Buy the Book

Catharine (Kate) Beecher was a crusader for women’s education, bestselling author, and unique feminist thinker in the nineteenth century. Yet many today have never even heard of her. Kate’s fame was eclipsed by that of her younger sister, abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

Women’s Crusader reveals the untold tale of romance and grief that launched Kate on a new path as an advocate for American women. Biographer R. Lee Wilson combed through unpublished letters, manuscripts, and diary entries to discover the secrets of Kate and Alexander Fisher, an unlikely couple. Kate was a fun-loving extrovert, while Alexander was an introverted math prodigy and brilliant Yale professor. But they were brought together by a piece of her published poetry and their joint love for music. After a tragic shipwreck tore them apart, Kate’s life dramatically shifted focus. She waged a battle against misogyny to help provide women with the education they deserved. Compelling and meticulously researched, Women’s Crusader is the inspiring turning-point story of an important yet little-known woman in US history. 

Reviews

“Wilson’s biography of Catharine (Kate) Beecher, the nineteenth-century author and advocate for women’s education and health, focuses on the little-told love story that changed her life . . . Wilson constructs a vibrant portrait of the period and convincingly conjures up moments illustrating the couple’s growing affection for one another . . . An engaging, touching, and history-filled tribute.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A scholarly, impressive work . . . This imaginative biography gives Catharine Beecher the historical recognition she deserves. Students of women’s studies and Romanticism will find much to enjoy here.”

—BlueInk Review