From Publishers Weekly
This carefully edited collection of 271 letters offers insights into the heart and mind of Jessie Benton Fremont (1824-1902), a spirited and talented woman forced by society to channel her own ambitions into her husband's career. The daughter of Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton, she eloped at age 17 to marry famed explorer John Fremont. In the ensuing years she lent her extraordinary charm, intellect and abilities to advancing his efforts as an explorer, politician, Civil War general and financial speculator. She also helped write his memoirs and defended him from critics. In accompanying essays, Herr ( Jesse Benton Fremont: A Biography ) and Spence ( The Explorations of John Charles Fremont ) illuminate Fremont's eloquent and touching letters, in which she lays out her fierce abolitionist stance, her love for her difficult and unreliable husband, and her decision to write a book ( A Year of American Travel , 1878 ) in order to support her children when his fortunes declined. This is an outstanding contribution to women's studies. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The favorite child of powerful Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and the wife of the explorer, presidential candidate, and Civil War general John Fremont, Jessie Benton Fremont was one of the most renowned and controversial women of Victorian America. Bold and outspoken, yet beset by the ambivalence and conflict faced by women in a changing America, she witnessed and chronicled this period in a prolific correspondence, 271 letters of which are meticulously annotated and organized here. The editors, each of whom has written books on the Fremonts, succeed in placing the letters in context, dividing the text into seven sections that illustrate key periods in Fremont's life. Readers will find fascinating insights here into the tensions faced by a politician's wife, learning, for example, that today's much ballyhooed "Hillary factor" had a parallel in the presidential campaign of 1856, in which women actively participated. Certainly historians, but even general readers, should enjoy this collection.
- Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
