From Publishers Weekly
LaPlante, an 11th-generation granddaughter of Hutchinson, provides a fast-paced and elegant account of Hutchinson's life and work, including the reasons that Hutchinson's teachings threatened the fabric of Puritan theology. By the time she was born, her father, Francis Marbury, had already been in and out of jail for challenging the religious authority of the Anglican priests in England. His continuing nonconformity, according to LaPlante, had a lasting impact on Hutchinson's own views of religious authority. Hutchinson also learned from the Reverend John Cotton that God's revelation to individuals occurred mystically as a kind of inner light and did not require a formal religious setting. After she moved to the colonies with her husband, William Hutchinson, she began to teach that men and women could attain salvation not through performing religious works but through this inward grace. The Puritans, who emphasized that the covenant of works was the only guarantee of salvation, charged her with antinomianism (an attack against the law of God) and with violating God's commands that a woman should not teach. LaPlante offers a stimulating account of Hutchinson's eloquent self-defense at her trial. Knowing that the magistrates had no religious or political grounds to convict her, since a woman was not a subject of the law, Hutchinson stymied their questioning. LaPlante's first-rate biography offers glimpses into the life and teachings of a much-neglected figure in early American religious history. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Much ado is often made over the contributions of the founding fathers to the liberties Americans enjoy today, but with rare exceptions, such as the achievements of Abigail Adams and Betsy Ross, the roles women played in formulating our national philosophy are very little known. Moreover, the stories that are known include only scanty information about the players' personal history and their words. Thanks to LaPlante, at least some of Anne Hutchinson's words are preserved in this well-researched account of her testimony against charges of heresy and sedition before the Massachusetts General Court in 1637. Declared an American Jezebel by Massachusetts' first governor, John Winthrop, Hutchinson is portrayed here as a feminist and a fighter for religious freedom, who eventually was banished to Rhode Island. As LaPlante paints a fascinating portrait of this complex mother of 15 and delineates her heresy by clarifying the distinction between her beliefs and those of her Puritan adjudicators, she deftly depicts the gritty world of colonial New England, too. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"What true heroes can I tell my students about? ...read LaPlante's biography to make [Hutchinson] and her courage come alive."


Edwin Gaustad, author (with Leigh E. Schmidt) of A Religious History of America
"...charming exploration of the life and times of Anne Hutchinson....A personal and appreciative tribute."


Peter J. Gomes, author of The Good Life
"[t]he most significant woman in pre-Revolutionary America...rescued from obscurity and re-introduced to 21st Century America."


Leigh E. Schmidt, Princeton University
"[a] spirited biography of Anne Hutchinson... LaPlante's rendering suggests how deeply resonant that history remains."


Michael Dukakis, former Governor of Massachusetts
"This book is New England history at its best....it carries with it a message for today as well."


Susan Quinn, author of Marie Curie: A Life and A Mind of Her Own: A Life of Karen Horney
"A vivid account, full of surprising twists and turns...richly documented...."


Carol Gilligan, author of In A Different Voice and The Birth of Pleasure
"American Jezebel is stunning book, exquisitely written, it fills in a crucial piece of American history."


Boston Globe
"A powerful and fascinating book that deserves wide reading."


Book Description

Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six- year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner "not comely for [her] sex."

Until now, Hutchinson has been a polarizing figure in American history and letters, attracting either disdain or exaltation. Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was haunted by the "sainted" Hutchinson, used her as a model for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Much of the praise for her, however, is muted by a wish to domesticate the heroine: the bronze statue of Hutchinson at the Massachusetts State House depicts a prayerful mother -- eyes raised to heaven, a child at her side -- rather than a woman of power standing alone before humanity and God. Her detractors, starting with her neighbor John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts, referred to her as "the instrument of Satan," the new Eve, the "disturber of Israel," a witch, "more bold than a man," and Jezebel -- the ancient Israeli queen who, on account of her tremendous political power, was "the most evil woman" in the Bible.

Written by one of Hutchinson's direct descendants, American Jezebel brings both balance and perspective to Hutchinson's story. It captures this American heroine's life in all its complexity, presenting her not as a religious fanatic, a cardboard feminist, or a raging crank -- as some have portrayed her -- but as a flesh-and-blood wife, mother, theologian, and political leader.

Opening in a colonial courtroom, American Jezebel moves back in time to Hutchinson's childhood in Elizabethan England, exploring intimate details of her marriage and family life. The book narrates her dramatic expulsion from Massachusetts, after which her judges, still threatened by her challenges, promptly built Harvard College to enforce religious and social orthodoxies -- making her midwife to the nation's first college. In exile, she settled Rhode Island (which later merged with Roger Williams's Providence Plantation), becoming the only woman ever to co-found an American colony.

The seeds of the American struggle for women's and human rights can be found in the story of this one woman's courageous life. American Jezebel illuminates the origins of our modern concepts of religious freedom, equal rights, and free speech, and showcases an extraordinary woman whose achievements are astonishing by the standards of any era.


About the Author
Eve LaPlante -- a direct descendant of Hutchinson's -- has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. She has written for The Atlantic, the New York Times, Ladies' Home Journal, Gourmet, and Boston Magazine. Her previous book, Seized, was published to critical acclaim in 1993. She lives with her family in Massachusetts.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In 1637, Anne Hutchinson, a forty-six-year-old midwife who was pregnant with her sixteenth child, stood before forty male judges of the Massachusetts General Court, charged with heresy and sedition. In a time when women could not vote, hold public office, or teach outside the home, the charismatic Hutchinson wielded remarkable political power. Her unconventional ideas had attracted a following of prominent citizens eager for social reform. Hutchinson defended herself brilliantly, but the judges, faced with a perceived threat to public order, banished her for behaving in a manner "not comely for (her) sex."" "Until now, Hutchinson has been a polarizing figure in American history and letters, attracting either disdain or exaltation. Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was haunted by the "sainted" Hutchinson, used her as a model for Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Much of the praise for her, however, is muted by a wish to domesticate the heroine: the bronze statue of Hutchinson at the Massachusetts State House depicts a prayerful mother - eyes raised to heaven, a child at her side - rather than a woman of power standing alone before humanity and God. Her detractors, starting with her neighbor John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts, referred to her as "the instrument of Satan," the new Eve, the "disturber of Israel," a witch, "more bold than a man," and Jezebel - the ancient Israeli queen who, on account of her tremendous political power, was "the most evil woman" in the Bible." "Written by one of Hutchinson's direct descendants, American Jezebel brings both balance and perspective to Hutchinson's story. It captures this American heroine's life in all its complexity, presenting her not as a religious fanatic, a cardboard feminist, or raging crank - as some have portrayed her - but as a flesh-and-blood wife, mother, theologian, and political leader." Opening in a colonial courtroom, American Jezebel moves back in time to Hutchinson's childhood in Elizabethan Engl

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

LaPlante, an 11th-generation granddaughter of Hutchinson, provides a fast-paced and elegant account of Hutchinson's life and work, including the reasons that Hutchinson's teachings threatened the fabric of Puritan theology. By the time she was born, her father, Francis Marbury, had already been in and out of jail for challenging the religious authority of the Anglican priests in England. His continuing nonconformity, according to LaPlante, had a lasting impact on Hutchinson's own views of religious authority. Hutchinson also learned from the Reverend John Cotton that God's revelation to individuals occurred mystically as a kind of inner light and did not require a formal religious setting. After she moved to the colonies with her husband, William Hutchinson, she began to teach that men and women could attain salvation not through performing religious works but through this inward grace. The Puritans, who emphasized that the covenant of works was the only guarantee of salvation, charged her with antinomianism (an attack against the law of God) and with violating God's commands that a woman should not teach. LaPlante offers a stimulating account of Hutchinson's eloquent self-defense at her trial. Knowing that the magistrates had no religious or political grounds to convict her, since a woman was not a subject of the law, Hutchinson stymied their questioning. LaPlante's first-rate biography offers glimpses into the life and teachings of a much-neglected figure in early American religious history. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The tale of Anne Hutchinson, the 17th-century New England religious dissenter who defied the Puritan theocracy and later founded Rhode Island, is told once again in this biography by one of her direct descendants. LaPlante offers an admiring portrait of Hutchinson, based largely on David Hall's The Antinomian Controversy, 1636-1638: A Documentary History, which examines the primary text of the documents pertaining to Hutchinson's trials. LaPlante claims that the Hutchinson controversy "set the stage for our modern concepts of religious freedom, gender equality, and civil rights." Such a claim is debatable, but there is no doubt that Hutchinson was a remarkable woman who was ahead of her time. This biography covers her life as comprehensively as possible, given the source material available, and includes a chronology, genealogy, and bibliography as well as a travelog that traces Hutchinson's life in New England. Since so much has been written about Hutchinson, this book is recommended mainly for comprehensive collections; those libraries lacking a biography of this "American Jezebel" can safely purchase.-Cathy Carpenter, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib., Atlanta Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An attempt to place Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) as an early feminist, after being expelled from Massachusetts Bay colony in 1638 on charges of heresy and sedition. LaPlante (Seized, 1993) begins with Hutchinson's trial before the Massachusetts General Court. Her real offenses, the author argues, consisted of building up a power base from which she challenged the colony's established church and government. LaPlante recapitulates Hutchinson's childhood in England, where her father capitulated to the power of the Anglican hierarchy. Anne, the second of 15 children, left England rather than bend to a church she considered corrupt. Convinced that she could distinguish those who were saved from those who were foredoomed, she stalked out of one Boston church rather than hear what she considered false doctrine. She began holding Bible discussion groups in her home, attended at first by other women, but increasingly by men. Convinced that her criticisms of the clergy would undermine the government, Governor John Winthrop brought her to trial. The outcome, LaPlante makes clear, was never in serious doubt. Arcane as the theological issues seem (her heresy was officially diagnosed as Antinomianism), the central issue was that a woman dared challenge the establishment. Banished from the colony, she moved to nearby Rhode Island, where she is today recognized as one of the founders of the state, as well as inspiration for its official policy of religious tolerance. Upon the death of her husband a few years later, she moved to upstate New York, where she and her large family perished in an Indian raid, having refused to arm themselves. LaPlante effectively details the intellectual climate in whichHutchinson flourished, and gives a vivid picture of 17th-century life in England and the colonies. Hutchinson's courage is beyond question, but LaPlante never manages to make her any more sympathetic than her Puritan opponents.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Carol Gilligan

American Jezebel is stunning book, exquisitely written, it fills in a crucial piece of American history. — author of In A Different Voice and The Birth of Pleasure

Howard Zinn

What true heroes can I tell my students about? ...read LaPlante's biography to make [Hutchinson] and her courage come alive." — author of A People's History of the United States

Susan Quinn

A vivid account, full of surprising twists and turns...richly documented.... — author of Marie Curie: A Life and A Mind of Her Own: A Life of Karen Horney

Peter J. Gomes

[t]he most significant woman in pre-Revolutionary America...rescued from obscurity and re-introduced to 21st Century America. — author of The Good Life

Edwin Gaustad

...charming exploration of the life and times of Anne Hutchinson....A personal and appreciative tribute. — author (with Leigh E. Schmidt) of A Religious History of America

Leigh E. Schmidt

"[a] spirited biography of Anne Hutchinson... LaPlante's rendering suggests how deeply resonant that history remains. — Princeton University

Michael Dukakis