Sex Wars: A Novel of the Turbulent Post-Civil War Period/Gilded New York [B1458]

2005 HCDJ in nice clean condition. "A resonant tale of public and private lives during a time of staggering societal shifts. . . . This is a big American story. . . . deeply felt." -Boston Globe. Post-Civil War New York City is the battleground of the American dream. In this era of free love, emerging rights of women, and brutal sexual repression, Freydeh, a spirited young Jewish immigrant, toils at different jobs to earn passage to America for her family. Learning that her younger sister is adrift somewhere in the city, she begins a determined search that carries her from tenement to brothel to prison-as her story interweaves with those of some of the epoch's most notorious figures: Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Susan B. Anthony; sexual freedom activist Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president; and Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, whose censorship laws are still on the books.

"Piercy powerfully dramatizes the early feminists' zeal and the high stakes of the gender wars it set in motion, and offers a wealth of period detail." -Publishers Weekly, starred review. "In this mesmerizing, sexy, and forthright historical novel, [Piercy] portrays heroic women determined to control every aspect of their lives, from birth control to finances. . . . spectacularly engrossing and truly moving." -Booklist. "Fascinating and all too relevant. . . . Piercy has a gift or conjuring the texture of an historical era." -Washington Post.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "i love marge piercy. this is in the same written style as city of darkness, city of light and it's fabulous"; "The book is somewhat haphazardly plotted and paced, but I enjoyed spending time with all of then, particularly medium-suffragist-stockbroker-presidential candidate Woodhull, whose life is so extraordinary, I kept running to Wikipedia to see if Piercy was making stuff up (she wasn't)."; "A must read for every woman, young and old. Revisit the turn-of-the-century story of women's plights-without rights-through the eyes of original suffragettes. A sorely needed reminder, given the current generation of Republican women who blithely support corrupt, hypocritical policy makers that squelch access to birth control and health care, rip migrant children from their families, suppress voter rights, and trounce upon Constitutional law while thumping a bible and waving a flag."