Product Description

This book includes Sanger's writings on marriage and children, the labor movement, socialism, prison reform, pacifism, eugenics, and sex education. The documents illustrate Sanger's impact on these issues, the development of the struggle between the working class and middle class, and the clash between conservative mores and the freethinking women that have shaped today's society. It features the original articles Nothing and What Every Girl Should Know from The New York Call which sparked the ongoing struggle for women's reproductive freedom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1976186 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-23
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.31 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Sanger, the controversial fighter for legalized birth control and a key player in the development of Planned Parenthood, has been the subject of numerous biographies and, in 1938, penned an autobiography. Now actress Reed, who writes one-woman performances, has assembled a broad selection of Sanger's letters, articles and speeches to present a historical and personal look at the influential 20th century woman. Reed divides the book into three sections: "The Rebel," in which she introduces Sanger and presents information on early sex education and the first birth control clinic; "The Reformer," which includes Sanger's writings from the 1920s and '30s on birth control in China and Japan and her thoughts on meeting Gandhi in 1935; and "The Conservative Radical," a compact portion covering the advent of the birth control pill and Sanger's 1960 letter to the New York Times on overpopulation. The book deftly showcases Sanger's grit and determination and will be a welcome addition to feminist literature. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Sanger became committed to sex education and birth control (a term she coined) after watching her mother die at age 50 after enduring 18 pregnancies and witnessing the suffering of poor women and children as a nurse on New York's Lower East Side. A radical first, then a reformer and mother of three, Sanger devoted herself to helping women take charge of their bodies and their lives in the hope that every child would then be wanted and cared for. She fought courageously against the Comstock laws, which made it illegal to talk openly about contraception, then launched an international family planning campaign. Sanger is, in short, a great but overlooked hero. Reed, a creator of one-woman performances, including one based on Sanger's life, seeks to revitalize our appreciation for Sanger in this invaluable collection of her seminal, intelligent, and compassionate writings, which are accompanied by Reed's vibrant and illuminating commentary and a charming introduction by Sanger's granddaughter, Margaret Sanger Lampe, who remembers her red-haired, "small and soft-spoken" grandmother as an animated and giving woman who loved champagne, parties, and life itself. Donna Seaman
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