Margaret Sanger, Her Life in Words

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
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
In 1916, Margaret Sanger made her legal stand against the repressive laws forbidding the distribution of obscene articles-including any information on contraception. Though embraced by feminists, socialists, birth-control advocates, and the working class, her ideas are still as controversial and valid today as they were ninety years ago. Margaret Sanger, the controversial fighter for legalized birth control and visionary whose ideas formed Planned Parenthood, has never had her story told with as much scope as Margaret Sanger: Her Life in Her Words. Here Miriam Reed compiles insightful historical and personal commentary on a broad selection of Sanger's letters, articles, and speeches. These original documents venture beyond Sanger's involvement in the contraception movement and depict the untold autobiography of Sanger's wide social impact. This book includes Sanger's writings on marriage and children, the labor movement, socialism, prison reform, pacifism, eugenics, and sex education. The chronological arrangement of documents illustrates Sanger's impact on these issues, the development of the struggle between 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.

About the Author
Miriam Reed is an actress and writer of one-woman performances. Her one-woman performances include Louisa May Alcott: Living Little Women, Talking Abortion, Oscar Wilde's Women, and most importantly, Margaret Sanger: Radiant Rebel.


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Reed, the actress who re-created Sanger (1879-1966) in a one-woman performance, here collects 39 letters, articles, and speeches (including excerpts from the famous "What Every Girl Should Know" and Family Limitation) to present the birth control crusader's life "in her words." Reed appears to have read everything Sanger has ever written, and here she provides voluminous notes and introductions to each document. Together they create an overall picture of the long, active life of the woman who coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and founded Planned Parenthood. Sanger heard Susan B. Anthony speak and yet lived to proselytize on Mike Wallace's TV talk show! Some of Reed's information is not widely known-for instance, that Sanger's industrialist husband smuggled diaphragms into the country in his oil company containers-and the inclusion of documents from Sanger's later period of international renown is welcome. Recommended as a complement to the definitive four-volume Selected Papers from New York University's Margaret Sanger Papers Project, the first of which came out last December. [The project has also made Sanger's complete writings available on microfilm.-Ed.]-Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., CUNY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


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