EMMELINE AND HER DAUGHTERS: The Pankhurst Suffragettes

by Iris Noble ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 1971

It's fictionalized; it's hokey; but it documents an exciting struggle and projects a formidable presence: Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the charismatic 'gentlewoman' who, with her three equally dynamic daughters, organized and inspired the Suffragettes of England in the years before World War I. As Mrs. Pankhurst's life centered around her cause and her organization, so does this biography; it begins when she is 34, shortly before her husband's death and her own immersion in the campaign. There is no subtlety or ambiguity in Mrs. Noble's partisan narrative, but you'll wilhngly concur in her outrage as the Suffragettes are beaten by police, thrown into prison, and brutally force-fed when they protest with a hunger strike. The magnitude and militance of the movement is dramatically revealed: the women staged mass marches that approached New Mobe proportions (100,000 attended one London rally), and even resorted to trashing when their orderly tactics were answered with violence. They broke windows in government buildings, burned officials' (unoccupied) houses, destroyed the mail in post offices, and etched VOTES FOR WOMEN in acid on golf courses across England. Libraries which already own Josephine Kamm's Story of Emmeline Pankhurst (1968) will not need this duplication, but Mrs. Noble in her slick and obvious way has insured that Mrs. Pankhurst lives.

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Messner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION