"Uncontrollable Women: Radicals, Reformers and Revolutionaries" é um livro que conta a história de mulheres que lutaram por seus direitos ao longo do tempo.

O livro explora as lutas dessas mulheres e destaca suas conquistas, mostrando como elas desafiaram as normas da sociedade e se tornaram pioneiras em diferentes áreas.
Mas também discute a forma como as mulheres foram tratadas injustamente e marginalizadas na sociedade, incentivando a continuação da luta por igualdade e justiça.

Em resumo, o livro é uma homenagem às mulheres que lutaram e continuam la lutar por um mundo mais justo e igualitário.

Infelizmente, para uma leitora fora do Reino Unido, fica o desejo que o livro fosse mais universal, já que se foca muito na história britânica.

I found this so interesting - the women who were just as important as male revolutionaries but sadly weren't remembered in the same way - until now.

An insightful look into women of the past who are overlooked in history. There are many books similar to this and oversights in intersectionality left the book less impactful that I imagine hoped for.

An interesting read for someone interested in pure facts, slightly mundane for someone looking for something *more*.

Thank you Netgalley for the Arc.

"Uncontrollable Women" is a non-fiction book about lesser-known female activists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was interesting to read about how women were involved in political and social reforms outside of the women's movement and how and why their participation and successes were later on denied or hidden.

Sadly, I lacked some of the historical background to really make the most of this novel.

There is always the impression that the period of history represented by this book, politics was exclusively the preserve of men. This book puts into the spotlight those women activists who have been largely neglected, detailing their lives and their impact on politics and history at the time, as well as the particular struggle they faced in having their voice heard because of their sex and class. I thought it was interesting and well-researched.

Uncontrollable Women is a well-researched and engaging account of some of the women who were active and influential in radical circles in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It is a compelling and powerful book that establishes a range of women -- well known and obscure, affluent and working class -- back into the story of Britain's radical history whilst navigating the nuances of not writing a history of feminism.

There does seem to be some oversight of the women of colour working in radical circles at the time -- especially amongst the discussions around the intersection of abolitionist and radical movements? Although she is mentioned briefly, I would like to have seen more attention paid to figures such as Mary Prince. I think perhaps this lack of diversity leads to the books becoming a little monotonous at times.

However, as someone working in the histories of radical women in the nineteenth century, I found it especially refreshing that Sloane introduced me to women I had not encountered before. This book will remain a valuable resource for anyone interested in radical history, British politics, or the nuances of navigating women's history.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for the free e-book in exchange for my honest review :)

This was fascinating and such a good read. I absolutely loved how it went into the history and not only white feminists but also black woman who fought for their rights. I loved learning about the events and little known women activists. The authors writing style was really easy and well done.

Thanks to NetGalley, I got to read this book and learn about how women engaged in politics and activism, not only to fight for women's rights but also religious freedom and the separation of the church and state. Frankly, I don't have prior knowledge of women's rights and politics in England during the turn of the 19th century but I got a nice introduction on this topic. I definitely want to learn more.

I also liked how this book discussed racism and classism in women's politics and how men were allies in women's rights movements. However, I wished that this book went more in depth of the impact these events had in the future of women's rights and intersectionality in England and the rest of Europe like France.

A very interesting collection of women. All lived around the same age, the second half of the 19th century, early 20th century. They are mostly forgotten by now, but their unquestionable bravery and radical views were undeniably paving the way for the fundamental rights of women which we take for granted now. They organised and challenged men to do better by them - mostly in vain. However, one cannot do anything else but marvel at their contribution to our world today. Some of the responses they received were just plain ridicule, but the scenes describing the Peterloo Massacre makes your blood freeze/boil.

Nan Sloan has put together an excellent book based on extensive research, which is informative and enjoyable to read despite the sometimes very grim subject.

The book itself was ok, nothing overly gripping or new. I guess I’m just tired of reading books on the same old white women of the past. There are full data bases dedicated to these women, archives preserving their works, so this book was ok but it wasn’t thrilling.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Uncontrollable Women dives into the world of female revolutionaries, especially in politics, in England from after the French Revolution until the Great Reform Act of 1832. Nan Sloane looks at many women that history has overlooked and how they contributed to pushing for women's rights.

This book was very interesting. I had never heard of many women in this book!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this book was fun to read since I've never read a history book other than school related ones (I know). I feel like reading books like this is very important since you might not actually learn about this in school. As for me it was a little difficult and took me awhile to read since I am not very knowledgeable about history especially world history. But this is a great read to explore different genres and I definitely recommend if you want to try to something new or learn about different passages of women in history. Definitely has made me want to read more books in this genre.

Posted on Goodreads on: 2/21/2022

Wonderfully written and packed with truly fulfilling and thoughtful words. I enjoyed this immensely and also felt myself becoming more and more educated on the subjects within its pages. Terrific book.

3.5
One thing I love reading about is women from all throughout history who have been forgotten or ignored and this book showed me a lot more women who I hadn't known about before which I loved as I'm tired of reading books like this about the same women.

However, two things about this book that I didn't like was that there weren't any women of color in it, if we are going to talk about women who have shaped the world we should talk about women from every background, not just white women. I also didn't like how often men or the women's marital status were made to be the focus in some of the chapters, I would have preferred it if I was mentioned less.

Overall I did enjoy this book and think it is a very important topic that more people should read about.

Uncontrollable Women is a history of radical, reformist and revolutionary women between the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 and the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832. I was introduced to SO many incredible, brave and rebellious women that I had never heard of before.

This was a very interesting, informative read detailing the lives of many feminist activists, and women who lived their lives in protest of sexism and violence against women. It most definitely requires some knowledge of British history during this period but is very informative nonetheless.

Uncontrollable Women: Radicals, Reformers and Revolutionaries by Nan Sloane is a well-researched and interesting look into the lives of women who are often overlooked. I highly recommend this!

Nan Sloane, Uncontrollable Women Radicals, Reformers and Revolutionaries, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for this uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.

This book is divided into four sections, Frantic ‘Midst the Democratic Storm; More Turbulent than the Men; Monsters in Female Form; and Women Without Masters. The historical context is laid out, beginning in Part One with The French Revolution; then moving to the British situation for parts two to four with the 1790s action in areas around Manchester and Leeds associated with the Industrial Revolution; the aftermath of the St Peter’s Field carnage, with particular attention to the treatment of women; and, lastly, women’s contribution to organising for parliamentary reform. The book ends with the success of the 1832 Great Reform Act.

Some women, such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Letitia Barbauld, are familiar; and Anna Doyle Wheeler’s portrait appears in the National Portrait Gallery. At times their links to the less well-known women who feature later in the book, seem somewhat tenuous. However, as they largely feature in specialist accounts it could be fair to say that their role in this book demonstrates how even women of note rarely appear in mainstream activist narratives. More fascinating are the early women activists referred to by Nan Sloane, sometimes about whom little is known, and who have not even made it into specialist histories. Sloane’s perceptive comment, that female revolutionaries and activists may not have always been feminists or have fitted neatly into writing about feminist history may be why this has happened. This is not a pejorative comment, after all, feminist writers have found a plethora of feminists who need to be brought into the open. However, it could be a pertinent gauntlet thrown down to historians writing women into history. Nan Sloane has deftly woven her material together so that here we have a history that opens the doors to such writing.

The meticulous work that went into finding the snippets of information about women, some of whom appear for an instance, others for a little longer, still others only because a man has commented on their activity, is impressive. What a valuable resource this is for women who want to demonstrate that we have always been in radical movements, never absent from political activity, important resources in physical efforts to make a case. Women have been, as Nan Sloane so cogently and engagingly writes, anywhere that it is possible to be. They have been writers, activists, prisoners, the butt of brutality in word and deed, a few words in a public document, the focus of a lengthier diatribe about the way in which they should behave. They have also been supportive wives and dedicated mothers challenging the poverty and discrimination that their families suffer. Single women have joined causes on behalf of married women, and women have supported men demanding the franchise. Women asked questions, organised and ensured that their voices were heard – if only for short periods, a gasp as they were punished for doing so, a shout in victory, short lived or not.

We now know more about women’s activities and even have some more names to add to those of Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Letitia Barbauld and Anna Doyle Wheeler who set the scene during the French Revolution with which this valuable history opened. As an avid reader of Sheila Rowbotham’s Hidden from History, which is mentioned in the excellent Introduction, I was thrilled to find this new effort to publicise women and their wide range of activities which denote them as ‘uncontrollable’. Nan Sloane’s book does this in the engaging manner and voice that such women deserve.

An index, detailed notes, a good bibliography and illustrations complete this worth addition to women's history..

Overview:
During a time and place that women were supposed to leave politics to men, many women became activists. Taking up causes, promoting them, fighting for them, and even dying for them. Politically active not just for voting rights, but also politically engaged for various other causes, such as freedom of thought and the political structure. As these women were breaching the social structure of the time, they were persecuted. Women were oppressed structurally rather than accidentally. Value systems change with time, with this era being framed by religion and class which influenced the way these women thought about others, as the women in this book held narrow-minded ideas about other people, even other women. Along the way, a demystification of life for women at the time. In many of the cases, the women were forced by circumstance to become radical activists as alternatives were not available. In others, women accepted things as they were. Providing an account of the social and political circumstances of the time.

Caveats?
The book can sometimes be a bit difficult to read. Having background knowledge in British history during the 18th-19th century would be very helpful in understanding many of this book’s topics and references.

‘I told him I was not a felon, and that I would not be treated as one. His answer was, that there were many women in Newgate who had been well off, and who were obliged to sleep on the floor: there have been two hundred at once sleeping on those mats. Two hundred did you say? Yes. Then more shame for you. Had I been one of them I would have excited a rebellion against you…’

The years between the advent of the French Revolution and the passing of the Great Reform Act were a period of intense political activism in Great Britain. Though they are often overlooked in history books, there were many women who played prominent parts in agitating for political reform.

This book highlights the contribution of British working-class women in the political arena in issues ranging from separation of church and state to freedom of the press to the French Revolution. I liked that the author focused on lesser-known figures – too often the mainstream narrative consists only of upper class women seeking universal suffrage which is, while important, only a partial picture of what female reformers were up to at the time.

I liked the author’s style of writing, which is straightforward and easy to follow. She weave the stories of separate women together into a larger narrative that spans the era under study, placing them in context deftly. She also covers a wide variety of women, including those we might not traditionally consider political rebels, such as Jane Carlile who went to prison for running her husband’s banned books shop.

However, I did wish that the author touched upon the background events that affected the women a little bit more. The reader is presumed to be at least somewhat familiar with British history – I was able to follow along with my eighth grade social studies class knowledge – but I doubt many American-educated readers would know much about this era. I also thought the writing lost focus at times when it delved into the actions of the more documented men involved.

Overall, this was a really interesting and accessible read about little-known historical figures who deserve the attention.