Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage, and the ExtraordinaryLife of Helen Hamilton Gardener

Hamlin (American studies, Miami Univ. of Ohio) has made an important contribution to feminist historiography in this well-researched account that sheds light on radical reform movements of late 19th-century America and the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Helen Hamilton Gardener (1853–1925) was intimately involved in these activities; indeed, as this book argues, she dedicated her life to realizing the preconditions that made the vote possible. Born Mary Alice Chenoweth, Gardener reinvented herself after a sex scandal in postbellum Ohio caused her to lose both her job and her reputation. Becoming a popular lecturer and author, she used her experiences to target economic insecurity and the sexual double standards applied to men vs. women. Her marriage to a retired army colonel eventually helped introduce her to political circles in Washington, DC, which Hamlin effectively details, particularly the infighting among suffrage groups and Gardener’s rivalry with the better-known Alice Paul. She also addresses the racial divisions of the 19th Amendment.