{"product_id":"book-kelx","title":"The Improbable Victoria Woodhull","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eWhat the Ermine Saw\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBehaving Badly\u003c\/i\u003e, a portrait of Victoria Woodhull, a celebrated and maligned 19th-century businesswoman and activist, and a leader in the fight for women’s suffrage and labor reforms.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1894, a remarkably self-possessed American woman, with no formal education to speak of, stood before a British court seeking damages for libel from the trustees of the British Museum. It was yet another stop along the unpredictable route that was Victoria Woodhull’s life. Born dirt-poor in an obscure Ohio settlement, Woodhull was the daughter of an illiterate mother entranced by the fad of Mesmerism—a therapeutic pseudoscience—and a swindler father whose cons exploited his two daughters. It was through her mother, though, that Woodhull familiarized herself with the supernatural realm, earning a degree of fame as a clairvoyant and her first taste of financial success. Woodhull’s life would continue to turn on its axis and then turn again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite a deeply troubled first marriage at the age of fourteen, countless attempts by the press to discredit her, and a wrongful jail sentence, Woodhull thrived through sheer determination and the strength of her bond with her sister Tennie. She co-founded a successful stock brokerage on Wall Street, launched a newspaper, and became the first woman to run for president. Hers was a rags-to-riches story that saw her cross paths with Karl Marx, Henry Ward Beecher, and Frederick Douglass. In an era when women’s rights were circumscribed, and the idea of leaving a marriage was taboo, she broke the rules to carve out a path of her own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVividly written and exhaustively researched, Collinsworth tells the story of a woman truly ahead of her time—a radical visionary who made defying mores a habit and brought to the fore societal and political issues still being addressed today. Neither a saint nor a villain, Woodhull emerges as an iconic, complex woman: an entrepreneur; lover of freedom; and a fiercely loyal family member whose political activism and suffragist legacy will cement her in history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing illustrations from the printed book. \u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50115692986672,"sku":"BDkelx","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/756509-kelx-Square.jpg?v=1757016100","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-kelx","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}