Victorian Feminists

Barbara Caine

A Clarendon Press Publication

Victorian Feminists

Barbara Caine

A Clarendon Press Publication

Description

A study of Victorian feminism, this book focuses on four leading feminists: Emily Davies, Frances Power Cobbe, Josephine Butler, and Millicent Garrett Fawcett. Caine uncovers the range, diversity, and complexity of Victorian feminism, and examines the relationship between personal experience and feminist commitment. Caine sets her carefully researched biographical studies of the four women, each with her own fascinating history, in the context of the Victorian feminist movement. She explores the ideas and strategies of feminists in the late nineteenth century, analyzing the tensions which arose as they sought to achieve their aims and focusing on the complex relationship of party politics and feminist commitment. Caine's insight into the vision and beliefs of these Victorian feminists is balanced by her scholarly understanding of the society within which they worked. She gives us vivid and perceptive portraits of four very different individuals, who nevertheless shared a commitment to improving the lot of women.

Victorian Feminists

Barbara Caine

A Clarendon Press Publication

Reviews and Awards

"A thoughtful analysis of Victorian feminist theories."--American Historical Review

"A valuable contribution...This book is well documented and extremely readable. It is an example of thorough research and sound scholarship."--The Historian

"Caine's is an excellent book and a valuable addition to a growing and important literature."--Victorian Studies

"Well-researched...Barbara Caine has written a lively account of four eminent Victorians' approaches to feminism that is also a fine example of collective biography. The general background of the women's movement is not lost in the details of individual lives."--Cithara

"Sheds much light on the interaction between the British feminist commitment and party politics during the Victorian era as reflected in the lives of four prominent feminists."--English Literature in Transition

"Caine draws on a vast amount of secondary literature to make sense of the relationship between discourse and experience, and thus provides a mature synthetic treatment of an important topic in women's and British history."--CHOICE

"Victorian Feminists is a valuable, thought-provoking contribution to the history of feminism and the making of feminists."--Albion

"In Victorian Feminists, Caine provides a strikingly revisionist account of Victorian feminism which reflects recent trends in feminism. Caine uses a wide range of research material, including the unpublished papers of the women she studies, in a thought-provoking and well-written account that should be the starting point for any future study on any aspect of Victorian feminism."--Magill's Literary Annual 1993