The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger: Volume 1: The Woman Rebel, 1900-1928 (Paperback)

by Esther Katz (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mesmerizing letters from the days when birth control was legally obscene and jail sentences were regularly given out for talking about it in public. Nearly a century ago, Margaret Sanger was defending woman's 'ownership of her own body' and linking access to contraception to civil liberties and personal freedom. Rights we take for granted have a long and sometimes surprising history that comes clear on these pages. Required reading for our own time, whichever side of Roe v. Wade you are on."
-- Linda K. Kerber, author of No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship

"These wonderful letters, diary excerpts, and essays dramatize women's long struggle for respect, self-awareness, independence, influence, and control over our bodies and our lives. To contemplate Margaret Sanger's harsh reality and the enduring vision of this courageous pioneer--while the war against women escalates on every front--is a heartening and galvanizing act of rebellion. Esther Katz and her splendid team have given us all a very great gift."
-- Blanche Wiesen Cook, University Distinguished Professor, John Jay College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and the author of Eleanor Roosevelt, volumes 1 and 2

"This engrossing volume, meticulously edited and selected, captures Margaret Sanger in all her complexity during a formative period in her long career. Open to practically any page, and something will grab your historical attention."
-- Susan Ware, editor of Notable American Women, volume 5

Product Description

The birth control crusader, feminist, and reformer Margaret Sanger was one of the most controversial and compelling figures in the twentieth century. The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger, Volume 1 is composed of Sanger’s letters, diaries, journals, articles, and speeches, most of which have not appeared previously in print. Now in paperback, the book documents the critical phases and influences of an American feminist icon and offers rare glimpses into her working-class childhood, burgeoning feminism, spiritual and scientific interests, sexual explorations, and diverse roles as wife, mother, lover, nurse, journalist, radical socialist, and activist.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (January 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252074602
• ISBN-13: 978-0252074608
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #611,987 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #72 in	Books > Nonfiction > Women's Studies > Abortion & Birth Control

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing Omissions, May 5, 2009

By	EAJ "Bookie" (Troy, MI) - See all my reviews

It got into her personal life, creating the hero myth but it left out much that is troubling.
Ms. Sanger founded Planned Parenthood but was also a proponent of eugenics, advocating selective breeding, sterilization and euthanasia. In 1932 Sanger urged "a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring." In her 1938 autobiography, she describes how well she got along with the woman's branch of the KKK at Silver Lake, N.J. in a speech she gave to them, hanging on well into the night talking with the ladies after the speech. She was associated with The Negro Project, whose main idea was to recruit charismatic black ministers to encourage black women to practice birth control, thereby reducing the number of black babies being born. In a December 10, 1939 letter, Sanger wrote to Dr. Gamble, head of The Negro Project: "We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
These are hew own words. The KKK still quotes her and Hitler gave her an award. The harm she caused, even if you agree with abortion is demonstrable and inexcusable. That the author really didn't touch on this is a crime.