Visionaries, crackpots, fanatics, dreamers, suffragettes, temperance
workers, be-sloganned devotees of betterment in marriage,
religion, sex, alcohol, labor relations, penal codes & the treatment
of mental illness rub shoulders in a book which encompasses the
American dream of Utopia, sobriety & the pursuit of happiness.
The shouting & axe-swinging reformer, Carrie Nation, splintered
saloon mirrors. At Sherrill, NY, John Humphrey Noyes, founder
of the Putney Corporation of Perfectionists, fostered "complex
marriage"-an apt description, since fidelity & exclusiveness in
matrimony were frowned upon. Laura Bridgman, Louis Dwight,
Dorothea Dix, Susan B. Anthony & Mrs Stanton fought their
mercurial & protracted battles-usually in defense of the rights of
others: the deaf, the blind, the insane & the weaker sex. Holbrook's
summation of these prophets of Excelsior should interest anyone
with even a flickering interest in the history of the country & the
evolution of the society we know.
