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libkatem's review
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
thelmaalice's review
5.0
I loved that the focus never wavered on the women in the movement, their different backgrounds and how it brought them there.
The flow of the author’s language was lovely. It was such a joy to read even though the subject matter sometimes turned grim describing the trials and tribulations of the suffragettes.
I really savoured every moment reading this and did not want it to end.
The flow of the author’s language was lovely. It was such a joy to read even though the subject matter sometimes turned grim describing the trials and tribulations of the suffragettes.
I really savoured every moment reading this and did not want it to end.
wildgurl's review
4.0
Rise Up, Women! :The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes
By Diane Atkinson
2017
Bloomsbury
Comprehensive and thoroughly researched, this 600+ page history of the campaign for Votes for Women in Great Britain between 1903-1914.
Formed by the infamous Parkhurst sisters, the WSPU (Womens Social and Political Union) followed the Independant Labour Party. Selling pamphlets, newspapers they eventually expanded and moved from Manchester to London in 1906. The Suffragists were often targeted and arrested on trivial charges and given sentences from 1 day to several months, many arrested numerous times. In 1908 the colors of purple, white and green were used to symbolize a Suffragette. In 1909 The Womens
Exhibition in Knightsbridge lasted 2 weeks, with speeches, demonstrations and marches against the Bill of Rights. Jailed Suffragettes began hunger strikes and were force fed, often through the nose, until the women became so frail they were released for fear they would die while in their care. And 'Black Friday', November 18, 1910 when 150 women were physically and sexually assaulted by police at a now famous protest against Winston Churchill .....and many more events are chronicled in the fascinating and beautifully written history. There are many B&W photos throughout the book.
Powerful...Remarkable...highly recommendationed. Excellent notes, as well!
By Diane Atkinson
2017
Bloomsbury
Comprehensive and thoroughly researched, this 600+ page history of the campaign for Votes for Women in Great Britain between 1903-1914.
Formed by the infamous Parkhurst sisters, the WSPU (Womens Social and Political Union) followed the Independant Labour Party. Selling pamphlets, newspapers they eventually expanded and moved from Manchester to London in 1906. The Suffragists were often targeted and arrested on trivial charges and given sentences from 1 day to several months, many arrested numerous times. In 1908 the colors of purple, white and green were used to symbolize a Suffragette. In 1909 The Womens
Exhibition in Knightsbridge lasted 2 weeks, with speeches, demonstrations and marches against the Bill of Rights. Jailed Suffragettes began hunger strikes and were force fed, often through the nose, until the women became so frail they were released for fear they would die while in their care. And 'Black Friday', November 18, 1910 when 150 women were physically and sexually assaulted by police at a now famous protest against Winston Churchill .....and many more events are chronicled in the fascinating and beautifully written history. There are many B&W photos throughout the book.
Powerful...Remarkable...highly recommendationed. Excellent notes, as well!
sb27's review
Great book. Really informative, but too much for my brain at the moment - too many people mentioned.
Will try this book again.
Will try this book again.
radella_hardwick's review against another edition
3.5
Decent primer on the suffragette movement but fails to tell the remarkable life-stories.
As someone who already knew a decent amount about the campaign for women's suffrage and their methods, I picked this book up specifically because it promised to tell the stories of the individuals behind the campaign. I have been involved with campaign groups and charities since my teens, and having gotten a hint of the suffragettes' diversity from Helen Lewis' Difficult Women, I wanted to see what living with the Votes for Women campaign had been like.
However, this book is much more interested in the details of force-feeding than digging into the women's lives outside the movement. Unlike the 2015 film Suffragette, this book rarely acknowledges the difficulties of maintaining house, husband and home, while regularly disappearing into prison.
Atkinson's mode of biography is to give a thumbnail sketch of birth to death whenever we first meet a significant figure, making the timeline rather difficult to hold on to.
This book is also pre-occupied with events, milestones down the road to a foregone conclusion, than chronicling the lives and relationships of those fighting for that goal.
For example, we get an account of two women trying to burn down a politician's house, another woman attempting to accost that same politician at a train station but getting someone else by mistake and then another pair of women accosting him on a golf course at different times. But these are treated like discrete events. Atkinson never shows us women at head office, having a brew, making jokes at the expense of the government and co-ordinating their plans.
To hear this book tell it, these women were radicalised like modern terrorists; at home, alone or with one friend/relative.
The one time it gets good on the humanity of these famous figures is when the Pethick-Lawrences are ejected from the movement by the Pankhursts.
My final issue with this book is the elision of queer history. Atkinson acknowledges the existence of relationships between two AFAB people often, sometimes calling them "intimate friends", sometimes as "companions" and once or twice as "lovers". But, in keeping with the rest of the book, she takes no time to look at the trials they faced in their personal lives; they only get mentioned when they are relevant to an event.
There is also at least one reference to an AFAB being called a masc name by their friends but nowhere in this book is there discussion of cross-dressing or clothing as a battlefield for equality.
In conclusion, I have read successful corporate biographies – Liberty by Lucy Moore and Take Six Girls by Laura Thompson – that use the lives of their subjects to illustrate the French Revolution (Liberty) or 1930s Britain (Take Six Girls). And this book doesn't do that, which I find disappointing.
As someone who already knew a decent amount about the campaign for women's suffrage and their methods, I picked this book up specifically because it promised to tell the stories of the individuals behind the campaign. I have been involved with campaign groups and charities since my teens, and having gotten a hint of the suffragettes' diversity from Helen Lewis' Difficult Women, I wanted to see what living with the Votes for Women campaign had been like.
However, this book is much more interested in the details of force-feeding than digging into the women's lives outside the movement. Unlike the 2015 film Suffragette, this book rarely acknowledges the difficulties of maintaining house, husband and home, while regularly disappearing into prison.
Atkinson's mode of biography is to give a thumbnail sketch of birth to death whenever we first meet a significant figure, making the timeline rather difficult to hold on to.
This book is also pre-occupied with events, milestones down the road to a foregone conclusion, than chronicling the lives and relationships of those fighting for that goal.
For example, we get an account of two women trying to burn down a politician's house, another woman attempting to accost that same politician at a train station but getting someone else by mistake and then another pair of women accosting him on a golf course at different times. But these are treated like discrete events. Atkinson never shows us women at head office, having a brew, making jokes at the expense of the government and co-ordinating their plans.
To hear this book tell it, these women were radicalised like modern terrorists; at home, alone or with one friend/relative.
The one time it gets good on the humanity of these famous figures is when the Pethick-Lawrences are ejected from the movement by the Pankhursts.
My final issue with this book is the elision of queer history. Atkinson acknowledges the existence of relationships between two AFAB people often, sometimes calling them "intimate friends", sometimes as "companions" and once or twice as "lovers". But, in keeping with the rest of the book, she takes no time to look at the trials they faced in their personal lives; they only get mentioned when they are relevant to an event.
There is also at least one reference to an AFAB being called a masc name by their friends but nowhere in this book is there discussion of cross-dressing or clothing as a battlefield for equality.
In conclusion, I have read successful corporate biographies – Liberty by Lucy Moore and Take Six Girls by Laura Thompson – that use the lives of their subjects to illustrate the French Revolution (Liberty) or 1930s Britain (Take Six Girls). And this book doesn't do that, which I find disappointing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
timbookshelf's review against another edition
Reads quite academic, which is not what I'm interested in reading
Definitely a case of personal preference rather than the book being bad!
Definitely a case of personal preference rather than the book being bad!
charlottec's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
katherinejayne's review
3.0
This has taken me such a long time to complete.
Now treat would suggest it was hard to read, wordy perhaps. But generally I found it quite easy going and it was written in an informative but not exclusive manner.
My issue was the sheer size of the book. It’s not something you can easily pick up. Also whilst easy to read there is reference to a LOT of people and trying to remember who everyone is and how it connects can be difficult.
Like many others have stated this is an extremely thorough account of the suffragettes but I think sometimes the detail slowed the pace of the reading. It was all too easy to put this down, and not want to really pick it up again.
Despite all of that I do think it is a worthy read. I have certainly learnt more about the movements that helped me to have a political voice, and understand more the actions it took to have their voices heard.
Now treat would suggest it was hard to read, wordy perhaps. But generally I found it quite easy going and it was written in an informative but not exclusive manner.
My issue was the sheer size of the book. It’s not something you can easily pick up. Also whilst easy to read there is reference to a LOT of people and trying to remember who everyone is and how it connects can be difficult.
Like many others have stated this is an extremely thorough account of the suffragettes but I think sometimes the detail slowed the pace of the reading. It was all too easy to put this down, and not want to really pick it up again.
Despite all of that I do think it is a worthy read. I have certainly learnt more about the movements that helped me to have a political voice, and understand more the actions it took to have their voices heard.