Cook Tennessee Claflin - The scarlet sisters: sex, suffrage, and scandal in the Gilded Age

MacPhersons fascinating dual biography of two Victorian feminist firebrands who opened the first woman-owned brokerage in New York in 1870backed by no less than Cornelius Vanderbilt himself. When they arrived at their plush Broad Street office dressed in matching suits, with shockingly short skirts grazing their boots, the press went berserk They continued their push for womens rightsrights that, in the era of legitimate rape and state-mandated ultrasoundsremain at the center of our political landscape over a century later.

Vogue.com

In this sweeping, engaging new biography, Myra MacPherson chronicles lives that intersected with nearly all of the eras great themes and famous figures. For their outspoken opinions about womens rights, abortion, religion and prostitution, both women were frequently derided as prostitutes As MacPherson writes: Victoria and Tennessee said that ones private life was none of anyones business, especially the clergy and lawmakers. Activists say the same today, but the fight goes on.

Boston Globe

[In] MacPhersons enchanting dual biography the epilogue hammers home that even in 2014 men use womens bodies as political bargaining chips. In this light, these Victorian sisters blast of protest against a restrictive and hypocritical status quo remains something to celebrate.

The Washington Post

A lively account of the unlikely lives of the two most symbiotic and scandalous sisters in American History.

The New Yorker

MacPherson crusades for 19th century feminists.

Vanity Fair

Sensational in every sense of the word MacPherson looks at the lives of Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Tennie Claflin, free-thinking feminist sisters who took New York City by storm in the 1860s by fearlessly addressing the taboos of the time. They were proponents of free love, suffrage, sex education and labor reform, and they stumped for their causes bravely Their accusations of infidelity against minister Henry Ward Beecher nearly trumped the Civil War for press coverage. MacPherson, an award-winning journalist, takes a theatrical approach to these radical proceedings. She provides a cast of characters and unfolds the sisters story over the course of five irresistible acts. This is a grand tale presented on a grand scale.

Bookpage

MacPherson aims her wit and very sharp pen at a side of the suffrage movement rarely seen in history books, epitomized by these two real sisters She takes us on a raucous romp through secret trysts, their self-published weekly advocating free speech and free love, sensational trials, fortune-telling, Spiritualism and brushes with the most powerful capitalists and revolutionaries of the time. Along the way the sisters set the suffrage movement on firealbeit brieflywith their modern ideas, fiery rhetoric and passion for womens rights.

Los Angeles Daily Journal

Sensational MacPherson gives a detailed portrait of the roller-coaster, rags-to-riches lives of two backwoods country girls, who, seeking to better their own situation, hoped to do the same for women everywhere For all their pomp and bombast, they were unrepentant champions of equal rights for women in everything from the bedroom to the boardroom, the voting booth to the battlefield. Dismissively patronized by men and scathingly ostracized by women for their unladylike bravura, the sisters courageously battled such defamatory characterizations to bring their controversial views to packed lecture halls throughout the country.

Booklist

A livelier and more entertaining look at Woodhull, her family and their exploits than ever presented before. As someone who reads everything that is published about American womens history, I give THE SCARLET SISTERS my seal of approval. In fact, I think Im going to read it again! It is that good.

Bookreporter.com

Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin were responsible for more headlines than any other women in 19th century America. They promoted feminist ideals eight decades before Betty Friedan. Its incredible they are forgotten today.

The Internet Review of Books

Tennessee Claflin and Victoria Claflin Woodhull might, in the wrong hands, appear to be quirky caricatures out of an episode of Downton Abby, said Megan OGrady in Vogue. But the sisters who founded the first female-owned Wall Street brokerage firm mounted a campaign for womens rights that deserves to be remembered for its sweep and savvy. MacPherson captures it all, from the sisters shockingly short skirts to their slightly hucksterish brand of charisma.

The Week

Are these sisters the most scandalous feminists of all time? MacPhersons new book is about two sisters in the late 1800s but it couldnt be more timely.

Metro

Beautiful and ambitious Victoria Claflin Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee (Tennie) Claflin, whirled into New York City in 1868, en route to becoming two of the most infamous women in America MacPherson renders the Claflin sisters actions as high drama, parceling their lives into five acts complete with a list of a cast of characters.

Publishers Weekly

Ordinarily, one would look to the fiction of Twain or Dickens to find a nineteenth-century tale to match the real-life saga of the sisters Claflin-Woodhull. Happily, Myra MacPherson has rediscovered these proto-feminists. Their rebellion against Victorian sexual enslavement and the power of white males captivated and infuriated their contemporaries for good reason, and left a mark that resonates today.