Sherry Ceniza, Walt Whitman and 19th-Century Women Reformers, Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1998, 291 pp.

This is an interesting academic study of the influence of certain 19th century women reformers on Walt Whitman, as evidenced by his poetry, prose and correspondence. The women discussed in this book were personal friends of Whitman and all of them played key roles in the woman suffrage movement. The book primarily focuses on Abby Hills Price, Paulina Wright Davis, and Ernestine L. Rose, but it begins with a chapter on the influence of Whitman's mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. An entire chapter is devoted to each of these women and this book should be of interest to anyone studying the 19th century women's rights movement.

A key theme is that the first three editions of Leaves of Grass show increasing sympathy and agreement with the points of view of the radical women's rights advocates who were Whitman's close friends. After the third edition, the direction of the women's movement changed to focus on the right to vote, leaving behind broader concerns about the oppression of women, and Leaves of Grass also changed to reflect a less radical point of view. Nevertheless, for his time, Whitman is shown to have had a very unconventional view of the proper place and role of women in society. This book argues that he acquired his liberal views in part from his close association with women working in the reform movement.