Diane Atkinson
Author of The Criminal Conversation of Mrs Norton
About the Author
Diane Atkinson lives in Shoreditch, London. She was born in the North-East and educated in Cornwall and London, where she completed a PhD on the politics of women's sweated labour. She taught history at secondary schools in London before moving to the Museum of London, where she worked as a show more lecturer and curator, specialising in women's history. Her website is: www.dianeatkinson.co.uk show less
Works by Diane Atkinson
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
- Organizations
- Museum of London (lecturer and curator)
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Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Members
- 350
- Popularity
- #68,329
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 9
- ISBNs
- 43
- Languages
- 1
I found this interesting but a little frustrating. I have read quite a bit about the suffrage movement and have my own opinions on some of the issues and people involved.
This book would be invaluable to anyone needing a reference work or wanting to research further on the suffragettes, as it brings together a lot of information. Also it is generously illustrated with 40 pages of
black and white photographic plates showing portrait photos of leading suffragettes, pictures of posters and propaganda materials, and photographs of marches. It is meticulously referenced with many pages of endnotes giving sources.
However, this level of detail does at times weigh down the narrative and makes the book a challenging read.
On the politics of the suffragettes, Diane Atkinson is keen to defend the legacy of the movement and repeats a number of times that Emmeline Pankhurst and her eldest daughter Christabel didn't move increasingly to the right, but she doesn't offer much evidence of this. For much of the period of campaigning between 1906 and 1914 the government was Liberal and Asquith as Prime Minister was not inclined to grant women the vote, to discuss it etc, but neither were many Conservative politicians. Yet Emmeline Pankhurst eventually did join the Conservative Party and stood for Parliament as a Tory candidate in Whitechapel in 1928 (though in fact she died before the election). Before that, the suffragettes not actually abandoned activity at the outbreak of war, they turned to taking a very aggressively pro-military position There are some mentions of Sylvia Pankhurst's growing differences - she remained a socialist, and was close to the Labour Party, particularly some of its more left wing leading figures, and to the Communist Party.
Anyway, I found the assertions and a lot of detail rather than analysis a bit frustrating.… (more)