Free Woman: The Life and Times of Victoria Woodhull

by Marion Meade

Book by Meade, Marion

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Marion Meade is an American biographer and novelist, whose subjects stretch from 12th century French royalty to 20th century stand-up comedians. She is best known for her portraits of literary figures and iconic filmmakers.

Her new book, Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney, is a joint biography of a husband and wife whose lives provide a vivid picture of the artistic milieu of the Jazz Age and the Great Depression.

For more information on Lonelyhearts--and an exciting photo gallery--visit http://www.nathanaelwest.com

Reviews

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only recently I found out about Victoria Woodhull. Thanks to someone on Twitter mentioning Victoria Woodhull and that the fact that she ran for President, I became very interested in this woman. And I wondered, how could I have never heard of her? A woman running for President in the 1870s, why wasn't I taught that in history?

And of course, I know about the women's rights movement, but in all that I've read, I don't recall ever seeing her name come up.

I was happy to see my library had a few biographies of her. I decided I'd read this one first and I'll the other biography at a later time.

Marion Meade does an amazing job of making Victoria's world come alive for the reader.

I just honestly think Victoria Woodhull was amazing. And despite what some historians may say, I don't think she set feminism back a hundred years. She did talk about things that were shocking in her time, things that many apparently just couldn't handle being discussed. But, I think she did what she felt she needed to do. And I know how tough it was for women in her time, especially a woman like Victoria.

It's sad that Victoria Woodhull has been almost forgotten. It really is. Shouldn't a woman like this be celebrated? She did a lot for women, spoke out for women, even if she was attacked for it.

I really liked this book a lot. And I'm happy to have learned about this amazing woman.

[Kristi Hovington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this in the stacks of my school library the other day, and I was about to put it in the weed pile (I don't think it's been touched since the 1980s) when something about the cover caught my eye, and I opened the book to read the flap...first female to run for president in the USA...in 1872? Ran on a platform that included legalizing prostitution and radically restructuring marriage and family life to bring equality to men and women? OK, Victoria! I need to know you.

In her own words: "Who will dare to unlock the luminous portals of the future with the rusty keys of the past?....I have an inalienable, constitutional, and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day if I please. And with that right neither you nor any law you can frame have any right to interfere." QUEEN VICTORIA, I love you.

She was the first woman who owned her own brokerage firm on Wall Street...the first woman to speak to Congress, and her address ended up giving women the means to get the right to vote, though the feminist leaders of the day, Susan Anthony et all, hated her - and she owned her own publishing company, writing articles in her own newspaper that exposed the hypocrisy of the powerful men that blamed women for promiscuity and lewd behaviour whilst engaging freely in their own sexual indiscretions. She was against wealth disparity, advocated for revolution and rewriting the constitution to make it more equal for all, and she paved the road for feminists of the 1960s - almost 100 years later - who successfully argued that women can't really be free without reproductive freedom.

Her party was the Equal Rights Party, and her vice president was Frederick Douglas.

I am yours, Victoria Woodhull. I apologize to everyone who knows me in advance, as I will be talking about this queen for months. Or years.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Factual but also in the vein of popular history. Few citations and makeshift dialogue. The story of Victoria Woodhull is fascinating especially in view of continuing oppression

She fought but quit and backed from her ideals in order to become all that she previously belittled. A fascinating subject

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

History we should know

Everyone should read this book. Women in history so often left out, this book fills in some missing history. Good his htorical read

[JjJlJr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by Marion Meade- and hopefully not my last. Full of (interesting!) details and background, Victoria Meade paints Victoria's world in vivid colors. Usually when reading biographies about (in)famous people, the content reads like an overused textbook. Meade breathes life into the story, and even if I weren't a feminist and an equalist, Meade still would've been able to capture my interest, and probably would have introduced me well into the field of said feminism.
My only complaint was that she didn't give more information or excerpts of Victoria's ideas considering free love, birth control and sexuality. But, i am also thankful, since this gives me more incentive to do more research about her. I hope to read more of Meades work in the future; I actually read this book in one sitting! (forgot to do my homework as a result)

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will read anything that Meade writes. I am wondering if this book was written as YA or even as a children's book?