Read Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars

Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars

Catherine Clinton

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Description:A British stage star turned Georgia plantation mistress, Fanny Kemble is perhaps best known as America's most unlikely abolitionist, whose passionate writings against bondage made her a heroine of the Union cause. Irrepressible in word & deed, she captured the imaginations of many celebrities of the antebellum era. Walt Whitman was held spellbound at one of her early NYC stage performances, rhapsodizing: "Fanny Kemble Name to conjure up great mimic scenes withal--perhaps the greatest Nothing finer did ever stage exhibit." Henry James predicted Kemble's literary gifts would "make her what I call historic," & abolitionist Catharine Sedgwick enthused: "She is a most captivating creature, steeped to the very lips in genius." By the mid-1830s, American society was firmly in the grip of her celebrity. A tulip was named in her honor. Young ladies adopted "Fanny Kemble curls" & donned "Fanny Kemble caps." Harvard undergraduates smeared themselves with molasses to fend off rivals for scarce tickets to her performances, & lecture attendance fell off so sharply on the afternoons of her matinees that Harvard faculty threatened to cancel classes. In a fit of passion, one smitten suitor rented the horse Niagara so that he could be astride the mount she'd once ridden. Her private life, however, was the stuff of tabloids for different reasons. She married, for love, Pierce Butler--a Philadelphia native & heir to a Georgia plantation fortune--but the union soon turned bitter. In her correspondence, she derisively referred to her husband as "my lord & master," & tried to run away from the couple's Philadelphia homeafter just four months of marriage. This defiant behavior fueled public scandal, which reached an incendiary peak in 1835, when she published her "Journal of Residence in America." The book not only aired her controversial views on slavery but launched a satirical send-up of American society, which Butler maintained would bring shame on their friends & family. The book became an instant bestseller & left NYC "in an uproar." Her name became permanently linked to the issue of slavery when, in 1863, she published her most famous volume, "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation." "I think I should die if I had to live here," she confessed after a season on the Butler lands, & her journal of those days hauntingly records the "simple horror & misery" she saw as the plight of the slaves. The raw power of her words made for a powerful antislavery tract, which influenced European sentiment toward the Union cause. Passages were read aloud on the floor of the House of Commons & to cotton workers in Manchester, & the book was embraced by Northern critics as "a permanent & most valuable chapter in our history" (Atlantic Monthly). In "Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars," we learn how this fascinating figure lived up to her pledge: "It was an imperative duty, knowing what I know, & having seen what I have seen, to do all that lies in my power to show the dangers & the evils of this frightful institution." Bringing to bear the tools of both history & biography, Catherine Clinton reveals how one woman's life reflected in microcosm the public battles--over slavery, the role of women, sectionalism--that fueled our nation's greatest conflict & have permanently marked our history.PrefaceEnter Fanny KembleO Brave New World Not so somber airs Transatlantic currentsThe war over slavery Fighting for her rights Battle cries for freedomLost causes Peace & remembranceEpilogueNotesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndexPhoto CreditsWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars. To get started finding Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
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Pages: —

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (NYC)

Release: —

ISBN: 0684844141

Description: A British stage star turned Georgia plantation mistress, Fanny Kemble is perhaps best known as America's most unlikely abolitionist, whose passionate writings against bondage made her a heroine of the Union cause. Irrepressible in word & deed, she captured the imaginations of many celebrities of the antebellum era. Walt Whitman was held spellbound at one of her early NYC stage performances, rhapsodizing: "Fanny Kemble Name to conjure up great mimic scenes withal--perhaps the greatest Nothing finer did ever stage exhibit." Henry James predicted Kemble's literary gifts would "make her what I call historic," & abolitionist Catharine Sedgwick enthused: "She is a most captivating creature, steeped to the very lips in genius." By the mid-1830s, American society was firmly in the grip of her celebrity. A tulip was named in her honor. Young ladies adopted "Fanny Kemble curls" & donned "Fanny Kemble caps." Harvard undergraduates smeared themselves with molasses to fend off rivals for scarce tickets to her performances, & lecture attendance fell off so sharply on the afternoons of her matinees that Harvard faculty threatened to cancel classes. In a fit of passion, one smitten suitor rented the horse Niagara so that he could be astride the mount she'd once ridden. Her private life, however, was the stuff of tabloids for different reasons. She married, for love, Pierce Butler--a Philadelphia native & heir to a Georgia plantation fortune--but the union soon turned bitter. In her correspondence, she derisively referred to her husband as "my lord & master," & tried to run away from the couple's Philadelphia homeafter just four months of marriage. This defiant behavior fueled public scandal, which reached an incendiary peak in 1835, when she published her "Journal of Residence in America." The book not only aired her controversial views on slavery but launched a satirical send-up of American society, which Butler maintained would bring shame on their friends & family. The book became an instant bestseller & left NYC "in an uproar." Her name became permanently linked to the issue of slavery when, in 1863, she published her most famous volume, "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation." "I think I should die if I had to live here," she confessed after a season on the Butler lands, & her journal of those days hauntingly records the "simple horror & misery" she saw as the plight of the slaves. The raw power of her words made for a powerful antislavery tract, which influenced European sentiment toward the Union cause. Passages were read aloud on the floor of the House of Commons & to cotton workers in Manchester, & the book was embraced by Northern critics as "a permanent & most valuable chapter in our history" (Atlantic Monthly). In "Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars," we learn how this fascinating figure lived up to her pledge: "It was an imperative duty, knowing what I know, & having seen what I have seen, to do all that lies in my power to show the dangers & the evils of this frightful institution." Bringing to bear the tools of both history & biography, Catherine Clinton reveals how one woman's life reflected in microcosm the public battles--over slavery, the role of women, sectionalism--that fueled our nation's greatest conflict & have permanently marked our history.PrefaceEnter Fanny KembleO Brave New World Not so somber airs Transatlantic currentsThe war over slavery Fighting for her rights Battle cries for freedomLost causes Peace & remembranceEpilogueNotesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndexPhoto CreditsWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars. To get started finding Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars

Fanny Kemble's Civil Wars

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