{ "item_title" : "The Icon and the Idealist", "item_author" : [" Stephanie Gorton "], "item_description" : "SHORTLISTED FOR THE PLUTARCH AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHYWINNER OF THE ASJA AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY/HISTORYA riveting history about the little-known rivalry between Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett that profoundly shaped the fight for reproductive rights in America.In the 1910s, as the American birth control movement was born, two leaders emerged: Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. While Sanger would go on to found Planned Parenthood, Dennett's name has largely faded from public knowledge. Each held a radically different vision for what bodily autonomy and birth control access should look like in America.Few are aware of the fierce personal and political rivalry that played out between Sanger and Dennett over decades--a battle that had a profound impact on the lives of American women. Meticulously researched and vividly drawn, The Icon and the Idealist reveals how and why these two women came to activism, the origins of the clash between them, and the ways in which their missteps and breakthroughs have reverberated across American society for generations.With deep archival scope and rigorous execution, Stephanie Gorton weaves together a personal narrative of two fascinating women and the political history of a country rocked by changing social norms, the Depression, and a fervor for the eugenics movement. Refusing to shy away from the enmeshed struggles of race, class, and gender, Gorton has made a sweeping examination of every force that has come in the way of women's reproductive freedom.Brimming with insight and compelling portraits of women's struggles throughout the twentieth century, The Icon and the Idealist is a comprehensive dual biography of a radical cultural movement.This sweeping work of women's history reveals: A Forgotten Rivalry: Uncover the fierce, decades-long clash between Margaret Sanger, the iconic founder of Planned Parenthood, and the lesser-known but equally pivotal Mary Ware Dennett.The Fight Over the Comstock Act: Delve into the legal battles that defined the era as both women fought to overturn federal obscenity laws and establish a woman's right to reproductive freedom.Conflicting Visions for a Movement: Explore their two radically different strategies for gaining birth control access--one advocating for medical control and the other for open access and free speech.A Complicated Legacy: Examine the uncomfortable intersections of the birth control movement with the fervor for eugenics and the enmeshed struggles of race, class, and gender that continue to shape the debate today.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/06/303/629/0063036290_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "32.00", "online_price" : "32.00", "our_price" : "32.00", "club_price" : "32.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "32.00" } }

Overview

Customers Also Bought

Details

It’s not as if birth control methods weren’t used in the olden days. Condoms, pessaries and douches didn’t magically appear in the late 19th century. But something did change significantly at that time in the United States: The Comstock Act of 1873 effectively criminalized the distribution of contraceptive devices and information about their use. The result was several generations of vituperative battles over a practice that had previously been routine for many, though seldom discussed in public. At the vanguard of the fight for safe, effective and accessible birth control in the early 20th century were two dedicated activists, Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. Author Stephanie Gorton tells the story of their interconnected lives in The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America, a compelling dual biography that has striking parallels to the contemporary abortion debate. Despite a common goal, the two women loathed each other. Sanger, the “icon” now remembered as the mother of Planned Parenthood, spearheaded a mass movement that broke laws and made questionable compromises. Dennett, the “idealist,” played a more genteel inside game, lobbying Congress for a permanent change to the Comstock Act. Obviously, they should have coordinated their efforts. But Dennett made a foolish mistake about Sanger early on, and Sanger never forgave her. Gorton adeptly shows how their contrasting backgrounds and personalities fed a grudge that helped shape our current world. The fact that you’ve probably heard of Sanger but not of Dennett tells you who prevailed at the time. But, as Gorton notes, the debate about whether court challenges or statutory change is the wiser long-term strategy has been renewed after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Gorton doesn’t shy away from the fact that both women allied themselves with the racist and xenophobic eugenics movement, which put “a scientific sheen on white supremacy and ableism.” Dennett and Sanger, she writes, “were intent on disrupting a specific form of oppression and yet were active in perpetuating another.” Wherever readers fall on the impact and morality of the two reformers, after reading Gorton’s fair-minded biography, it’s indisputable that their efforts helped an increasing number of ordinary Americans use birth control more safely and effectively. As Gorton writes, “Dennett and Sanger were instrumental in forcing lawmakers to recognize the kind of world Americans actually lived in, one where fertility control was nearly universally practiced.”