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Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910
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428 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1915
About the author
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
284 books19 followersLaura Elizabeth Howe Richards (27 February, 1850 – 14 January, 1943) was an American writer. She often published as Laura E. Richards & wrote more than 90 books including biographies, poetry, and several for children.
Her father was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. She was named after his famous deaf-blind pupil Laura Bridgman. Her mother Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
Her father was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. She was named after his famous deaf-blind pupil Laura Bridgman. Her mother Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 5, 2009
"Julia Ward Howe 1819 - 1910" by Laura Richards and Maud Howe Elliott is a biography of a woman who was in many ways the moral cornerstone of the United States throughout her life. She was a poet, and a social activist fighting for the abolitionist cause, and later for the cause of the Greeks and Armenians in their fight for freedom and survival against the Turks.
The edition of the biography which I am reviewing is the two volume set published in March of 1916 by the Houghton Mifflin Company. Volume I is a seventeen chapter 392 page volume which covers her entire life. The focus of this volume are the major events in her life, starting with her ancestry as the great-granddaughter of Samuel Ward who was the Governor of Rhode Island and a delegate to the Continental Congress. On her maternal side, she was the granddaughter of Sarah Mitchell Cutler, who was a niece of Francis Marion (a.k.a. the "Swamp Fox") who was a lieutenant colonel in the continental army. The book then has chapters on her childhood, early adulthood, her writing, the Civil War, her travels, and her support for causes such as "The Peace Crusade" and woman's rights.
Volume II includes 15 chapters and an Index for both volumes, and is a total of 434 pages. This volume covers her life from the age of 58 through the end of her life in a much more personal way than the first volume. It draws a tremendous amount of material from her personal journals and letters, while the first volume uses a more diverse collection of sources. Each chapter in both volumes starts with one of her poems as a header.
While one gets many of her poems included in these volumes, it is surprising that the only copy of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" included is a fold-out copy (in volume one) of her hand-written first draft. I would have appreciated it if an easier to read printing of the hymn had been included as well. Of course, it is not that difficult to find the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", but it certainly would have been preferable to me to have them included in one of these two volumes.
Laura Richards and Maud Howe Elliott were the two youngest daughters of Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe, and assisted by Florence Howe Hall, another of Julia's daughters. They were able to make this biography feel much more personal as a result of writing about someone who they knew so well. It is not surprising that this biography was the first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biographies in 1917.
The edition of the biography which I am reviewing is the two volume set published in March of 1916 by the Houghton Mifflin Company. Volume I is a seventeen chapter 392 page volume which covers her entire life. The focus of this volume are the major events in her life, starting with her ancestry as the great-granddaughter of Samuel Ward who was the Governor of Rhode Island and a delegate to the Continental Congress. On her maternal side, she was the granddaughter of Sarah Mitchell Cutler, who was a niece of Francis Marion (a.k.a. the "Swamp Fox") who was a lieutenant colonel in the continental army. The book then has chapters on her childhood, early adulthood, her writing, the Civil War, her travels, and her support for causes such as "The Peace Crusade" and woman's rights.
Volume II includes 15 chapters and an Index for both volumes, and is a total of 434 pages. This volume covers her life from the age of 58 through the end of her life in a much more personal way than the first volume. It draws a tremendous amount of material from her personal journals and letters, while the first volume uses a more diverse collection of sources. Each chapter in both volumes starts with one of her poems as a header.
While one gets many of her poems included in these volumes, it is surprising that the only copy of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" included is a fold-out copy (in volume one) of her hand-written first draft. I would have appreciated it if an easier to read printing of the hymn had been included as well. Of course, it is not that difficult to find the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", but it certainly would have been preferable to me to have them included in one of these two volumes.
Laura Richards and Maud Howe Elliott were the two youngest daughters of Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe, and assisted by Florence Howe Hall, another of Julia's daughters. They were able to make this biography feel much more personal as a result of writing about someone who they knew so well. It is not surprising that this biography was the first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biographies in 1917.
March 31, 2013
It's amazing how a woman who contributed so much should be lost to public memory. Best known for writing 'Battle Hymn of the Republic,' Julia Ward Howe dedicated herself to women's rights, rights for African Americans, public health, safety of the Armenian community, as well as arts and literature. I enjoyed having a deeper awareness of her contributions and stand in awe of her energy and her global perspective.
July 6, 2022
This book is some 803 pages long, but as the type is large, with a minimal number of words on a page, it doesn’t seem too overwhelming for to read. A great part of it is made up of Julia’s own words via her journal and letters. Anyone interested in 19th century America will find a great many characters from the era whom Julia was acquainted with. These include John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Dean Howells, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Mark Twain, Henry Ward Beecher, Margaret Fuller, Theodore Roosevelt, James Garfield, William McKinley, Abraham Lincoln, William Seward, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Andrew Johnson, Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Annie Fields,
Julia was a very active person. She wrote countless commemorative poems, birthday poems, occasional poems. She wrote sermons. She wrote plays. While never ordained, she did preach often in liberal churches, mostly Unitarian, beginning in 1865, when she felt a “calling”. She helped to organize many societies and served as president in some of them—women’s societies, suffrage groups, women’s rights groups. She traveled often to Europe and throughout the United States on lecture tours. She achieved much and was honored wherever she went, in time earning two honorary doctorates.
Mrs. Howe was raised in a Calvinistic household. This theology she considered stifling and gloomy, and she eventually rejected it, calling her departure from it an “intellectual awakening.”. She became a Unitarian.
I found her religious views rather puzzling and at times, ambiguous. Throughout her journal, Julia refers to God and Christ; she tells what she has prayed for. Yet her doubts and unorthodox views also come through loudly and clearly. After a sermon she heard in 1866 she complained that the preacher spent too much time on his feeling that a personal and emotional relationship could exist between a man’s soul and Christ. She believes that we cannot know whether Christ knows each of us and furthermore, that it is not necessary for us to know this. It is important to her that we see Christ but it does not matter whether or not he sees us. Julia quotes Baruch Spinoza thusly: “if we love God, we shall not trouble ourselves about his loving us.” Six years later her journal tells us that God does not desert us. That same year she tells us: “The Western mind has taken Christ’s metaphorical illustrations literally, and his literal moral precepts metaphorically.”
After the repentance of Zacchaeus, recorded in Luke 19, Jesus says to him: “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Julia interprets “that which was lost” not only to human beings, but to “lost values, lost jewels, darkened souls, scattered powers, lost opportunities.”
In her 88th year, Julia was yet unsure if she would be granted life after death. Was all of her preaching, praying and talk of spiritual things for naught?
Mrs. Howe organized a Woman Preachers’ Convention in 1873, the first of its kind worldwide. It became officially organized in 1892, with Julia as president, holding the office until her death.
Another achievement—she was a lifelong pianist., and wrote many songs and hymns, in addition to “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She loved music. She said of Handel’s “Messiah” that “no music so beautiful as this has ever been written”, that is was “the most divine point reached by earthly music” She also played in accompaniment to the singing of her grandchildren. She taught them songs her brother had taught her years before. Julia had a good singing voice herself.
It is troubling that biographers of later individuals have fewer and fewer paper resources for their subjects. Journals are not kept as much; letters are not sent by mail as much. A subject’s own words, in my view, make a biography more than anything else. In the case of Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,” well, it doesn’t hurt for a writer to have the ability to remember things said to him or her.
Julia was a very active person. She wrote countless commemorative poems, birthday poems, occasional poems. She wrote sermons. She wrote plays. While never ordained, she did preach often in liberal churches, mostly Unitarian, beginning in 1865, when she felt a “calling”. She helped to organize many societies and served as president in some of them—women’s societies, suffrage groups, women’s rights groups. She traveled often to Europe and throughout the United States on lecture tours. She achieved much and was honored wherever she went, in time earning two honorary doctorates.
Mrs. Howe was raised in a Calvinistic household. This theology she considered stifling and gloomy, and she eventually rejected it, calling her departure from it an “intellectual awakening.”. She became a Unitarian.
I found her religious views rather puzzling and at times, ambiguous. Throughout her journal, Julia refers to God and Christ; she tells what she has prayed for. Yet her doubts and unorthodox views also come through loudly and clearly. After a sermon she heard in 1866 she complained that the preacher spent too much time on his feeling that a personal and emotional relationship could exist between a man’s soul and Christ. She believes that we cannot know whether Christ knows each of us and furthermore, that it is not necessary for us to know this. It is important to her that we see Christ but it does not matter whether or not he sees us. Julia quotes Baruch Spinoza thusly: “if we love God, we shall not trouble ourselves about his loving us.” Six years later her journal tells us that God does not desert us. That same year she tells us: “The Western mind has taken Christ’s metaphorical illustrations literally, and his literal moral precepts metaphorically.”
After the repentance of Zacchaeus, recorded in Luke 19, Jesus says to him: “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Julia interprets “that which was lost” not only to human beings, but to “lost values, lost jewels, darkened souls, scattered powers, lost opportunities.”
In her 88th year, Julia was yet unsure if she would be granted life after death. Was all of her preaching, praying and talk of spiritual things for naught?
Mrs. Howe organized a Woman Preachers’ Convention in 1873, the first of its kind worldwide. It became officially organized in 1892, with Julia as president, holding the office until her death.
Another achievement—she was a lifelong pianist., and wrote many songs and hymns, in addition to “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She loved music. She said of Handel’s “Messiah” that “no music so beautiful as this has ever been written”, that is was “the most divine point reached by earthly music” She also played in accompaniment to the singing of her grandchildren. She taught them songs her brother had taught her years before. Julia had a good singing voice herself.
It is troubling that biographers of later individuals have fewer and fewer paper resources for their subjects. Journals are not kept as much; letters are not sent by mail as much. A subject’s own words, in my view, make a biography more than anything else. In the case of Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,” well, it doesn’t hurt for a writer to have the ability to remember things said to him or her.
June 21, 2024
I found this book while looking for early Pulitzer winners and this is the first Pulitzer award winner for Biography. The book gives an in-depth, very personal account of the life of a remarkable woman, person. Abolitionist, poet, writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, fighter for women's rights, Suffragette, mother, wife, friend of a list of Who's Who in the world, public speaker, musician, and dear colleague to many. Her motto for life -- Learn, Teach, Serve and Enjoy. Not bad and she did all three.
The book is a bit long on detail and misses the bigger picture of the difficulties of her marriage (it was written by her daughters) and could have used more information rather than assumption that the reader would know these facts.
Took awhile, but I am glad I finished it.
The book is a bit long on detail and misses the bigger picture of the difficulties of her marriage (it was written by her daughters) and could have used more information rather than assumption that the reader would know these facts.
Took awhile, but I am glad I finished it.
August 30, 2021
This is the first volume of an extremely comprehensive biography of Julia Ward Howe, best known for composing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the tune of "John Brown's Body Lies Mouldering In The Grave." I knew that it was the tune for the song but, until reading this first volume of her very extensive life, I didn't know why.
As the first Pulitzer Prize for Biography awarded in 1917, this book, penned by her daughters, certainly doesn't offer much critical review of their mother who enjoyed a very storied life. Born into one of America's Founding Families (her Great Grand Father was a Continental Congress delegate from Rhode Island whose son fought in the War of Independence as well as a decendent of Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion on her mother's side), The Wards had grown wealthy through banking and Wall Street, providing Julia with an exceedingly privileged life but raised with a profound sense of service. Husband Samuel Howe, twenty years her senior, had served as a surgeon in the Greek War for independence and became an abolitionist which he inspired in Julia including his support for John Brown which had become a profound influence on the Howe family.
Her family history and her husband's political and literary connections as they resided in Boston, inspired Julia's love for learning and voracious passion for language, liberty and religion. She wrote and composed continuously as she raised a large family and travelled extensively throughout Europe where she began taking the opportunity to both preach and speak publicly. While her husband was a gifted doctor tasked to a hospital for the blind, the wealth of old became less reliable as Julia was tasked to write for a living, with the Battle Hymn of the Republic opening literary and publishing doors. Her travels and literary circles found her on the forefront of the women's movement, made more important to her as she had been so instrumental in both abolition and suffrage for black men.
Book One ends in the 1890's, after the passing of her husband as Julia has become one of the driving forces behind the women's suffrage movement. These volumes, each about 400 pages, are jammed with details unique to her children who used her journals in ways Julia had not even delved in her own autobiography.
While gushing and devoid of criticism as one would expect from devoted children, it is a unique in insight into that period during and after the Civil War seldom told from the literary side. Details such as the aborted attempt by the Dominican Republic to achieve territorial possession by the United States during the Grant Administration was a huge new revelation to me and an example of the true historical value of this book. I'm looking forward to Volume Two.
#juliawardhowe #maudhowe #lauraelizabethrichards #unitedstates history #pulitzerprizebiography #readtheworld #readtheworldchallenge
As the first Pulitzer Prize for Biography awarded in 1917, this book, penned by her daughters, certainly doesn't offer much critical review of their mother who enjoyed a very storied life. Born into one of America's Founding Families (her Great Grand Father was a Continental Congress delegate from Rhode Island whose son fought in the War of Independence as well as a decendent of Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion on her mother's side), The Wards had grown wealthy through banking and Wall Street, providing Julia with an exceedingly privileged life but raised with a profound sense of service. Husband Samuel Howe, twenty years her senior, had served as a surgeon in the Greek War for independence and became an abolitionist which he inspired in Julia including his support for John Brown which had become a profound influence on the Howe family.
Her family history and her husband's political and literary connections as they resided in Boston, inspired Julia's love for learning and voracious passion for language, liberty and religion. She wrote and composed continuously as she raised a large family and travelled extensively throughout Europe where she began taking the opportunity to both preach and speak publicly. While her husband was a gifted doctor tasked to a hospital for the blind, the wealth of old became less reliable as Julia was tasked to write for a living, with the Battle Hymn of the Republic opening literary and publishing doors. Her travels and literary circles found her on the forefront of the women's movement, made more important to her as she had been so instrumental in both abolition and suffrage for black men.
Book One ends in the 1890's, after the passing of her husband as Julia has become one of the driving forces behind the women's suffrage movement. These volumes, each about 400 pages, are jammed with details unique to her children who used her journals in ways Julia had not even delved in her own autobiography.
While gushing and devoid of criticism as one would expect from devoted children, it is a unique in insight into that period during and after the Civil War seldom told from the literary side. Details such as the aborted attempt by the Dominican Republic to achieve territorial possession by the United States during the Grant Administration was a huge new revelation to me and an example of the true historical value of this book. I'm looking forward to Volume Two.
#juliawardhowe #maudhowe #lauraelizabethrichards #unitedstates history #pulitzerprizebiography #readtheworld #readtheworldchallenge
September 13, 2016
It took awhile to read, but worth it every page; not so much for the details but for the nuggets of wisdom as they are revealed through the various ages of her life. I did not realize that Julia was a suffragist. Of that era, the only suffragist I had heard of was Susan Anthony. I think I understand why as Julia was grounded in love and God. I believe I would fall in Julia's camp given what I know of Susan and government. The book, written by her daughters and containing much from Julia's journals, was interesting in that it detailed the life of an individual who was extremely well read, traveled widely, passionate, multi-lingual, musician, energetic to the end when stating she was tired and died. All of this in the 1800's. "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord..."
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews