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Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life
Now in paperback, a compelling biography of Lydia Maria Child, one of nineteenth-century America’s most courageous abolitionists.
By 1830, Lydia Maria Child had established herself as something almost unheard of in the American nineteenth a beloved and self-sufficient female author. Best known today for the immortal poem “Over the River and through the Wood,” Child had become famous at an early age for spunky self-help books and charming children’s stories. But in 1833, Child shocked her readers by publishing the first book-length argument against slavery in the United States—a book so radical in its commitment to abolition that friends abandoned her, patrons ostracized her, and her book sales plummeted. Yet Child soon drew untold numbers to the abolitionist cause, becoming one of the foremost authors and activists of her generation.
Lydia Maria A Radical American Life tells the story of what brought Child to this moment and the extraordinary life she lived in response. Through Child’s example, philosopher Lydia Moland asks questions as pressing and personal in our time as they were in Child’ What does it mean to change your life when the moral future of your country is at stake? When confronted by sanctioned evil and systematic injustice, how should a citizen live? Child’s lifetime of bravery, conviction, humility, and determination provides a wealth of spirited guidance for political engagement today.
By 1830, Lydia Maria Child had established herself as something almost unheard of in the American nineteenth a beloved and self-sufficient female author. Best known today for the immortal poem “Over the River and through the Wood,” Child had become famous at an early age for spunky self-help books and charming children’s stories. But in 1833, Child shocked her readers by publishing the first book-length argument against slavery in the United States—a book so radical in its commitment to abolition that friends abandoned her, patrons ostracized her, and her book sales plummeted. Yet Child soon drew untold numbers to the abolitionist cause, becoming one of the foremost authors and activists of her generation.
Lydia Maria A Radical American Life tells the story of what brought Child to this moment and the extraordinary life she lived in response. Through Child’s example, philosopher Lydia Moland asks questions as pressing and personal in our time as they were in Child’ What does it mean to change your life when the moral future of your country is at stake? When confronted by sanctioned evil and systematic injustice, how should a citizen live? Child’s lifetime of bravery, conviction, humility, and determination provides a wealth of spirited guidance for political engagement today.
560 pages, Hardcover
Published October 7, 2022
12 people are currently reading
244 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 25, 2023
This is a terrific read about a famous figure from the Abolitionist movement in pre-Civil War America. Child was an extraordinary woman and role-model. The author does a great job of taking the reader into a deep dive of the politics and events of the days surrounding this movement. She also doesn’t shy away from hard truths about her subjects. Her writing style is clear and direct - a welcome relief given the complicated nature of the times. I really enjoyed learning about Lydia Maria Child, a woman who doesn’t quite get the same notoriety as some of her contemporaries, but lead a passioned objection to slavery for years. It’s definitely worth a read.
April 15, 2023
It is a joy to have the fascinating, too-long forgotten story of L. Maria Child recounted in a manner so nuanced and searching, so heartening and humble, and so full of life. Professor Moland's philosophical approach infuses her work with weight and interest, and she has discerningly selected—from the vast abundance of Child's life—moving details and consequential ideas. This is a wonderful contribution to the renewal of Child's renown; and, as a text both pleasant and profound, will be, I hope for many, a compelling introduction also to the myriad stories with which Child's own interwove.
January 6, 2023
One of the many important things I learned from Lydia Moland’s fantastic biography was the way Lydia Maria Child (LMC) employed the wide variety and and array of her many gifts to fight not only against slavery, but also against race- and gender-based oppression during the first 2/3 of her 19th century lifetime. In LMC’s case that meant everything from children’s literature to sewing wool caps, from deeply researched scholarly volumes to sugar beet farming, from prophetic foresight to the most profound, challenging, and costly morality-based activism I can imagine, and sustained over 50 years. All the while Child held—with her characteristic “fierce humility” (Moland’s fabulous phrase)—that no matter what she was sacrificing, it always paled in comparison with what Black Americans dealt with, both those who were free and those who were enslaved.
Lydia Maria Child started her writing career as a novelist, and Lydia Moland beautifully highlights the way Child brought her natural and finely-honed ability to deeply imagine her way into other people’s lives, struggles, hearts, minds, and souls to bear on her abolitionist writings and activism. In a parallel way, Lydia Moland brings her prodigious skills as a compassionate philosopher to bear on this biography. The voice Moland writes in makes this the favorite and most engaging biography I’ve read in my almost 6 decades.
Everyone writes from their personal perspective, and I tire of people not admitting it. Moland owns the fact that she is the lens through which LMC’s life is told, and brings us with her in her an exploration of the serious moral questions LMC faced in her life. It will be no surprise to anyone that the pre-Civil War U.S. faced many of the same questions we face today. I didn’t just read—I experienced, reflected, felt, and journaled my way through this fabulous book, fully engaged with the questions Moland invites us into even as she wrestles with them herself.
Moland is funny, wry, honest, insightful, and feels so present in her book. From the first page I was dialoguing with her, addressing her as “you” in my musings. My copy is so full of marginalia that it’s amusing. The typeset is beautifully done, comfortable to read—not too many words on a line or page, plenty of margins for the extensive writing some of us do—and sprinkled throughout with portraits and other illustrations.
I’m now engaged in reading Child’s writing directly, as well as other books about people in Child’s circles. I’m buying copies of Moland’s book for local libraries, and have two friends waiting to borrow my copy. First I have to be willing to let go of it for a few weeks. Not quite yet.
Lydia Maria Child started her writing career as a novelist, and Lydia Moland beautifully highlights the way Child brought her natural and finely-honed ability to deeply imagine her way into other people’s lives, struggles, hearts, minds, and souls to bear on her abolitionist writings and activism. In a parallel way, Lydia Moland brings her prodigious skills as a compassionate philosopher to bear on this biography. The voice Moland writes in makes this the favorite and most engaging biography I’ve read in my almost 6 decades.
Everyone writes from their personal perspective, and I tire of people not admitting it. Moland owns the fact that she is the lens through which LMC’s life is told, and brings us with her in her an exploration of the serious moral questions LMC faced in her life. It will be no surprise to anyone that the pre-Civil War U.S. faced many of the same questions we face today. I didn’t just read—I experienced, reflected, felt, and journaled my way through this fabulous book, fully engaged with the questions Moland invites us into even as she wrestles with them herself.
Moland is funny, wry, honest, insightful, and feels so present in her book. From the first page I was dialoguing with her, addressing her as “you” in my musings. My copy is so full of marginalia that it’s amusing. The typeset is beautifully done, comfortable to read—not too many words on a line or page, plenty of margins for the extensive writing some of us do—and sprinkled throughout with portraits and other illustrations.
I’m now engaged in reading Child’s writing directly, as well as other books about people in Child’s circles. I’m buying copies of Moland’s book for local libraries, and have two friends waiting to borrow my copy. First I have to be willing to let go of it for a few weeks. Not quite yet.
February 20, 2023
We grew up to the song "Over the River and Through the Woods." It was based on a poem written in the 1800s by Lydia Maria Child. Like most, I did not know about this amazing, strong woman who was far ahead of her time. This excellent biography corrects that.
Child was born to a family of modest means, her dad was a hard working Calvinist baker, her mom died when she was young. Her voracious reading and intellectual curiosity made up for her lack of an elite education, her ambition led her to writing books and marketing them. Her success led her to being accepted into Boston society. But this same intellectual curiosity and voracious reading combined with an innate sense of right and wrong led her to question accepted beliefs about Native Americans, the role of women, religion, and race. It led to her to becoming a fierce abolitionist and marriage to a fellow abolitionist. Her abolitionist beliefs cost her much of her writing success and income, her hapless husband worsened their economic struggles, her entry into polite society was largely cut off, but she was one of many who turned abolitionism from an unpopular fringe into the 13th amendment.
The biography tells of Child's own life as well as her times. The abolition movement's internecine fights about whether to involve in politics, the role of women, the frequent patronizing of free Blacks in the movement are all described as are Child's roles and views. While Child was not always perfect as none of us are, her principles and actions stood above those of her peers. In fact, one of my few complaints about the book, is that it sometimes judges Child too harshly from the perspective of today's times.
This is an excellent book about an amazing woman
Child was born to a family of modest means, her dad was a hard working Calvinist baker, her mom died when she was young. Her voracious reading and intellectual curiosity made up for her lack of an elite education, her ambition led her to writing books and marketing them. Her success led her to being accepted into Boston society. But this same intellectual curiosity and voracious reading combined with an innate sense of right and wrong led her to question accepted beliefs about Native Americans, the role of women, religion, and race. It led to her to becoming a fierce abolitionist and marriage to a fellow abolitionist. Her abolitionist beliefs cost her much of her writing success and income, her hapless husband worsened their economic struggles, her entry into polite society was largely cut off, but she was one of many who turned abolitionism from an unpopular fringe into the 13th amendment.
The biography tells of Child's own life as well as her times. The abolition movement's internecine fights about whether to involve in politics, the role of women, the frequent patronizing of free Blacks in the movement are all described as are Child's roles and views. While Child was not always perfect as none of us are, her principles and actions stood above those of her peers. In fact, one of my few complaints about the book, is that it sometimes judges Child too harshly from the perspective of today's times.
This is an excellent book about an amazing woman
August 20, 2024
When Lydia Maria Child was born in Massachusetts in 1802, the United States was a fledgling country led by Thomas Jefferson. The ties that held the union together were tenuous, and political posturing, religious zealots, misinformation and propaganda abounded. (sound familiar?)
Education of girls was not a priority (only white men could vote), but L.M. Child was a curious child and eager learner and, with help from an older brother, became a voracious reader and independent thinker.
Slavery was a key divisive issue - with most northerners opposed and most southerners in favor. Both sides used religious doctrine to justify their position, and (for the most part) both sides believed that the 'negro' (and 'indian') were inferior / not fully human.
This story of a woman who dedicated her life (at much personal cost) to denouncing white supremacy and standing up for those whose voices were not heard, is inspirational and reassuring.
Lydia Maria Child might not be a name we are familiar with today, but her writings were influential in changing the minds of enough of the American public (and people in power) to 'bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice'.
She is a role model for making a difference in turbulent times.
Education of girls was not a priority (only white men could vote), but L.M. Child was a curious child and eager learner and, with help from an older brother, became a voracious reader and independent thinker.
Slavery was a key divisive issue - with most northerners opposed and most southerners in favor. Both sides used religious doctrine to justify their position, and (for the most part) both sides believed that the 'negro' (and 'indian') were inferior / not fully human.
This story of a woman who dedicated her life (at much personal cost) to denouncing white supremacy and standing up for those whose voices were not heard, is inspirational and reassuring.
Lydia Maria Child might not be a name we are familiar with today, but her writings were influential in changing the minds of enough of the American public (and people in power) to 'bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice'.
She is a role model for making a difference in turbulent times.
December 31, 2025
After reading this, anyone should be ready to rejoin the Abolitionist society! The author does illustrate this hero of the anti-slave movement in all her complexities and limitations. Even knowing these shortcomings, we see Lydia Maria Child as a model worthy of study in our age. Perhaps also to encourage us to be patient with those we deal with in our own political struggles.
May 12, 2023
Absolutely loved this book! The subject is such a fascinating woman that I find myself suddenly on a mission to tell the world about her! But the author deserves immense credit as well, as it is written so beautifully and thoughtfully. Really enjoyed this! Thank you to two awesome Lydias!
April 25, 2024
L. Marais was a fantastic woman in history. Her life was filled with philanthropy for worth causes. However, if you are interested in learning about her, don't bother reading this book. The author has more questions than she answers.
May 10, 2023
I am inspired.
Becomes quite the page turner somewhere in the middle.
Becomes quite the page turner somewhere in the middle.
May 17, 2023
A personal biography with occasional first person pronouns and some speculation (perhaps, might have, maybe) but very engaging and relevant.
February 23, 2024
Dnf. Great research on a fascinating woman, but the author and her personal feelings about her subject were far too present.
September 3, 2024
Really enjoyed how well written this was. For a fact-heavy history, this work had me so intrigued with the life and example of L. Maria Child.
December 2, 2024
An interesting and well written book.
February 19, 2023
First-rate biography of Child that also offers insights into her thought and life for Americans today.
August 8, 2025
This book would have been so much better if the author had stayed out of it personally. It's annoying to have the "I" of the author intruding on Child's story, especially when the author imagines what people thought and how they moved around in their homes, looked out their windows, etc. nearly 200 years ago. The author's style of posing dozens of rhetorical questions throughout the text is also jarring. Someone knocks on Child's door, for example, and the author immediately asks a slew of rhetorical questions: Who was it? What did they want? Lydia Child's life is well worth reading about, but Moland should have spared us her own intrusions, speculations and imaginings.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews