The Beecher Sisters

By: Barbara A. White

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Synopsis: A &“rich, varied, sensitive&” biography of three nineteenth-century women: an educator, an early feminist, and the author of Uncle Tom&’s Cabin (Publishers Weekly). Daughters of the famous evangelist Lyman Beecher, Catherine, Harriet, and Isabella could not follow their father and seven brothers into the ministry. Nonetheless, they carved out path-breaking careers for themselves. Catharine Beecher founded the Hartford Female Seminary and devoted her life to improving women&’s education. Harriet Beecher Stowe became world famous as the author of Uncle Tom&’s Cabin. And Isabella Beecher Hooker was an outspoken advocate for women&’s rights. This engrossing book is a joint biography of the sisters, whose lives spanned the full course of the nineteenth century. The life of Isabella Beecher—who has never been the subject of a biography—is examined in particular detail here, as Barbara White draws on little used sources to explore Isabella&’s political development and her interactions with her sisters and with prominent people of the time—from Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Mark Twain.