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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The considerable contribution of Quaker women to American society is explored here by a Haverford College professor. From their early history in the American colonies, shaped by their religious commitment to pacifism and mentored by prominent male Quakers, e.g., George Fox, William Penn, John Woolman, these women, shows Bacon, spread the gospel as they pioneered rights movements. In the vanguard of the antislavery thrust in the last century, their nonresistance stance, exemplified in the strategies of Lucretia Mott, Susan Anthony and others, bore fruit in women's suffrage. Contemporary Quaker women, nurtured in the tradition of sexual equality and egalitarian marriage, are at odds with radical feminism, Bacon maintains, but resilient in coping with change. This well-written study is complemented by photographs. (August 6) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A thoroughly documented history by Bacon (The Quiet Rebels) of the liberated and reformist political activities of Quaker American women, this is likely to become the standard source book. Long before women's lib or even California, Quaker women lived in communities with amazingly advanced sexual equality. They travelled freely and alone to Europe and elsewhere for the ministry, smoked pipes, ate health food. Their forward thinking and social attitudes were deeply entrenched in their religious beliefs as in their motto: ""In Christ there is neither male nor female and in souls there is no sex."" But their history, ideological as well as actual, like much of women's history, has been largely obscured. Many of us know of Susan B. Anthony but we probably don't know that she came from Quaker stock, or that Lucretia Mott, her predecessor and role model, evolved her abolitionist and suffrage programs from Quaker beliefs. In short, Quakers have made a great contribution to the history of progressive reform and liberal thinking in America. Beginning with the origins of Quaker communities in Puritan England, Bacon works up to current Quaker feminist and peace activists and organizations, like Equal Rights Amendment lobbyist Lenny Lianne and the American Friends Service Committee. The period most vividly discussed is the 19th century, however. Because Bacon relies so much on straight historical fact with little or no analysis, her book reads, at times, like a 19th-century history text itself or, worse, an official account. But, on the whole, she breaks new ground on a relatively unexplored aspect of American history that remains timely and interesting today. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Bacon considers the history of the Society of Friends in America a microcosm of the long struggle for gender equality in society at large. She studies the 340-year history of the Quaker experiment to find practical applications of William Penn's doctrine that ``in souls there is no sex.'' Carefully researched and well documented, her book traces feminism within the Society of Friends from its roots in Britain. However, this is primarily a broad survey of the American movement; it examines early events and moves on rapidly through U.S. history up to Quaker feminist involvement in the 1980s. Though this is an excellent introduction to its topic, one could wish that greater depth had been possible. Recommended for college and large public libraries. Sheila R. Herstein, City Coll. of CUNY Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
