Is Polite Society Polite? And Other Essays.
Howe, Julia Ward. Is Polite Society Polite? And Other Essays. Boston and New York: Lamson, Wolfe, & Company, 1895.
4to, 202pp; dampstaining to top right corner varying from 1/4" to 1" , pp. 11-143; uncut and untrimmed; drab boards with paper label on spine; ding to top edge just off center of front panel; stain on front panel and back; about very good.
First edition. Inscribed at the front flyleaf, For the Sweet Singer. / Julia Ward Howe. / February, 1904 .
Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) was married to Samuel Gridley Howe, a Bostonian considerably older than she, who had won fame for his exploits during the Greek Revolution. Although her husband disapproved of any public life for married women, Julia Ward Howe managed to live as public a life as anyone. Her life changed completely after the publication of her poem "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in 1862, but she did not find her real life's work until 1868 when she became a leader in the burgeoning women's movement. She lectured and traveled across the country, establishing women's clubs as well as speaking. According the NAW: "Her aim in all this was to reaffirm the old values of American life which she felt were being neglected in the acquisitive Gilded Age". In Is Polite Society Polite? she warns against the dangers of leaders who are simply rich without any higher social ideas. Her dismay at ostentatious parties, pretentious mansions and the general cultural poverty of the nouveau riche is set down in essay form, confirming what she spoke about in lecture halls and pulpits across the country.
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