Sex Wars: A Novel of Gilded Age New York
by: Marge Piercy
Publisher: William Morrow (2005)
$17.99
Staff Pick by comrade: AK
'Sex Wars' examines the struggle for women's suffrage right after the Civil War when so many activists were focused on getting the vote for African Americans, and the Women's Movement was often put on the back burner. Post Civil War New York through the eyes of several feisty women.
Post?CivilWarNewYorkCityisthebattlegroundoftheAmericandream.Inthiseraoffreelove,emergingrightsofwomen,andbrutalsexualrepression,Freydeh,aspiritedyoungJewishimmigrant,toilsatdifferentjobstoearnpassagetoAmericaforherfamily.Learningthatheryoungersisterisadriftsomewhereinthecity,shebeginsadeterminedsearchthatcarriesherfromtenementtobrotheltoprison�asherstoryinterweaveswiththoseofsomeoftheepoch’smostnotoriousfigures:ElizabethCadyStanton;SusanB.Anthony;sexualfreedomactivistVictoriaWoodhull,thefirstwomantorunforpresident;andAnthonyComstock,founderoftheSocietyfortheSuppressionofVice,whosecensorshiplawsarestillonthebooks.InthetraditionofherbestsellingWorldWarIIepicGonetoSoldiers,MargePiercyonceagainrecreatesaturbulentperiodinAmericanhistoryandexploreschangingattitudesinalandofsacrifice,suffering,promise,andreward.