Elaine Showalter, "The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe"

Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) was a prolific poet and playwright before and after she wrote the lyrics for “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She kept writing despite her husband’s disapproval, and also raised six children, led the struggle against slavery, and later worked for women’s suffrage and wider social justice. In her tenth book, Showalter, emeritus professor of English at Princeton and author of the award-winning Jury of Her Peers, draws on letters and journals, deftly combining literary criticism with history to tell this remarkable woman’s story in full.

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