Visionaries, crackpots, fanatics, dreamers, suffragettes, temperance

workers, be-sloganned devotees of betterment in marriage,

religion, sex, alcohol, labor relations, penal codes & the treatment

of mental illness rub shoulders in a book which encompasses the

American dream of Utopia, sobriety & the pursuit of happiness.

The shouting & axe-swinging reformer, Carrie Nation, splintered

saloon mirrors. At Sherrill, NY, John Humphrey Noyes, founder

of the Putney Corporation of Perfectionists, fostered complex

marriage -an apt description, since fidelity & exclusiveness in

matrimony were frowned upon. Laura Bridgman, Louis Dwight,

Dorothea Dix, Susan B. Anthony & Mrs Stanton fought their

mercurial & protracted battles-usually in defense of the rights of

others: the deaf, the blind, the insane & the weaker sex. Holbrook’s

summation of these prophets of Excelsior should interest anyone

with even a flickering interest in the history of the country & the

evolution of the society we know.