cover image Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion

Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion

Jean H. Baker. Hill and Wang, $35 (368p) ISBN 978-0-8090-9498-1

Best known as an advocate for spearheading the birth control movement, Margaret Sanger (1879%E2%80%931966) was an often-polarizing figure whose life Baker (Mary Todd Lincoln), a historian at Goucher College, expertly parses. Margaret Higgins was one of 11 children born to poor Irish immigrants in Corning, N.Y.; unable to fulfill her dream of going to medical school, she turned to nursing. Moving to New York City with her husband, Bill Sanger, and children, Sanger had her birth control epiphany in 1912 after watching a young mother of three. who'd begged for something to prevent another pregnancy, die after a botched home abortion. Sanger, who had multiple relationships throughout her life, including during her two marriages, threw herself into promoting a new sexual culture for women. Most shocking to many was the separation of sex and reproduction; she was arrested numerous times for violating antiobscenity laws. Sanger and her various birth control leagues%E2%80%94the precursors to Planned Parenthood%E2%80%94built clinics and strived to make contraception available and legal. Baker is open about Sanger's less savory traits, particularly her support of certain aspects of eugenics, and this unbiased account underscores the ferocity of the fighter and the necessity of the fight. 8 pages of b&w illus. (Nov.)