Why read The Trials of Madame Restell?

Book cover of The Trials of Madame Restell: Nineteenth-Century America's Most Infamous Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime

Book description

The biography of one of the most famous abortionists of the nineteenth century-and a story that has unmistakable parallels to the current war on reproductive rights

For forty years in the mid-nineteenth century, "Madame Restell," the nom de guerre of the most successful female physician in America, sold birth control…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Trials of Madame Restell as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Donna J. Drucker

Author

"The Trials of Madame Restell" is a compelling account of sex, gender relations, and abortion in pre-Civil War New York City. Syrett has a talent for bringing historical figures and the atmosphere of nineteenth-century New York City to vibrant life. You won't forget Madame Restell, Anthony Comstock, or any of the others who shaped the history of sexuality and gender in this era.

From Donna's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Marcia Biederman

Author

I thought I had nothing left to learn about Madame Restell, the unapologetic 19th-century abortion provider until I saw how this book was organized. While keeping the narrative flowing, Syrett helpfully organizes Restell’s career into phases defined by changes in the law, her trials, and the emergence of one male adversary after another.

I loved learning that, even after Restell met her Waterloo, her loving grandchildren profited from her legacy. As told by Syrett, a gender-norm-defying woman who was literally hounded to death somehow managed to have the last laugh.

From Marcia's list on The best books about how abortion flourished even when it was criminalized.