The author's meticulous quest to collect her subject's scattered writings has yielded a biographical triumph with striking parallels to today's #MeToo movement.
In 1998, author Diane Eickhoff stumbled upon a handmade historical exhibit in a small Kansas museum and was introduced to one of the most remarkable women in feminist history. Clarina Nichols (1810-1885) was a newspaper publisher and political speaker at a time when few women dared make their voice heard. Despite ridicule and verbal abuse, Nichols thrived by using humor and pluck to persuade men to grant unprecedented rights for women.
A key player in the first women's rights movement following the historic Seneca Falls Convention, Nichols left behind the comforts of Vermont and the company of colleagues like Susan B. Anthony and was among the first white inhabitants of Kansas. There her presence ensured the new state's Constitution gave rights to women that they enjoyed nowhere else.
Eickhoff's seven-year, coast-to-coast quest to piece together the life of Nichols resulted in an exciting account of a life unconventionally lived. Revolutionary Heart is a window into an overlooked period in American history. It has been honored with a Willa Cather prize and named a Kansas Notable Book as well as ForeWord's Book of the Year in Biography for 2007.