Fanny Kemble Civil Wars Book Review

FANNY KEMBLE BOOK SYNOPSIS

The compelling life story of the stage performer, Abolitionist, popular biographer, and feminist who was born in the early 1800s in Europe to the famous Kemble dynasty of stage performers. This novelistic approach traverses Fanny's rise from stage star, to wife of a wealthy Georgian Slaveholder, to ardent Abolitionist, and most famously for her writings on the misery of slavery and sectionalism during the turbulent days of the Civil War.

QUEENIE B SAYS

Well, If you like to read about awesome women in History, this ones for you!

She was an actress, married a southern slave holding man, had kids, divorced him, wrote about it, lived with slavery, wrote about it, and was an abolitionist to the core.

Americans couldn't get enough of her when she performed on stage. When she needed money she found ways to make it herself. She was very proud of the fact that she was not dependent on a man and hey, divorce was considered a majorly "unacceptable thing to do" during the 1800s. She was the Alice Roosevelt of the 19th century. Times for women were extremely different then and things we don‘t consider a big deal now, were HUGE to them. Fanny internally defied her so called "place" in society and lived an unpredictable and fascinating life.

FANNY KEMBLE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Fanny was from an English family dynasty of actors. Did this upbringing make her a less tolerant American as far as slavery was concerned?
2. Was Fanny a modernized woman of her time?
3. Was Fanny a bad mother?