"Ms. Goldsmith's absorbing, sweeping book is a portrait of an age, with the scandalous Victoria Woodhull' at its center. . . . [With] the richness of its narrative, the complex and morally nuanced portraits of its characters . . . you finish Ms. Goldsmith's extraordinary story nearly out of breath . . . astonished at the tragic heroism of the flawed character who tried to challenge the American establishment."-- Richard Bernstein, "New York Times""What a great cast of mountebanks, lechers, spiritualists, sexual revolutionaries, and scheming politicians populate Barbara Goldsmith's fine portrait of an era that resembles the 1990's in America."-- Jim Hoagland"Immensely readable . . . a masterly job."-- "San Francisco Chronicle"An often brilliant, multi-tentacled exploration of Victorian sexual politics."-- "The New Yorker""Goldsmith's research into Woodhull's milieu is prodigious, and the story she has to tell is never less than fascinating."-- "Boston Globe""[Goldsmith] is a master of quotation, smoothly extracting from one after another lengthy letter or transcript the nub that captures the human heart of the matter being addressed."-- "Los Angeles Times""A meticulously researched, marvelous rendering of an intriguing era and one of the women who helped make it so. . . . History is anything but boring when Victoria Woodhull is the topic."-- "Kirkus Reviews""History at its finest: vivid, inclusive, insightful."-- "Booklist""It's hard not to be swept away in [Goldsmith's] remarkable story."-- "Chicago Tribune