The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child (New Americanists) [Paperback]

Carolyn L. Karcher (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Americanists | Publication Date: February 9, 1998

For half a century Lydia Maria Child was a household name in the United States. Hardly a sphere of nineteenth-century life can be found in which Lydia Maria Child did not figure prominently as a pathbreaker. Although best known today for having edited Harriet A. Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she pioneered almost every department of nineteenth-century American letters—the historical novel, the short story, children’s literature, the domestic advice book, women’s history, antislavery fiction, journalism, and the literature of aging. Offering a panoramic view of a nation and culture in flux, this innovative cultural biography (originally published by Duke University Press in 1994) recreates the world as well as the life of a major nineteenth-figure whose career as a writer and social reformer encompassed issues central to American history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Famous during her lifetime, Child (1802-1880) had a remarkable career as author and social reformer. Karcher (Shadow Over the Promised Land) has prodigiously researched 19th-century life in America to place her subject in historical context for this definitive biography. Child wrote novels (Hobomok), women's advice books (The Frugal Housewife) and journalism. She also founded a children's magazine. She sacrificed a flourishing literary career to devote herself to the abolitionist cause, publishing the influential antislavery text, An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called African (1833), as well as editing an abolitionist newspaper. Although she and her husband, David, were united in social activism, their marriage lacked passion, and Child expressed her sexual feelings through her fiction, according to Karcher. She also agitated for the rights of Native Americans and women. Her seemingly secure reputation was erased, notes the author, by the "backlash against Reconstruction." This work should bring her recognition again. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

New Englander Child (1802-80) was foremost among social activists of the 19th century who, while working for rights denied to them, also fought against the genocide of the Indian and the enslavement of the African American. As a writer of nonfiction and fiction (she predated James Fenimore Cooper with her first historical novel) and as an abolitionist and crusader for human rights and religious tolerance, she was one of the most controversial and even heralded women of her time. Unlike the work of some 19th-century activists, her writings are in many cases still relevant today, leaving the question of how Child has simply disappeared from the literary and historical textbooks. Karcher (English, Temple Univ.) details Child's life in a thoroughly researched manner that emphasizes Child's own writings. It is not geared to casual reading but is recommended for all large public and academic libraries as well as women's studies collections. A meticulous study of a fascinating woman.
Kathrine Gillen, Luke Air Force Base Lib., Ariz.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (February 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822321637
• ISBN-13: 978-0822321637
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,154,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful accomplishment, November 22, 2009

By 

panimar - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child (New Americanists) (Paperback)

This book is an incredible accomplishment and as the first reviewer wrote truly a labor of love. While I had heard of Lydia Maria Child prior to reading this book, I had no idea that she was such a prolific writer who addressed so many political, social and cultural issues. Karcher unearths Child's voluminous writings and describes them hand-in-hand with the events of Child's life against the backdrop of the nineteenth century. Unlike biographies of authors that ignore the writings and studies of written works that ignore the writer, I find this book a perfect marriage of english and history that so amazingly describes the entire life and work of this incredible woman and brings to life the nineteenth century. As I read it, I couldn't help regularly thinking "wow" both at Lydia Maria Child for accomplishing so much and at Carolyn Karcher for writing about her so thoughtfully and thoroughly. I'm truly amazed that someone could write such a work in one lifetime and I consider it one of best books I've ever read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A labor of love, March 28, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child (New Americanists) (Paperback)

This is truly a labor of love: an 800-page, oversized biography of Lydia Maria Child, a woman who even at her death was mostly forgotten. Child was a prodigeous writer and social activist - staunch abolitionist, Indian advocate, feminist - who wrote ceaselessly for her causes (her bibliography contains hundreds of items). Karcher explores Child's life in great depth and with loving care. Anyone even remotely interested in Child or the world she inhabited will find this book useful and enjoyable.