Rise Up Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes

by Dr Diane Atkinson (Author), Dr Diane Atkinson (Author)

New
paperback

$17.44

A definitive history and anarchic celebration of the fight for women's right to vote; `A huge achievement' Rachel Cooke, Observer `Glorious' Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times `A definitive history of the suffragettes' Lucy Scholes, The Times `Magisterial' Miranda Seymour, Telegraph Between the death of Queen Victoria and the outbreak of the First World War, while the patriarchs of the Liberal and Tory parties vied for supremacy in parliament, the campaign for women's suffrage was fought with flair and imagination in the public arena. From their marches on Parliament and 10 Downing Street, to the selling of their paper, Votes for Women, through to the more militant activities of the Women's Social and Political Union, whose slogan 'Deeds Not Words!' resided over bombed pillar-boxes, acts of arson and the slashing of great works of art, the women who participated in the movement endured police brutality, assault, imprisonment and force-feeding, all in the relentless pursuit of one goal: the right to vote. A hundred years on, Diane Atkinson celebrates the lives of the women who answered the call to 'Rise Up'; a richly diverse group of actresses and mill-workers, teachers and doctors, bootmakers and sweated workers. Meticulously researched, vividly rendered and definitive, Rise Up, Women! brings these women to life in a stirring celebration of their grace, resilience and determination that changed the world forever.

Synopsis

A definitive history and anarchic celebration of the fight for women's right to vote; `A huge achievement' Rachel Cooke, Observer `Glorious' Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times `A definitive history of the suffragettes' Lucy Scholes, The Times `Magisterial' Miranda Seymour, Telegraph Between the death of Queen Victoria and the outbreak of the First World War, while the patriarchs of the Liberal and Tory parties vied for supremacy in parliament, the campaign for women's suffrage was fought with flair and imagination in the public arena. From their marches on Parliament and 10 Downing Street, to the selling of their paper, Votes for Women, through to the more militant activities of the Women's Social and Political Union, whose slogan 'Deeds Not Words!' resided over bombed pillar-boxes, acts of arson and the slashing of great works of art, the women who participated in the movement endured police brutality, assault, imprisonment and force-feeding, all in the relentless pursuit of one goal: the right to vote. A hundred years on, Diane Atkinson celebrates the lives of the women who answered the call to 'Rise Up'; a richly diverse group of actresses and mill-workers, teachers and doctors, bootmakers and sweated workers. Meticulously researched, vividly rendered and definitive, Rise Up, Women! brings these women to life in a stirring celebration of their grace, resilience and determination that changed the world forever.

$17.44

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: paperback
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published:
ISBN 10: 1408844052
ISBN 13: 9781408844052
Book Overview: A definitive history and anarchic celebration of the fight for women's right to vote; `A huge achievement' Rachel Cooke, Observer

Media Reviews

Pretty much a definitive history of the suffragettes (hurl this volume at a Westminster window, and it would break in an instant) ... It's a huge achievement that her narrative, so crisp and clear, is never less than enthralling -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
An exclusive and captivating story of this remarkable movement -- Hannah Beckerman * Sunday Express *
A definitive history of the suffragettes ... Atkinson exhorts her readers to salute the suffragettes. She is right to so do. It is easy to assume that women's suffrage was inevitable, but that should not detract from the efforts and losses undertaken by the pioneers so vividly described here -- Lucy Scholes * The Times *
The definitive history of the movement -- Tom Gatti * New Statesman, What to read in 2018 *
Atkinson's great achievement is to gather together the terrible facts in the protracted battle for women's suffrage. Their cumulative impact in this ultimately magisterial account is overwhelming -- Miranda Seymour * Telegraph *
Atkinson rightly dedicates much of her book to the many hundreds of less celebrated figures ... What stays in mind is the bloody-minded determination and courage of a large number of these campaigners -- Caroline Moorehead * Guardian *
Glorious ...What it does emphasise is the courage of those women -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *
Substantial and impressive ... Surely destined to become a key general text, ranking alongside classic tomes ... Atkinson's book provide an accessible, captivating, chronological account that incorporates recent developments as well as first-hand accounts -- Emelyn Godfrey * Times Literary Supplement *
Over the past few weeks, Scotland has been celebrating the centenary of Muriel Spark, who once wrote of a character: She wasn't a person to whom things happen. She did all the happenings. This is what the books by Robinson and Atkinson teach us about the suffragists and the suffragettes alike. Right or wrong, they took control of their own destinies. They did all the happenings * Glasgow Herald *

Author Bio

Diane Atkinson is the author of two illustrated history books, Suffragettes in Pictures and Funny Girls: Cartooning for Equality, and three biographies, Love & Dirt, Elsie and Mairi Go to War and The Criminal Conversation of Mrs Norton. A regular lecturer on the suffragettes at conferences and literary festivals, Diane Atkinson has also appeared on radio programmes including Woman's Hour, and has consulted on numerous television documentaries, as well as, most recently, the film Suffragette, starring Meryl Streep and Helena Bonham-Carter. She lives in London. dianeatkinson.co.uk @DitheDauntless