The Great Divorce: a Nineteenth-Century Mother's Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times by Ilyon Woo

The Great Divorce: a Nineteenth-Century Mother's Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times Reviews

• 
  Marilyn

  I read this book in less than 3 days, hating to put it down for everyday chores. Part of my interest stems from continuing interest in the Shakers, part from the fact that much of what happened in this nonfiction story occurred within miles of where I grew up and where I live now (latter is about 5 minutes by car from the former Watervliet Shaker community location), and part stems from the fact that this is the story of a strong woman/mother who just couldn't/wouldn't give up on getting her children back. Sometimes it was frustrating reading about various tactics she used but, dammit, she was up against a whole anti-woman society where divorce (in NYS) was just about impossible and too expensive for the likes of Eunice Chapman and child custody was pretty much up to the husband. A few times I thought she was just plain losing it... but in the end it seems she was able to settle into a decent life, albeit never being a friend to the Shakers.
  
  I came away from reading this book with a more informed (&cynical) view about Shakers, having learned a few negative aspects of how they functioned. On the other hand, still have lots of respect for much of their accomplishments. They evolved, as we all do, but not nearly enough to keep them from disappearing from the world.
  
  Well-written and well-researched. Highly recommended.
• 
  Grace

  Ilyon Woo uncovers and intriguing story that begins a revolution in divorce and custody laws in New York State and across America. Set during the 1810s in upstate New York, the story details the life of Eunice Chapman, a bright and forceful woman who refuses to stay within her assigned gender role and fights for her children after her estranged husband takes them to live with him in a Shaker community near Albany.
  
  Mrs. Chapman employed several methods to spread the word about the injustices she endured, including courting several state legislatures (with much scandal implied by witnesses and locals alike), publishing her story in pamphlet form, and even threatening the Shakers with threats of attacks and fires. I respect her for all that she endured in order to get her children back. She is a strong and resourceful woman who would fought against her times, her husband, and her government to save and protect her children. Unfortunately for Mrs. Eunice Chapman, this is her only redeeming quality. She came across as a crass and two faced woman who played way too dirty at times.
  
  Her husband, James, and the Shakers came out looking no better. James was an adulterous alcoholic who squandered away the family's money and status before fleeing the family home in Durham. He tricked his wife in order to kidnap the children. He kept up his drinking and worldly ways long after signing his covenant with the Shakers. The Shakers themselves lied to Mrs. Chapman and the government about James' and the children's whereabouts on several occasions and often left out key pieces of information. Their organization also dealt with gender issues of their own as their leader at the time was Lucy Wright, another strong willed and determined woman whose beliefs and actions were well before her time.
  
  The author cannot do much with characters who do not give her much to work with, but the lack of likable characters paired with an often sluggish narrative that gets bogged down in description in places didn't help this book overall. It was in interesting story that took place where I live and I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't tell people to add it to their 'must read' list.
• 
  Amy Sturgis

  Ilyon Woo does an admirable job of telling a dramatic tale with perceptiveness and sensitivity toward all sides. Recommended for those interested in women's history, religious history, early 19th-century U.S. history, or the Shakers, in particular. This would make a powerful film!
• 
  Elizabeth Connolly

  A fascinating read. I will say the history text book style isn’t my favorite but this one was well laid out.
  
  Following the events that lead up to the first and only legislative divorce in New York history, the Great Divorce follows a strong willed Eunice Chapman’s desperate fight for custody of her children.
  
  If you feel like hating men, organized religion, and politicians for a few hours give this one a read.
• 
  Susan O

  Excellent - A well-written account of the struggle of Eunice Chapman to regain contact and custody of her children in a time when married women had few legal rights. Her husband joined the Shakers and took her children to live with them, eventually denying Eunice contact with them. She went to extraordinary lengths to reconnect and eventually gain custody.
  
  Recommended for anyone interested in the history of the Shakers, women's history, or the 19th century in general.
• 
  Jane Kriegler

  This book greatly exceeded my expectations. I have read other books about the Shakers, but this account was so much more than a story about this religious sect. Mrs. Chapman’s story of her perseverance and lobbying to obtain a divorce, her steadfast love and loyalty to her children and her strong self-image as a woman are remarkable and relevant.
• 
  Gayla Bassham

  If I have a complaint about The Great Divorce, it's that Woo often tells us what Eunice is feeling and thinking without providing citations. In the endnotes, Woo says that "Details about the weather and descriptions of Eunice’s thoughts and moods all originate in period sources. In particular, my discussion of Eunice’s feelings is rooted in her books." But for me that was too little too late. I am wary of projecting our twenty-first century brains onto what a nineteenth-century woman may have been thinking; our worldviews are just so different.
  
  Other than that, though, The Great Divorce really is a very good book, as well as a compelling read. (I couldn't put it down in the last half, despite the fact that Woo had already told me what was going to happen hundreds pages earlier. And despite the fact that everyone involved was long-dead.) My preference would have been for a little more analysis and a little more intellectual history. But it is certainly a compelling read, and left me thinking about the women's history on both sides of the legal battle.
• 
  Karen Benson

  While I really enjoyed learning about the Shakers and while it was really interesting to understand what Eunice Chapman endured while both divorcing her husband and trying to regain custody of her children from the Shaker community, the book sometimes went into "novel" mode which made it entirely too long. Just when you think you are getting close to some important detail, we endure reading about the deep snow, or riding in a buggy along a riverbank in much detail, which to me didn't really add much to the story. At some points it dragged and dragged which at times made it difficult to pick back up to finish.
  
  After reading about the Shakers, their way of life, customs and rules, it's easy to see how religious cults have come to be. It's hard to believe that people actually agreed to this way of life and it's easy to see why the Shakers have evaporated.
  
  This is actually a good history lesson. I thank Eunice Chapman for having a pair and sticking to her guns.
  
  
• 
  Jane

  What an extraordinary story. Eunice Chapman fought for years to get a divorce and retrieve her children, who had been taken by their father and hidden in the Shaker community in Watervliet. She fought against insurmountable odds, since a married woman had no rights, no legal standing, nothing, except as her husband’s chattel. And she won! If you are a fan of Shaker design, be prepared to hear the not so nice side of the sect’s rules and regulations.
• 
  Ashlee

  Not worth the effort. The story is interesting, yes, but the author's writing is just not up to speed. Granted, it is non-fiction, but I feel like it shouldn't read precisely like a history thesis one would have turned in sophomore year. There's very little empathy or really any sort of connection to the characters conveyed by the writing.
• 
  Cindy

  Saw a great review of this book here:
  http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5...
  
  It was also featured on NPR:
  http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/201...
• 
  Jennifer Mortt Johnson

  This morning I turn the last page of this extraordinary book. What I thought was going to be historical fiction, turned out to be a nonfiction book that was meticulously researched, very well written, and very interesting. I learned so much.
  
  This book is about Eunice Chapman, a woman in 1818 who is in an awful marriage. Her husband is an alcoholic and abandons her for large periods of time. He then joins the Shakers, a religious society that among other things practices Celibacy and communal living. Eunice spends time in the community and it is not for her. She wants to leave with her three children, and that is where the story begins.
  
  She is denied her children because at that time women who were married were then "civically dead" And she had no rights to her family or property, it is all her husband's. Eunice single-handedly took on the New York state legislature and the shakers to get her children back. She worked tirelessly for five years and finally did get her children back. She was granted the first legislative divorce in the state of New York and with that regained her rights as a person. I learned much about 1818 family law.
  
  This book shows how the Shakers and her husband kept her children from her and how the laws at that time made it easy to do so. This book explores all the various laws and society at the time that created this situation. Eunice was a remarkable woman, and a law was passed in her name so that she could get custody back of her children and her divorce granted.
  
  This author presents all the information in a thoughtful manner. It is not a vindictive story about the Shakers. She points out positive aspects of the community as well. I learned a lot about the Shaker religion. And she portrays an honest reflection of Eunice. She spent over 10 years researching this book and sites her sources and notes in the last 50 pages of the book.
  
  As I read this book, and reflected on the strength of Eunice Chapman, willing to do anything to get her children back, I reflected on who might be modern day Eunice Chapmans. People who have the law stacked against them and willing to fight for what they need/deserve. I am so grateful that I learned about Eunice. She was extraordinary and was someone who had a hand in changing the world.
• 
  Priscilla Herrington

  This is a book of history by an historian I expect we'll be hearing more from in the coming years - Ilyon Woo. /she has painstaking gathered information, mostly from primary sources, about an incident in the early Nineteenth Century. Eunice Chapman's husband, James, had fallen on hard times and become a heavy drinker. He would abandon his family for long stretches of time, leaving Eunice and her three children to fend for themselves. When he did come home he brought little if anything in the way of material comforts, and he was abusive to his wife and children. Finally, he brought home the announcement that he had joined the Shakers - a communal religious group best known for their vows of celibacy and also their prosperous farms. James's plan was for his wife and children to join him at the Watervliet Family Dwelling.
  
  After Eunice visited the Shakers and found that their religion was very much at odds with her own ardent Presbyterianism. She refused to join. Soon thereafter James abducted his three children and carried them off to the Shakers. Eunice would not see them again for about five years.
  
  Most of the book deals with Eunice's efforts to retrieve her children, as well as to obtain a divorce and civil rights. Woo has carefully studied New York divorce, marriage and custody laws as well as the social customs of the tie. The story is interesting and Woo's writing is clear, making even nuances and complexities easy to follow. Woo is a heavy hitter, both as a writer and as an historian.
  
  
• 
  Susan D'Entremont

  Would I have liked this book as much if I didn't live in the area where most of the story takes place? I don't know, but because I live here I found it super fascinating. Although we know that Shakers lived around here, there are some buildings still remaining, and we have lore surrounding them, I had never heard even a peep about this woman's story.
  
  Eunice Chapman was an amazing woman who convinced the NYS legislature to pass legislation on her behalf. This is daunting to do today, never mind for a woman to do at a time when they had no vote. We do not know much about Eunice, but the author was able to piece together a compelling portrait by meticulously doing her research and tying together the various snippets she found.
  
  The book showed a negative side of the Shakers that we don't usually hear. I liked this because it made the Shakers seemed more real and complicated, not just some quaint and cute people like they are often portrayed. Their philosophy meant giving up more than just sex. People had struggles with the religion. The religion also provided a lot of support for oddballs and those with no one to support them - I never thought about how this might lead to their downfall.
  
  I enjoyed the little tidbits about my hometown, Albany. The fact that they had pigs roaming the street to clean up the garbage and then be slaughtered when people were hungry was my favorite.
• 
  Donna Siebold

  Eunice Chapman was unhappily married to her husband John with whom she had three children. John was an alcoholic who failed to support his family. He decided to join the Shaker community. It was for a time a benefit to him as he drank much less when within their boundaries.
  
  Though the Shakers claimed they only took in entire families this proved not to be the case with the Chapmans. John wanted to remain with the Shakers, Eunice did not. At this point in history married woman were essentially non-persons. Any property owned at their marriage became the property of their husband. They had few other rights as well and their children were considered the property of their husbands. John stole the children from Eunice and with the Shaker's help hid them from Eunice.
  
  Eunice was able to convince the courts to back her in a divorce from John which also shockingly granted her custody of the children. However, it took her five years to gain this court victory and regain custody of her children.
  
  This is an engaging presentation of her case and the lives of her family.
• 
  Rae Lanczak

  Honestly, I have very conflicted feeling over this story. While it's a significant and very interesting read, everyone also sucks. It was fascinating learning about the Shaker lifestyle. And I do believe that they were unfairly persecuted in many times throughout history. At the same time, they can be held at fault with the case of this book. As for Eunice, our main heroine, she kind of sucked too. To be fair, she was less of a problem compared to the rest of the cast. She had understandable reasoning for her actions, but I cannot accept that it was necessary to completely lead to the horrific treatment that the Shakers would go on to receive.
  I think the most interesting part was how both parties (minus the husband. He's the true villain in this) were so against each other, yet managed to increase equality for women. Women's rights activists without wanting it or believing it. We can thank Eunice and the Shakers for a start to fighting for equality.
• 
  Charlie

  Concerned about women's rights and women wronged? Interested in history? In the Shakers and religious extremism? Live in the Albany NY region?
  
  I answer yes to all these, and therefore was a good fit with this book. It's a reasonably written piece of narrative non-fiction that looks at the plight of women in NY in the early 19th century, and particularly the travails of one woman whose ne'er-do-well husband tries to right his ship by joining the Shakers, a religious group pledged to celibacy that sees their founder as the second coming of Christ. He takes the three children he fathered with our protagonist to the Shaker community it what was then Watervliet (now Colonie) with him. And, according to NY law, his wife has no rights to the children, nor to just about anything else; not even the right to divorce the bum and start her life over. She fights like hell, and Woo has thoroughly researched contemporary accounts of her multi-year struggle with the NY State legislature and the Shakers and communicated them well.
  
  By the way, at the time of this writing (3/28/2023) the kindle edition of this book costs $2.99.
• 
  J

  In depth exposé on the Shakers (mostly the New England area) from around 1812-1820. It’s more information than I’ll ever need or use, but it was presented well. I listened through Audible (Included) and the narrator was fantastic. That much of an info dump could have been boring. If not well narrated, it would have been a DNF for sure. It was neither. I was fascinated, and also relieved when the book finally ended. While the book deals mostly with the cult-like atmosphere within these Shaker encampments, and the misery of one mother to be reunited with her children, there’s so much more too this book. It is a deep dive into the culture of that era, from civil law, politics, religion, social mores—this book covers so much information. It would be a great resource for writers.
• 
  Jeff

  Fantastic book about a subject almost no one has ever heard of. Eunice Chapman sought a divorce and custody of her children in 1815 when her husband kidnapped them and took them to live in a Shaker community. At a time when women had no rights, she led a one-woman campaign which changed New York state divorce and custody laws. Highly recommend.
• 
  Heather Dune Macadam

  Ilyon Woo has done an amazing job unpacking this powerful story about women's rights. Beautifully constructed, extensively researched and fantastically written. Don't miss this wonderful slice of women's history and liberation! She well deserves receiving a Whiting Award.
• 
  Heather Perkins

  A well covered fascinating look at a strong willed woman's life, and dedication to win her children back from her husband's kidnapping them into the life of the Shakers. It was a neat look at early 19th century religion, marriage, and state politics in the North east. More of a 3.5 than anything.
• 
  Laurean Wilson Reynolds

  History Lesson
  
  Tremendously well-researched story of Eunice Chapman's fight against her drunken, abusive husband,The Shakers, and for a divorce and custody of her three children. A woman few people remember from American history, but due to her tenacity, battled for years and won legal rights for women in the early 1800s, when they had none. Detailed account of the lives, beliefs, accomplishments, and the restrictive rules of The Shakers; as it shows their bizarre, grasping treatment of minor children. Many women, as well as Eunice Chapman, fought, with community help, for the release of their children from The Shakers. Interesting and informative read.
• 
  Katherine

  I read this for a book club - found it rather dreary, although I did learn some American history (about the Shaker movement, no pun intended).
• 
  Sally Fouhse

  Hard to tell here who to believe - Eunice or the Shakers. Plenty of blame to go around on both sides. but nevertheless, she persisted - and changed laws and moral outlooks in the process.
• 
  Fairport Public Library

  October 2011, Holly W, NonFiction
• 
  Elaina Smith

  If you want to learn more about the Shakers, this is the book for you. It was very interesting but slow moving.