Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby - Blumhofer, Edith L. Eerdmans, 2005. 365p. $20.00, Paperback. ISBN 0802842534. 264’.23’092 Crosby, Fanny, 1820-1915. Hymn writers—United States—Biography. Poets, American—19th century—Biography. Blind—United States—Biography. Gospel music—History and criticism.

In spite of her blindness, Fanny Crosby was one of the most prominent hymn text writers of her time, contributing over 9,000 hymns to the repertoire. Blumhofer, a professor at Wheaton College, sets right the myth and misrepresentation of Crosby’s life. She draws upon primary sources, such as records of the New York Institution for the Blind, and unpublished manuscripts.

Beginning life in a musical family, Crosby embraced Methodism but also had an affinity to the Holiness movement and to social ministries such as rescue missions and aid to the blind. Many newspapers printed her outpouring of Civil War poetry, including such poems as “Song to Jeff Davis,” and “Dixie for the Union.” Crosby developed associations with evangelist Dwight Moody and composers Ira Sankey, William Bradbury and George Root.

The author faced a major challenge in that Crosby, unlike most other composers, poets and authors, did not leave an archive of letters and papers. Blumhofer approaches this as an anthropologist; she substantiates dates and events, and brings out facts not found in other publications, such as that Crosby gave birth to an infant who quickly died. She identifies culprits of inaccurate chronologies that lack exact dates, often from newspapers and collaborators’ memoirs written late in life.

Blumhofer assesses the dearth of scholarly information and research on Crosby, citing a number of resources for further research. She presents a genealogy, a partial list of Crosby’s pseudonyms (over 100), and an index of people, events, places, and hymn titles. Church libraries will find this well written book a useful and accurate reference source for one of the most prolific hymnists in history.

Ralph Hartsock
Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church
Flower Mound, Texas