Thomas Wentworth Higginson (22 December 1822-9 May 1911), known through most of his mature life as "Colonel Higginson" because of his Civil War service with black troops, is to be remembered as a man of letters, author, speaker, radical religionist, and advocate of equality for women. He was born, raised, and died in Cambridge. Higginson was married twice, first to his cousin, Mary Channing, and upon her death, to Mary Thacher, who survived him. His father, Stephen Higginson, after having gone bankrupt, was Bursar of Harvard College when Thomas Wentworth attended. During his years at Harvard, where he was graduated in 1841, he had the reputation of being a dilettante, reading literature, poetry, or whatever struck his fancy. He was given to roaming the fields outside of Cambridge or dreaming under a tree on the banks of the Charles River, but after teaching and maturing a year or so, he entered...