Revolutionary Lives: Anna Strunsky and William English Walling
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.65 (776 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1558491643 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 360 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-11-03 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Boylan's book charts the plight of a radical woman who embraced a revolutionary ideal only to have it founder, as it did for so many of their generation, on the shoals of romantic love. (Journal of American History) . (American Historical Review)Revolutionary Lives is a beautifully crafted gem. In a thoroughly researched, complex, and nuanced joint biography of Anna Strunsky and William English Walling, James Boylan has captured the rich ambiguity and conflict of this tumultuous age and of the men and women who truly believed in its revolutionary potential. Boylan has written a minor socialist tragedy by skillfully interweaving their letters and letting the texts evoke the time and personali
Vowing to dedicate themselves to socialist ideals, they soon became celebrities who moved in an elite circle of writers, journalists, and reformers. At the same time, he illuminates the struggle of those who were born Victorians to adjust to the changing public arena of the modern world.. Ultimately, both their marriage and their political commitment faltered, but not before they had participated in some of the most urgent social causes of their day. Boylan enriches our understanding of the intellectual and cultural background of prewar socialism by skillfully tracing the interplay between private and public lives. When they fell in love amid the tumult of the 1905 Russian revolution, they believed they were destiny's match: William English
Well-written and well-researched biography Boylan has carefully documented both the public and private lives of two almost forgotten socialists of the early 20th century. His book is well written and makes for entertaining reading as well as fine scholarship of an overlooked era in American politics.