlled her money. He did not want an intelligent, ambitious wife; he believed that women should submit to their husbands and devote themselves to idealized roles of wife and mother. Julia Ward Howe lived in a time when sex lead to multiple pregnancies for a woman during marriage. These pregnancies - Howe had six children - often ended in the mother’s death during childbirth, a fate Howe feared. How does a woman whose husband can threaten to divorce her and take her children if she refuses to let him share her bed create a life for herself? Julia Ward Howe succeeded and achieved the fame her husband sought for himself. Despite the religious sentiment of her Civil War anthem, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Howe was not a saint. She was prone to jealousy, and two of her daughters never forgave her for leaving them in America while she traveled extensively across the sea. Howe achieved happiness in middle age and beyond as a leader in the women’s rights movement. Notable figures in Julia Ward Howe’s life included Louisa May Alcott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde.
September 7, 2019
The biographer's job is not necessarily to make the reader "like" their subject. That fact is important to remember with this book. Julia Ward Howe is difficult to like; she often comes across as a bit of an entitled brat, who frequently admits her frustration as a mother/wife. On the other side of it, her life was full of heartbreaking situations, like her marriage to a man who did not support her living a public life. The marriage is all the more confusing as Samuel Gridley Howe was a relatively progressive, forward-thinking, and radical man (for the 19th century). Her life/marriage gets no better with the fame that comes with her work "The Battle-Hymn of the Republic."
In fact, Mrs. Howe's life changes considerably after the death of her husband. Then, both the book and its subject begin to breathe more. Showalter does an excellent job bringing in the context of the various periods of her life, the historic milieus surrounding her story, and the other characters who flit in and out of her life. In fact, those divergences may be the weakest point of the book; she often steps away from her main subject for lengthy points to zoom in on side topics, including Dr. Howe's time in Greece, the recovery period of Senator Charles Sumner after his beating, and so on.
In fact, Mrs. Howe's life changes considerably after the death of her husband. Then, both the book and its subject begin to breathe more. Showalter does an excellent job bringing in the context of the various periods of her life, the historic milieus surrounding her story, and the other characters who flit in and out of her life. In fact, those divergences may be the weakest point of the book; she often steps away from her main subject for lengthy points to zoom in on side topics, including Dr. Howe's time in Greece, the recovery period of Senator Charles Sumner after his beating, and so on.
December 24, 2017
Amazing story of a woman pretty much known only for writing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which in fact was the main source of her fame in her own life as well. But she was a poet, philosopher, widely in-demand lecturer or literary and current affairs, feminist, abolitionist, etc. In various ways, she seemed like a pretty unappealing woman, but that can only be looked at in the context of the life of an early 19th c. woman of extraordinary ability and intelligence who is first smothered by the presumptions of the girl's role in her parents' house, and then by the comparable demands about a wife's role in her husband's house. Only with his death, after many years of trying to unsuccessfully but cruelly trying to keep her essentially confined to quarters, did she blossom, in middle age... Maintained an incredibly active life in lecturing, writing, traveling, and speaking out on the issues of the day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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