cmbohn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

4.5


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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

This book was great. However, I really wanted to like it even more - I wanted to give it five stars. Ultimately I didn’t because occasionally it would devolve into histrionics. The story was so powerful that literary flourishes were unnecessary and distracting. 

That said, Wow. What a book. How is it that Elizabeth Packard is not a household name? She was extraordinary. Committed to an insane asylum because her husband found her outspokenness troublesome, she worked for three years to be freed, then worked the rest of her life to achieve equality for women, safety for mental patients, and the right of a mother to have custody of her children. 

The author relies on diaries, letters, newspapers, and trial transcripts. Everything she writes has been thoroughly researched. Her work here is exceptional. 

Having found Radium Girls equally important, I hope that Kate Moore continues to write. Her works are essential to understanding the history of the ordinary American in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. 

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

I feel like everyone needs to read this book. We owe so much to this woman. I am both inspired and buoyed by this woman and appalled and disgusted even further by weak men. The amount of research the author must’ve done is impressive, but even more so is the way she wrote this story.

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kilonshele's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5


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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

overall, i really enjoyed this book but it lost a star due to the length. i think it would have really benefitted off of being edited down quite a bit because it became very drawn out

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mrsdarcylynn's review against another edition

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5.0

What a wild story! This book is so important to read, especially when understanding the evolution of women’s rights, mental health history, and legal processes surrounding “dependents”. This story was hard to stomach, but well worth the listen! 

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matcha_cat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0


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katieluvs2read's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

5.0


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kharcourt's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0


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mscalls's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0


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