List of figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction: a mad, wicked folly?; 1. The radicalism of female rule in eighteenth-century Britain; 2. 'An argument of a very popular character': Queen Victoria in the early women's movement, c. 1832–76; 3. Rethinking the 'right to rule' in Victorian Britain; 4. The anti-suffragists' Queen; 5. 'No more fitting commemoration'?: Reclaiming Victoria for the women's movement during the Golden and Diamond Jubilees; Conclusion: Queen Victoria versus the suffragettes: the politics of queenship in Edwardian Britain; A note on sources; Bibliography; Index.
Reveals Queen Victoria as a ruler who captivated feminist activists - with profound consequences for nineteenth-century culture and politics.
Arianne Chernock is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Boston University. Her first book, Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism (2010), was awarded the John Ben Snow Prize by the North American Conference on British Studies. She frequently contributes to print, television and radio outlets.
'How did, could, and should women hold political power? Arianne
Chernock ingeniously probes invocations and imaginings of Queen
Victoria to deliver an entirely fresh account of British women's
rights. This elegant, perceptive book will be as valuable for
historians of the Victorian era as it is resonant for anyone
interested in how sovereignty and political activism work.' Maya
Jasanoff, Harvard University, Massachusetts
'A careful analysis of what two opposing political movements -
women's rights activists and social conservatives - saw when they
looked at Victoria, and the uses to which each group tried to put
the Queen. Chernock's argument that anti-suffragists helped lay the
foundation for Britain's profoundly apolitical modern monarchy is
provocative, new, and important.' Susie Steinbach, Hamline
University, Minnesota
'Chernock makes scrupulous use of myriad digital and original
primary sources (periodicals, pamphlets, papers, letters, etc.) in
this essential analysis of how the British women's movement,
notwithstanding Victoria's silent opposition and the partisan
manipulation of her name, gained the same parliamentary suffrage as
men in 1918, when power politics aligned better with moral right.'
J. T. Mellone, Choice
'Chernock's excellent book deserves wide readership. This deeply
researched, smart, and well-crafted work does more than explore the
relationship of Queen Victoria to the women's movement. It provides
a valuable analysis of political movements and the power of
representation more generally, and explains one of the most
important developments in British politics in the nineteenth
century. Its lessons resonate to this very day.' Susan Kingsley
Kent, The Journal of Modern History
'Chernock's contribution is both entirely unique and offers a
fascinating new interpretation of one aspect of the monarch's
life.' Connor E. R. DeMerchant, Royal Studies Journal
'Excellent as her discussion of feminist uses of Queen Victoria is,
the most interesting and important aspect of this outstanding book
is Charnock's thorough and insightful analysis of the gendering of
ideas about monarchy and the state by those who opposed women's
rights.' Barbara Caine, Victorian Studies
'Chernock provides an important analysis of the Victorian era
women's movement and how the representation of regnant queens
participated in such a heated debate for the rights of Britain's
female citizens.' Mindy Williams, Anglican and Episcopal History
Review
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
