{"product_id":"the-icon-and-the-idealist-margaret-sanger-mary-ware-dennett-and-the-rivalry-that-brought-birth-control-to-america-isbn-9780063036291","title":"The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America","description":"\u003cp\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE PLUTARCH AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHY\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWINNER OF THE ASJA AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY\/HISTORY\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA riveting history about the little-known rivalry between Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett that profoundly shaped the fight for reproductive rights in America.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew 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, \u003ci\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrimming with insight and compelling portraits of women’s struggles throughout the twentieth century, \u003ci\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/i\u003e is a comprehensive dual biography of a radical cultural movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis sweeping work of women’s history reveals:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Forgotten Rivalry:\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe Fight Over the Comstock Act:\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eConflicting Visions for a Movement:\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Complicated Legacy:\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e | \u003cp\u003e\"\u003cem\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/em\u003e is a shrewd and deeply researched dual biography, one that compares and contrasts two legendary (and maddeningly complex) 20th century feminist figures, Margaret Sanger and Mary Dennett, in ways that shed new light on their individual and dual accomplishments and conflicts. It's also, like the best of cultural histories, all too necessary at a time when women's bodily autonomy is under new and renewed threats.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita and Scoundrel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Soap opera-worthy . . . . Gorton does an exemplary job of keeping straight the various leagues and committees . . . that the two were members of or that they created. . . . she teases out compelling details about the times the women lived in and how their efforts were affected. . . . Gorton is equally adept at plumbing Sanger’s and Dennett’s personalities . . . and how the paths they followed contributed to successes and failures.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Gripping . . . . [Gorton] describes the painful, destructive rivalry between her two subjects with narrative nuance and scholarly acumen. . . . she offers the reader an emotionally palpable glimpse into the culture clash between the feminist movement and the patriarchal, recalcitrant political establishment — as well as the struggle between the ideological allies Sanger and Dennett. . . . Gorton’s riveting history of the first movement to grant women control over their bodies is essential reading now more than ever.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eIcon and the Idealist\u003c\/em\u003e is an essential window into still-unresolved debates and disagreements within the movement for sexual and birth autonomy, and makes for fortifying reading in the post-Roe world.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e50 Noteworthy Nonfiction Books of 2024, Literary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Masterful … As current political forces seek to take us back, Stephanie Gorton’s excellent work reminds us of how far we’ve come.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Independent Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What does it take to make a once-radical idea normal? \u003cem\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/em\u003e is the captivating and substantive account of two singular women who did just that, Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. Before them and the family planning movement, birth control was rare, unsafe and shameful. After them, millions of women had unprecedented possession over their own lives. This dual biography grippingly recounts a flash point in women’s—and human—liberation.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlissa Quart, Author of Bootstrapped and Squeezed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Stephanie Gorton recounts the complex, often infuriating, history of the movement to legalize birth control through the rivalry between its two greatest advocates. \u003cem\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/em\u003e is a fascinating portrait of ambition and idealism, politics and passion, and a shocking reminder of just how far some men will go to keep women ignorant and powerless over their own bodies.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDebby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003cem\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/em\u003e, [Gorton] weaves a detailed account of these brave and stubborn visionaries, who fought the good fight for women while feuding with each other. . . . Gorton’s timely . . . cultural and biographical history gives us much to think about as the arc of history is poised to bend back to a pre-1920s set of regulations for reproductive health.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Brilliant . . . . Gorton, in a fine-grained and propulsive examination of the rivals’ careers, depicts their antagonism as foundational to modern feminism. . . . By turns analytical and dishy . . . this captivates.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Timely and well-researched . . . . One of the most valuable takeaways from Gorton’s book is how it complicates the usual dichotomies of movement leadership: the insider versus the outsider, the institutionalist versus the radical.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A compelling dual biography that has striking parallels to the contemporary abortion debate.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookPage (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Icon and the Idealist\u003c\/em\u003e is an essential, and accessible, look at the U.S.'s fraught history of reproductive freedoms through the lives of two leaders as complex and nuanced as the topic itself.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRachel Somerstein, author of Invisible Labor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Drawing on considerable archival sources, journalist Gorton creates an informative history of the fight for women’s reproductive rights in [this] dual biography. . . . A timely contribution to a virulent debate.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An essential read. . . . Through her subjects' own extensive writings, Gorton captures each woman's distinct voice and personality . . . [creating] a rich text that both illustrates how far women’s rights have come and highlights their tenuous state today.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Stephanie Gorton deftly writes the rivalry between Margaret Sanger and Mary Dennett, drawing out each activist’s political approach to reproductive rights. This history is not only relevant to the fight for contraceptive access and bodily autonomy playing out today, it also resonates as the book wrestles with the contradictions of activism, the shortcomings of political leaders, and how our idealism persists despite those challenges.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Republic, “10 Best Books of Fall”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"There is no time like the present for Stephanie Gorton’s dual biography of the fiercely formidable women, Mary Ware Dennett and Margaret Sanger, who brought the fight for reproductive rights to the American public in the early twentieth century. Studded with dramatic scenes and supported by copious research on the multifaceted and ever-evolving campaign to legalize birth control, a term coined by Sanger, Gorton’s narrative humanizes and makes modern the high-stakes battle waged a century in the past, providing needed inspiration for today’s readers who seek to practice and uphold the human right to self-determination.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMegan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, The Peabody Sisters, and Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Icon and the Idealis\u003c\/em\u003et is a shrewd and important work, brilliantly conceived and beautifully written. With rigorous reporting and brutal honestly, Stephanie Gorton excels in examining the bold ideas and messy work that shaped reproductive choice.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life and The Birth of the Pill\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44890705297637,"sku":"NP9780063036291","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780063036291.jpg?v=1730233892","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-icon-and-the-idealist-margaret-sanger-mary-ware-dennett-and-the-rivalry-that-brought-birth-control-to-america-isbn-9780063036291","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}