Lucretia Mott's Heresy: Abolition and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America
"This is the first biography of Mott in thirty years, and it proves to be thoroughly researched, well written, and fascinating. Faulkner's accessible writing style makes this book appropriate for any reader interested in women's history generally or the history of the U.S. abolitionist and women's suffrage movements."—Library Journal"Mott did not make her biographer's task easy; except for a three- month period in 1840, she kept no diary, and although, like her compatriot Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she often spoke publicly, unlike Stanton, she seldom wrote for publication. Faulkner has more than met the challenge; her book is interesting and well written, offering fresh perspectives at every turn on Mott's roles within Quakerism and the antislavery and women's rights movements while also providing glimpses of her personal life. . . . With this timely book, Faulkner makes a compelling case for Mott's contemporary significance."—Journal of American History"Faulkner has produced a beautifully written and thoroughly researched biography that, when added to other recent studies of antebellum activists, provides a broader picture of the challenges that faced those who threatened a patriarchy determined to preserve a labor system based on slavery and a social system based on the subordination of women."—New England Quarterly"The best biography of Mott available. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice"This much-needed, coherently argued, and beautifully written biography does justice to Mott's centrality to the history of antislavery, woman's rights, Quakerism, and Philadelphia."—Lori D. Ginzberg, author ofElizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life"Lucretia Mott is as important to the birth of the women's rights movement as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Sophisticated, lively, direct, and often riveting, Lucretia Mott's Heresy will be the definitive biography of Mott for decades to come."—Bruce Dorsey, author ofReforming Men and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City