Overview

"From the intimate perspective of three friends and neighbors in mid-nineteenth century Auburn, New York--the ""agitators"" of the title--acclaimed author Dorothy Wickenden tells the fascinating and crucially American stories of abolition, the underground railroad, the early women's rights movement, and the Civil War. Harriet Tubman--no-nonsense, funny, uncannily prescient, and strategically brilliant--was one of the most important conductors on the underground railroad and hid the enslaved men, women and children she rescued in the basement kitchens of Martha Wright, Quaker mother of seven, and Frances Seward, wife of Governor, then Senator, then Secretary of State William H. Seward. Harriet worked for the Union Army in South Carolina as a nurse and spy, and took part in a river raid in which 750 enslaved people were freed from rice plantations. Martha, a ""dangerous woman"" in the eyes of her neighbors and a harsh critic of Lincoln's policy on slavery, organized women's rights and abolitionist conventions with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Frances gave freedom seekers money and referrals and aided in their education. The most conventional of the three friends, she hid her radicalism in public; behind the scenes, she argued strenuously with her husband about the urgency of immediate abolition. Many of the most prominent figures in the history books--Lincoln, Seward, Daniel Webster, Frederick Douglass, Charles Sumner, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison--are seen through the discerning eyes of the protagonists. So are the most explosive political debates: about women's roles and rights during the abolition crusade, emancipation, and the arming of Black troops; and about the true meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Beginning two decades before the Civil War, when Harriet Tubman was still enslaved and Martha and Frances were young women bound by law and tradition, The Agitators ends two decades after the war, in a radically changed United States. Wickenden brings this extraordinary period of our history to life through the richly detailed letters her characters wrote several times a week. Like Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals and David McCullough's John Adams, Wickenden's The Agitators is revelatory, riveting, and profoundly relevant to our own time."

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9781797101071

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[An] ingeniously structured group portrait. -- New York Times Book Review An epic and intimate history. -- New York Times Book Review Engrossing. -- Smithsonian Rescues Wright and Seward from obscurity and provides a new perspective on Tubman's life and work. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Riveting...reads like accomplished literary fiction...If you're an agitator, even a quiet one, read this book. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune She brings a reporter's eye for detail to this complex history... [and] invites readers to take a closer look at the path of American progress and the women who guided it. -- BookPage Simms gives a witty and rousing rendition of Harriet Tubman, freedom fighter extraordinaire; Twomey is gentle and steely as Francis Seward, the publicly conventional and privately radical wife of Secretary of State William H. Seward; and Gabra Zackman is energized and clear as Martha Wright, uncompromising Quaker mother of seven...Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. -- AudioFile Wickenden pulls this history out of the dry dustiness of fact and adds color and warmth to its retelling. The women of our shared past deserve more treatments like this. -- Booklist Will resonate with readers in our own fractious era. -- Wall Street Journal

"""[An] ingeniously structured group portrait."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""An epic and intimate history."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""Engrossing."" -- ""Smithsonian"" ""Rescues Wright and Seward from obscurity and provides a new perspective on Tubman's life and work."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" ""Riveting...reads like accomplished literary fiction...If you're an agitator, even a quiet one, read this book."" -- ""Minneapolis Star Tribune"" ""She brings a reporter's eye for detail to this complex history... [and] invites readers to take a closer look at the path of American progress and the women who guided it."" -- ""BookPage"" ""Simms gives a witty and rousing rendition of Harriet Tubman, freedom fighter extraordinaire; Twomey is gentle and steely as Francis Seward, the publicly conventional and privately radical wife of Secretary of State William H. Seward; and Gabra Zackman is energized and clear as Martha Wright, uncompromising Quaker mother of seven...Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""Wickenden pulls this history out of the dry dustiness of fact and adds color and warmth to its retelling. The women of our shared past deserve more treatments like this."" -- ""Booklist"" ""Will resonate with readers in our own fractious era."" -- ""Wall Street Journal"""

Author Information

Dorothy Wickenden has been the executive editor of the New Yorker since January 1996. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard, she was the former national affairs editor at Newsweek and a longtime executive editor at the New Republic. Entering the fiction world, she is the author of Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West. Dorothy Wickenden has been the executive editor of the New Yorker since January 1996. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard, she was the former national affairs editor at Newsweek and a longtime executive editor at the New Republic. Entering the fiction world, she is the author of Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West. Gabra Zackman is an actress, author, and narrator who has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards. She was educated at Northwestern University. A classically trained actress, she has appeared in theaters all over the country as well as on film and television. Anne Twomey is an accomplished actress of both stage and screen. Her Broadway credits include Orpheus Descending with Vanessa Redgrave, To Grandmother's House We Go, and Nuts, for which she received a Tony nomination and a Theatre World Award. Her many television appearances include guest roles on Seinfeld, Law & Order: SVU, Spin City, and the Christopher Reeves' movie-of-the-week Rear Window. She has also appeared in the films Picture Perfect and Orpheus Descending. Her audiobook narrations have won her five AudioFile Earphones Awards. Heather Alicia Simms is an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator, finalist for an Audie Award, and an actress. Her filmography includes Broken Flowers, Flutter Kick, Shock Act, Kingscounty, Head of State, Third Watch, and others. She also provided voice acting for the video game Red Dead Revolver.

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