"British stage star turned Georgian plantation mistress, Fanny Kemble is perhaps best known as America's most unlikely abolitionist, whose passionate writings against human bondage made her a heroine of the Union cause. Irrepressible in word and deed, Kemble captured the imaginations of many famous Americans of the antebellum era.".

"In 1835, Kemble published her Journal of Residence in America. The book not only aired Kemble's controversial views on slavery but launched a satirical send-up of American society, which her husband maintained would bring shame on their friends and family. The book became an instant bestseller and left New York City "in an uproar.'".

"Bringing to bear the tools of both history and biography, Catherine Clinton reveals how one woman's life reflected in microcosm the public battles - over slavery, the role of women, sectionalism - that fueled our nation's greatest conflict and have permanently marked our history."--BOOK JACKET.