Daniel Kibblesmith's Reviews > Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist

Forget everything you think you know about abortion. How common has it always been? How legal has it typically been? And why does the Catholic Church *actually* disapprove of it? The answer might be pettier (and a lot less pious) than you think.

Jennifer Wright’s latest book is also her first full length biography — of Madame Restell, the unapologetically talented and fabulous female abortionist who may very well have been America’s first self-made female millionaire. It’s the perfect kind of history book: an eminently podcastable story of an unsung icon that makes you furiously ask “why didn’t I know about her already?!”

But note the choice of “icon” over “hero,” as Restell’s rags-to-riches story might have more in common with Walter White than Susan B. Anthony. You won’t find an over-polished, Notorious RBG-style, tote bag-ready caricature in this book, but a deeply complex, highly driven businesswoman, inescapably famous in her own time, inexplicably all but forgotten in ours.

Restell was dedicated physician who never lost a patient, a jailhouse kingpin, a founding visionary of New York city planning as we know it, a criminal in ways you may disagree with, and a criminal in ways that cannot be argued against. Most importantly to the modern reader, she was a woman whose dazzling ascent to wealth and power was so offensive to petty, fearful men that our own freedoms are still being curtailed today due to the rippling effects of their attempts to destroy her. Spoiler: They probably didn’t succeed.

Jennifer tells the complete story of Restell here for the first time, with entertaining and crucial context that will light up the brains of any fans of Gangs of New York, The Power Broker or Citizen Kane. The shameful statistics behind the supposedly “abolitionist” New Yorkers of Lincoln’s day. Trains to nowhere, full of regular deposits of drunk children. Bat people on the moon! (You read that right). And at the center of it all, a woman who seemingly made history with her every bold (or baffling) move. Madame Restell was once one of the most famous women in the world. Jennifer Wright restores her to that wobbly pedestal, warts and wonders and all.

Note: I am married to Jennifer Wright, but this is an unbiased review due to the sheer enjoyability of the book she has produced. Please do not delete, Mr. Bezos.