My frank disclosure of my grandfather’s deeds in a July 2018 Salon article—which led to front-page news stories in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune—prompted not only cries of vindicated triumph from those who had been traumatized
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“Elizabeth’s mind spun from what he told her. Under the laws of the United States at that time, a man’s wife was his property: Theophilus could do as he wished. She later wrote in bleak despair, “I…have married away all the freedom I ever had in America”
― The Woman They Could Not Silence
― The Woman They Could Not Silence
“The Illinois law in fact explicitly stated that married women could be admitted “without the evidence of insanity…required in other cases.”
― The Woman They Could Not Silence
― The Woman They Could Not Silence
“She fought every day of her life to make things better, dedicating her life to others, wanting justice for all. She was torn down for it, her reputation ravaged. Yet she squared her shoulders and dusted herself off after every single setback. She went back out there to meet that hostile world, with her hoop skirts swishing and her brown eyes gleaming, ready to fight another day. And yes, they called her crazy. But if that’s crazy, we should stand back and admire. For just look at what “crazy” can do.”
― The Woman They Could Not Silence
― The Woman They Could Not Silence
“We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name.’ The first death is beyond our control, but the second one we can strive to prevent.”
― The Book of Lost Friends
― The Book of Lost Friends
“The growth of the Civil War monuments peaked twice: first, in the early twentieth century, when Jim Crow laws were being made, and then again in the 1950s and ’60s when the laws were being challenged.”
― The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
― The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
Catherine’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Catherine’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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