Victoria Woodhull's Sexual Revolution

Amanda Frisken teaches American studies at the State University of New York, Old Westbury.

"Covers all facets . . . of Woodhull's life, and much more." --- "Frisken's particular contribution is on how Woodhull was represented in the cheap illustrated 'sporting papers,' such as The Days' Doings and the Illustrated Police News. Such papers were directed toward young urban men and regularly featured women of questionable character-often emphasizing both their physical bodies and their sexuality. As Frisken ably documents, the targeting of Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin in these papers reveals much about the press's participation in the racial and sexual politics of Reconstruction America." --- "While Frisken's study recounts the events of Woodhull's colorful life, this study is not a conventional biography. Instead, the work focuses upon the period between 1870 and 1876 when Woodhull was at the height of her notoriety. In four chapters, the author explores Woodhull's significance as a symbol of the period's radical sexual politics. Against the backdrop of Reconstruction, Frisken argues convincingly, Woodhull took her status as a disreputable woman and converted it into a political asset in order to generate publicity for her campaign for social change. As evidenced by the numerous pictures woven throughout the study, the popular press and men's sporting magazines depicted Woodhull in the most sexualized terms. Instead of shirking from the limelight in the face of sensationalist news stories about her unconventional lifestyle and beliefs, Woodhull repeatedly engaged in acts of political theater to promote radical change." --- "Readers seeking a full-scale biography of Woodhull will not find it here, but those interested in the role of print culture in the dissemination of radical social thought will appreciate this richly textured work." --- "Frisken provides a lively and well-researched account of what she calls, at one point, 'the Woodhull phenomenon.' And what a phenomenon she was . . . .For Victoria Woodhull the personal was indeed the political, and the highly theatrical interventions in public life that the book primarily engages with revealed just the extent to which she thought, and showed, the two were interleaved . . . [The] book contains many cartoons and sketches of Woodhull, some well known and some less familiar, that help make [the] case that in order to understand the significance of Woodhull's contribution to the radicalism of the 1870s it is necessary to locate her within a culture of personal performance and political theater. [Frisken's] book will help to do just that." --- "Frisken's book provides an enlightening introduction to one of the most controversial characters in American history."