I'd picked up a remaindered copy of this because after our Civil War reading group, I'd been left with the feeling: BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN? Then I picked it up to read once I'd started buddy reads with my dad so I'd have other reading to report on (and have someone to talk about it all with!)

While at first I primarily enjoyed seeing the ways her life intersected with those I was already aware of to some degree or another -- the transcendentalists, John Brown, Helen Keller & Annie Sullivan, her life is a splendid illustration both of the rising women's suffrage movement and also the way creative women have been suppressed throughout history -- both by society at large and also by individuals, at home. That she could write something as effective and well known and loved as the Battle Hymn of the Republic and be lauded for it on one hand, while the other says "Oh, that was cute, you should go back to raising babies now."

I do wonder if there is an insightful take on her husband out there somewhere. How he could have chosen to marry Julia, only to immediately suppress everything about her that most others (including herself) found valuable. Ugh. ( )

First let me say that I admire the author Elaine Showalter very much. I read her book, [A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing] a long time ago, on my own, which is to say not assigned by any course, it had a real impact on the way I looked at literature, particularly that written by women. More recently I read her historical compendium, [A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx]. I’ve had my eye on this biography since it first appeared both because of its subject matter and because of who the author is.

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In the early 19th century, Julia Ward was a New York heiress, an intelligent, ambitious and talented young woman, who was also an aspiring poet, accomplished musician and singer. She was admired by many, and in New York society was often dubbed, “the Diva.” These days we are apt to associate her with her with one of her creations, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Julia will eventually meet and marry Samuel Howe, a handsome, well-educated, highly respected humanitarian and war hero (he returned from the Greek war with Byron’s helmet) who was twenty years her senior. Howe is known for his work with the blind at the Perkins Institute in Boston. Until the time when Ward meets Julia, he had been too busy and bit too prudish to think much about marriage. They were two exceptional people who married….

What happens to the ambition of a talented and intelligent woman in 19th century America when she is expected to leave her aspirations and studies behind and embrace and find fulfillment in her new life of domesticity? In this wonderfully readable and sympathetic biography, Showalter draws on scholarly research and other resources to brings to life, not only the person of Julia Ward Howe, but that of the people around her and the fascinating 19th century world in which she lived. Julia is an unforgettable character in these pages and her struggles, both private and public, are heroic and pioneering. She is someone the reader will not forget quickly. ( )

This is a study of the life of Julia Ward Howe, first through the lenses of how she was suppressed by her strict father and then by her domineering husband. It then shifts to show how through publishing her poetry and giving talks on philosophy and, later, women's rights, she came into her own talents and became a beloved American icon. Of course, this rising fame came predominantly through her poem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

This book is very engaging and reads quickly--my copy only had 300 pages, the last 50 being references/notes/index. I finished it in 3 days, so I would recommend it to anybody looking for a fast-paced nonfiction.

My Transcendentalism-loving heart enjoyed this book due to the fact that Julia and her husband were very much on the fringes of Transcendentalism. Julia interacted with Louisa May Alcott (who found Julia snobby!), Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and basically all your Transcendentalist faves.

On the whole, Julia was a privileged women with a love for socializing and the finer things in life who eventually found a passion for speaking out for underprivileged groups, including women, slaves, immigrants, and more. ( )

I have been eagerly waiting for The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe to work its way up the hold list at the library ever since I read a little paragraph promoting it. I was intrigued by the suggestion that her own life was a civil war seeking her own emancipation. It is written by Elaine Showalter who writes with an engaging style and who occasionally addresses to the reader directly. She knows what we’re asking and she pauses to answer. It is unusual approach and I liked it.

I was captured by the book on page 13 when Julia Ward wrote about first reading George Sand. When she was young, her father carefully censored her reading, only some Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Shelley, and hymns. Her brother came home from a trip to Europe and she snuck some books from his library, including this shocking book by this shocking woman. “We knew our parents would not have us read her, if they knew. Yet we read her at stolen hours…the atmosphere grew warm and glorious about us,—a true human company, a living sympathy crept near us—the very world seemed not the same world after as before.” She began to write and even published a few poems.

Read the rest of the review at

http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/the-civil-wars-of-julia-wa... ( )