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Cindy Saffronoff
Education
B.A., The Evergreen State College, 1992
Website
Biographical Note
Cindy Peyser Safronoff has always loved spending time in the mountains, and her short e-book "Climbing Mt Rainier with the Chicks" tells the story of her reluctant transition from backpacking into the challenge of mountaineering. Her latest work has proved to be far more challenging than climbing Rainier -- exploring female leadership at the highest level of empowerment. Her biography "Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage" compares and contrasts two of the most powerful women leaders of the 19th century -- both often overlooked in American history, but nonetheless influential. With this latest work in women's rights she hopes to climb to new heights.
Publication Type
Non-Fiction
Latest Publication Title
Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage
Publication Excerpt
A woman is running for US President! Socialism is gaining ground in America, and a campaign is underway to redefine marriage, causing a culture war between Christian leaders and feminists. It is 1872, and Victoria Woodhull is leading the radical faction of the women's rights movement with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. On the other end of the spectrum, more philosophically aligned with Lucy Stone and Mary Livermore, a movement that would put women into the pulpit worldwide is being launched by Mary Baker Eddy, who staunchly defends the Christian view of the sanctity of marriage. In the decade after the American Civil War, reformers wanted to fulfill the promise of the American Revolution by giving both blacks and women the right to vote. Legal changes needed for woman suffrage seemed to shake the foundation of the male-female relationship. Disagreement over the implications of women's rights for sexuality triggered a po litical, legal, and religious battle for the soul of marriage. CROSSING SWORDS explores the contentious free-love movement through the love lives, careers, and public statements of Mary Baker Eddy and Victoria Claflin Woodhull, who came from completely different backgrounds and had polar opposite views on marriage and sexuality. This thought-provoking story is a surprisingly relevant prequel to the similarly divisive social issues of our own era.