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TERRIBLE VIRTUE

Ellen Feldman

"Enforced motherhood is the most complete denial of a woman's right to life and liberty." (Margaret Sanger). Ellen Feldman tells the story of the mother of birth control, the founder of Planned Parenthood, and an American champion of women around the world - as she herself might have told it.

The provocative and compelling story of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the twentieth century: Margaret Sanger, the mother of birth control and the founder of Planned Parenthoodan indomitable woman who, more than any other, and at great personal cost, shaped the sexual landscape we inhabit today. The daughter of a hard-drinking, smooth-tongued free thinker and a mother worn down by thirteen children, Margaret Sanger vowed her life would be different. Trained as a nurse, she fought for social justice beside labor organizers, anarchists, socialists, and other progressives, eventually channeling her energy to one singular cause: legalizing contraception. It was a battle that would pit her against puritanical, patriarchal lawmakers, send her to prison again and again, force her to flee to England, and ultimately change the lives of women across the country and around the world. This complex enigmatic revolutionary was at once vain and charismatic, generous and ruthless, sexually impulsive and coolly calculatinga competitive, self-centered woman who championed all women, a conflicted mother who suffered the worst tragedy a parent can experience. From opening the first illegal birth control clinic in America in 1916 through the founding of Planned Parenthood to the arrival of the Pill in the 1960s, Margaret Sanger sacrificed two husbands, three children, and scores of lovers in her fight for sexual equality and freedom. With cameos by such legendary figures as Emma Goldman, John Reed, Big Bill Haywood, H. G. Wells, and the love of Margaret's life, Havelock Ellis, this richly imagined portrait of a larger-than-life woman is at once sympathetic to her suffering and unsparing of her faults. Deeply insightful, Terrible Virtue is Margaret Sanger's story as she herself might have told it.

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Book Published 2016-03-22 by HarperCollins

Comments

How does a minimally educated, working class woman redirect the moral compass of an entire generation? Feldman shows us how in her masterful novel, Terrible Virtue. Passionate, driven, the Margaret Sanger of Feldman's imagination is every bit as complex as the world she was determined to enlighten.

Margaret Sanger was passionate about birth control, freedom, a surprising number of men and her daughter. Ellen Feldman lets us see all these sides of one of America's most complicated heroines, a woman who knew too well the hard choice between work and family. An irresistible and utterly timely novel.

A compelling portrait of Margaret Sanger, the famous champion of birth control...a complex woman, torn between her family and cause...the author also depicts in compelling detail the hardship imposed on large, desperately poor families by the lack of contraception...and captures the excitement of Sanger's involvement in the political and social movements of the times... Feldman draws on extensive research to tackle with aplomb the difficult task of writing a novel about a woman whose life is well known and whose story remains controversial decades after her death. Those interested in the history of the women's movement and its impact on today's world will find lots to ponder here. An excellent choice for book groups.

Feldman compellingly portrays the difficult choices confronting women living in a man's world... This immersive, moving, and thought-provoking book is worthy of the intense discussions it's sure to spark.

[A] highly topical novelization of the life of Margaret Sanger... We need her story now more than ever.

Margaret Sanger blazes to life in this riveting, powerful novel. Read TERRIBLE VIRTUE once to learn about the woman whose work ultimately shaped Western culture, then read it again for Ellen Feldman's masterful storytelling. Fascinating and unforgettable.

French: Le Cherche Midi

A fascinating exploration of Margaret Sanger as a visionary tour de force who left a stream of public victories and private casualties in her wake. Birth control, sex, family, work, individual need, free love, the greater good - it's all here, historically grounded but as relevant today as it was then.

Compelling... An excellent choice for book groups.

TERRIBLE VIRTUE is An Amazon Best Books of the Month Pick A Vanity Fair Hot Type Pick A New York Times Daily Briefing Pick An Elle Readers' Prize #1 Pick

Terrible Virtue is captivating, powerful, headlong and inventive - just like its subject. A beautifully wrought, compulsively readable novel. Ellen Feldman can do anything.