2016 Stonewall Honor Book Award by the American Library Association 

2015 Foreward's INDIEFab Book of the Year Awards, Gold Award, Adult Nonfiction/ LGBT
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MARIE EQUI Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions presents the life of a fiercely independent, fearless woman. Marie Equi (1872-1952) endured childhood labor in a gritty Massachusetts textile mill before fleeing to a Western homestead in the 1890s. In her 20s Equi first claimed headlines for publicly horsewhipping a school superintendent over a pay dispute with her girlfriend. Her commitment to social justice and her willingness to protest defined the rest of her life.
 
Equi self-studied her way into medical school and became one of the first women physicians in the West, a remarkable achievement for a working-class woman. She earned a medal from the US Army for her heroic assistance to earthquake victims in 1906 San Francisco. She then engaged in the progressive, and later radical, struggles of her day – woman suffrage, workers’ rights, fair pay, and reproductive rights. She mounted soapboxes, fought with police, and spent a night in jail with birth control advocate Margaret Sanger. She marched so often with jobless men that the media referred to them as Equi’s Army. When she protested World War I, the government convicted her of sedition and sentenced her to San Quentin prison.
 
The life of Marie Equi resonates with the political dissent and protest of today when the obstacles to justice seem so great. Like so many people now, she struggled to balance her activism with her personal and working life. MARIE EQUI gives an intimate look into the life of both dissent and affirmation, leaving readers inspired and motivated.  
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Published by Oregon State University Press
Reviews Declare MARIE EQUI "A Page Turner" and "A Must Read" 
  • Western Historical Review “A riveting page-turner that keeps on giving…seamlessly enriched by attention to time and place. A must read for scholars and general readers alike”
  • Midwest Book Review, Wisconsin Book Watch “Highly recommended.”   
  • Oregon Historical Quarterly “Extraordinary feat of detective work. “One of the most fascinating characters ever to make Portland home.”
  • James Anderson, author, The Never-Open Desert Diner, 2015 “A stirring biography and history that is meticulously researched, passionately and eloquently rendered and is just a great read.”
  •  Bettina Aptheker, Professor, Feminist Studies Department, University of Santa Cruz “A marvelous biography”  “meticulous archival research." “In this well-written, accessible biography of so extraordinary a personage Helquist has made a splendid contribution to both feminist and lesbian history.” 
  • The Seattle Lesbian, by novelist Lisa E. Davis, Under the Mink “Intense and superbly crafted biography"
  • Oregon ArtsWatch "Thoughtful yet page-turning account...of a remarkably gutsy woman (and) also an era of street-level activism that makes today’s Occupy protests look like a barn dance.”
  • Nancy Krieger, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health “A richly detailed and enthralling book. Helquist vividly narrates how this passionate, keen, and caring woman dared to live openly as a lesbian and to fight fiercely for social justice, as a physician, suffragist, abortionist, Wobbly, anti-imperialist, and self-named “Queen of the Bolsheviks” – enjoy!”
  • Pacific Historical Review "The biography helps readers appreciate the life and constraints of a vigilant social justice actor who deserves greater recognition. It also deepens our understanding of the social networks that sustained intersecting movements for free speech, anti-capitalism, pacifism, birth control, and women’s citizenship rights."
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