Synopses & Reviews
A
Review
"The great strength of
Review
"In the title of his well-written book, Matteson refers to the "lives" of Margaret Fuller because, he explains, she continually reinvented herself over the course of her lifetime." Mary Beth Norton, author of Separated by Their Sex: Women in Public and Private in the Colonial Atlantic World
Review
"The great strength of
Review
"Megan Marshall's brilliant Margaret Fuller brings us as close as we are ever likely to get to this astonishing creature. She rushes out at us from her nineteenth century, always several steps ahead, inspiring, heartbreaking, magnificent." and#8212; Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of
Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity"Megan Marshall gives new meaning to close readingand#8212;from words on a page she conjures a fantastically rich inner life, a meld of body, mind, and soul. Drawing on the letters and diaries of Margaret Fuller and her circle, she has brought us a brave, visionary, sensual, tough-minded intellectual, a and#8216;first womanand#8217; who was unique yet stood for all women. A masterful achievement by a great American writer and scholar.and#8221; and#8212; Evan Thomas, author of Ikeand#8217;s Bluff: President Eisenhowerand#8217;s Secret Battle to Save the World
"Megan Marshalland#8217;s Margaret Fuller: A New American Life is the best single volume ever written on Fuller. Carefully researched and beautifully composed, the book brings Fuller back to life in all her intellectual vivacity and emotional intensity. Marshalland#8217;s Fuller overwhelms the reader, just as Fuller herself overwhelmed everyone she met. A masterpiece of empathetic biography, this is the book Fuller herself would have wanted. You will not be able to put it down." and#8212; Robert D. Richardson, author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire
"Fullerand#8217;s was a great life, flush with drama, and Megan Marshalland#8217;s new biography rises to it in ways small and large . . . This one pitches Ms. Marshall into the front rank of American biographers . . . 'Margaret Fuller' is as seductive as it is impressive . . . In Ms. Marshall, Fuller has found what feels like her ideal biographer." -- New York Times "A lively, intuitive study of a remarkable American character.and#8221;and#160; and#8212; Kirkus Reviews
"The book's success comes from the way that Marshall allows the reader to understand and empathize with Fuller in her plight."and#160;and#8212;and#160; Publishers Weekly and#160; "[Marshall] inhabits Fullerand#8217;s dramatic, oft-told story with unique intimacy by virtue of her fluency in and judicious quoting of Fullerand#8217;s extraordinarily vivid letters . . . Marshall brings stirring historical and psychological insights to Fullerand#8217;s complicated relationship with Emerson and the other transcendentalists, her journey west and response to the horrific plight of Native Americans, her gripping dispatches on social ills as a front-page columnist for Horace Greeleyand#8217;s New York Tribune, and her triumphs in Europe as 'Americaand#8217;s first female foreign correspondent.' How spectacularly detailed and compassionate Marshalland#8217;s chronicle is of Fullerand#8217;s scandalous love for an Italian soldier, the birth of their son, her heroic coverage of the 1849 siege of Rome, and her and her familyand#8217;s tragic deaths when their ship wrecks in sight of the American coast. A magnificent biography of a revolutionary thinker, witness, and writer." and#8212;Booklist starred review
Review
"The great strength of
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"The great strength of
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"The great strength of
Review
"The great strength of John Matteson's biography lies in his ability to place Margaret Fuller against the social milieu that both made her possible and got in her way. We see, as never before, a life constantly moving onto new ground." Robert Ferguson, author of The American Enlightenment
Synopsis
A brilliant writer and a fiery social critic, Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was perhaps the most famous American woman of her generation. Outspoken and quick-witted, idealistic and adventurous, she became the leading female figure in the transcendentalist movement, wrote a celebrated column of literary and social commentary for Horace Greeley's newspaper, and served as the first foreign correspondent for an American newspaper. While living in Europe she fell in love with an Italian nobleman, with whom she became pregnant out of wedlock. In 1848 she joined the fight for Italian independence and, the following year, reported on the struggle while nursing the wounded within range of enemy cannons. Amid all these strivings and achievements, she authored the first great work of American feminism: Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Despite her brilliance, however, Fuller suffered from self-doubt and was plagued by ill health. John Matteson captures Fuller's longing to become ever better, reflected by the changing lives she led.
Synopsis
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer John Matteson, an account of the "Susan Sontag" of nineteenth-century America.
Synopsis
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and#160; The award-winning author of The Peabody Sisters takes a fresh look at the trailblazing life of a great American heroineand#8212;Thoreauand#8217;s first editor, Emersonand#8217;s close friend, first female war correspondent, passionate advocate of personal and political freedom.
About the Author
John Matteson was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for Eden's Outcasts and is also the author of The Lives of Margaret Fuller, which received the Ann M. Sperber Prize for Best Biography of a Journalist. He has been a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the Leon Levy Center for Biography. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award of the John Jay College Alumni Association and the Dean's Award for Distinguished Achievement from the Columbia University School of Arts and Sciences. Distinguished Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, he lives in the Bronx.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrationsand#8195;xiii
Prologueand#8195;xv
Part I: Youth
and#160;and#160;and#160;1.and#160;and#160;and#160;Three Lettersand#8195;5
and#160;and#160;and#160;2.and#160;and#160;and#160;Ellen Kilshawand#8195;10
and#160;and#160;and#160;3.and#160;and#160;and#160;Theme: and#8220;Possunt quia posse videnturand#8221;and#8195;20
and#160;and#160;and#160;4.and#160;and#160;and#160;Marianaand#8195;28
Part II: Cambridge
and#160;and#160;and#160;5.and#160;and#160;and#160;The Young Ladyand#8217;s Friendsand#8195;39
and#160;and#160;and#160;6.and#160;and#160;and#160;Elective Affinitiesand#8195;51
Part III: Groton and Providence
and#160;and#160;and#160;7.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;My heart has no proper homeand#8221;and#8195;71
and#160;and#160;and#160;8.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Returned into lifeand#8221;and#8195;89
and#160;and#160;and#160;9.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Bringing my opinions to the testand#8221;and#8195;105
Part IV: concord, boston, jamaica plain
and#160;and#160;and#160;10.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;What were we born to do?and#8221;and#8195;127
and#160;and#160;and#160;11.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;The gospel of Transcendentalismand#8221;and#8195;142
and#160;and#160;and#160;12.and#160;and#160;and#160;Communities and Covenantsand#8195;163
and#160;and#160;and#160;13.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;The newest new worldand#8221;and#8195;202
Part V: New York
and#160;and#160;and#160;14.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;I stand in the sunny noon of lifeand#8221;and#8195;223
and#160;and#160;and#160;15.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Flying on the paper wings of every dayand#8221;and#8195;235
and#160;and#160;and#160;16.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;A human secret, like my ownand#8221;and#8195;244
Part VI: Europe
and#160;and#160;and#160;17.and#160;and#160;and#160;Lost on Ben Lomondand#8195;269
and#160;and#160;and#160;18.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Rome has grown up in my souland#8221;and#8195;282
and#160;and#160;and#160;19.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;A being born wholly of my beingand#8221;and#8195;315
Part VII: homeward
and#160;and#160;and#160;20.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;I have lived in a much more full and true wayand#8221;and#8195;353
and#160;and#160;and#160;21.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;No favorable windand#8221;and#8195;369 and#160; Epilogue: and#8220;After so dear a stormand#8221;and#8195;379
Acknowledgmentsand#8195;393
Notesand#8195;397
Indexand#8195;451