The Magnificent Activist

Massachusetts-born Higginson was a 19th-century Renaissance man. He was an active abolitionist, a supporter of women's rights and an accomplished essayist. This collection of his essays captures Higginson's many talents and interests. ""Obeying the Higher Law"" offers a response to the Fugitive Slave Law. ""The Fact of Sex"" argues that it is precisely because men and women are fundamentally different that women need the vote--women ""never can, and never will be, justly represented by"" men. In ""Negro Spirituals,"" Higginson gives thanks that during the Civil War, when he commanded an all-black Union regiment, he was able to learn some of the haunting melodies and arresting lyrics. ""Scripture Idolatry"" confronts the question of biblical authority; Higginson writes that advances in scholarship are bound to show that Scripture is not infallible, and he hopes that people's faith in God will not be shattered when the infallibility of Scripture is challenged. Several of Higginson's essays marry literary criticism with politics. In ""Sappho,"" for example, he assesses the poet's work and also urges Americans to create a society where more women will be free to write great poetry. (Higginson was a crucial correspondent and friend of Emily Dickinson.) ""The Clergy and Reform"" takes ministers to task for failing to speak out against the ""social evils against which we know that Christ if alive would have protested."" There are dozens of similarly delightful, challenging essays in this volume; kudos to biographer and historian Meyer (The Amendment that Refused to Die) for making it possible for a wide audience of readers to once again enjoy the wit and insight of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. (Aug.)