Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols And the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In 1860 I was arrested with several of my neighbors, among them a Congregational clergyman and his wife, his deacon and wife, a Notary Public,..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Clarina Nichols, Kansas Territory (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clarina Nichols's name may not spring to mind as quickly as Susan B. Anthony's when people think about women's suffrage, but Nichols's work on the lecture circuit and as a newspaper columnist helped shape public opinion and pave the way for the passage of the 19th amendment. This fine biography takes advantage of newly discovered documentation of Nichols's life, which she, to her later regret, did not preserve for posterity in memoirs. After escaping a troubled early marriage, Nichols married a newspaper publisher in Vermont and soon took over the business. From its pages she argued for women's rights, abolition and temperance-the other great movements of her era-and her articles won her notice and a place in Anthony's circle. Despite Nichols's success as a speaker and public figure in the East, she felt the pull of the frontier and took her family to Kansas and later California, where her story takes on the less unique flavor of the pioneer tale. Eickhoff writes fluently, but also liberally quotes Nichols's columns and letters, allowing readers to get a taste of her eloquence as well as her progressive views. Though gaps in her story remain and what is known is not necessarily the stuff of legend, readers interested in history and women's rights will be glad to have learned about Nichols, a charismatic figure who had fallen out of history's sight for so long.
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From Booklist

In the pantheon of pioneers of the early feminist movement, the name Clarina Nichols deserves to be placed next to those of such luminaries as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, yet most history books fail to mention the contributions of this indefatigable worker for the cause of women's rights, especially those of married women. At a time when they were legally considered nonexistent, women who were widowed or divorced frequently found themselves denied of all rights and access to property, income, and even their own children. Having suffered such indignities firsthand, Nichols overcame her own tragedies to become an eloquent journalist and passionate public speaker on issues of temperance and abolition as well as women's rights--one who could captivate audiences with true-life anecdotes, quick-witted arguments, and fervent pleas for justice. Filled with excerpts from Nichols' own writings, Eickhoff's exhaustive research and extensive scholarship results in a sweeping biography of this little-known but undeniably courageous champion of human rights. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Quindaro Press (March 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976443449
• ISBN-13: 978-0976443445
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #798,018 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, May 2, 2006

By	armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

Subtitled: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights

With great embarrassment I must admit I had no more than a fleeting knowledge of what the women's suffragist movement was all about. Reaching adulthood in the early 1970s, I was more familiar with that era's movement to garner equal pay for equal work. Little did I know the wheels had been set in motion more than a hundred years earlier.

Revolutionary Heart details the life of Clarina Nichols, an educated Vermont native with a flair for journalism and public speaking. Through records of Mrs. Nichol's writings and speeches, Diane Eickhoff has pieced together the early history of women's rights in America.

I marvel at the courage, strength and determination of Clarina Nichols, who has been overshadowed in history books by her better-known contemporary Susan B. Anthony. Both women challenged the issues of their day regarding slavery, temperance and women's rights. All at a time when women had no rights. No right to own property, no right to be awarded custody of children in the rare event of divorce, and no right to vote.

The author has written a beautiful biography of this woman who was no stranger to hardship. She divorced one husband and buried another. Her courage and determination carried her from the comforts of her Vermont home to the rugged terrains of Wisconsin, Kansas and ultimately California. By her intellect and wit, Mrs. Nichols was a welcome speaker and journalist who was clearly instrumental in bringing about change.

In one of my favorite passages, Mrs. Nichols addressed the accusation that women's rights leaders wanted to "wear the pants in the family." It reads: She said that though she bought the dress she wore with her own money, her husband by law owned it, not of his own will, but by a "law adopted by bachelors and other women's husbands." She said she didn't think it was fair for men to tease women about wanting to wear men's pants until men had given up their right to own women's skirts.

It is with gratitude that I reflect on the hardships many endured to assure women equal rights under the law. With heartfelt appreciation, I thank the author for bringing this important woman's story to light.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a model for us all, June 21, 2006

By	Barbara Watkinswestwood "barbara watkins" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Clarina Nichols was one of the nation's most amazing women of the Civil War Era--or any era. Any of the hats that she wore--crusading newspaper editor in Vermont, temperance lecturer and political activist in four states, pioneer abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor in "Bleeding Kansas," and defender of abused women--would be more than a lifetime of work for most people. Diane Eickhoff's superbly researched and presented biography Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols And the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights shows us how far we have come in 150 years--largely due to the heroic efforts of women such as Nichols and Eickhoff herself!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diane makes history come alive, May 30, 2006

By	History Buff "Chris" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

When I got Revolutionary Heart, I had a hard time putting it down. Diane knows how to make history come alive through her writing about a woman who seems as contemporary as today's news. Her writing is spell-binding. I feel I know Clarina very well after reading the book.