To wrap up my book recommendations for the first go-around of Women’s History Month this year (Canada will be celebrating in October!), I’ve got one final group biography for you. I love group biographies because you get to cover more lives and stories. And when it comes to women, it often means that they have a chance to be “featured” when a publisher would not have typically published a book solely on them. (Not that that is good thing- I continue to share and promote history books by women to try to combat this!) For our Book Bite this week, we have The Bluestockings by Susannah Gibson!
The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women’s Movement, Susannah Gibson
In England in the 1700s, a woman who was an intellectual, spoke out, or wrote professionally was considered unnatural. After all, as the wisdom of the era dictated, a clever woman—if there were such a thing—would never make a good wife. But a circle of women called the Bluestockings did something extraordinary: coming together in glittering salons to discuss and debate as intellectual equals with men, they fought for women to be educated and to have a public role in society.
In this intimate and revelatory history, Susannah Gibson delves into the lives of these pioneering women. Elizabeth Montagu established one of the most famous salons of the Bluestocking movement, with everyone from royalty to revolutionaries clamoring for an invitation to attend. Her younger sister, Sarah Scott, imagined a female-run society and created a women’s commune. Meanwhile, Hester Thrale, who also had a salon, saved her husband’s brewery from bankruptcy and, after being widowed, married a man she loved—Italian, Catholic, and not of her social class. Other women made a name for themselves through their publications, including Catharine Macaulay, author of an eight-volume history of England, and Frances Burney, author of the audacious novel Evelina.
In elegant prose, Gibson reveals the close and complicated relationships between these women, how they supported and admired each other, and how they sometimes judged and exploited one another. Some rebelled quietly, while others defied propriety with adventurous and scandalous lives. With moving stories and keen insight, The Bluestockings uncovers how a group of remarkable women slowly built up an eviscerating critique of their male-dominated world that society was not yet ready to hear.
Why You Should Read This…
The Bluestockings stand in a difficult place in history. While their very name is used as a shorthand, the women in this movement* are still largely unknown to both historians and the general public. This is a thorough introduction to many of the major figures, and Gibson helpfully goes through all aspects of their lives, not just their work.
While Gibson does appear to ignore any sort of LGBTQ relationships, she does work through both their “professional” relationships and friendships, which was helpful. None of these women were existing in a vacuum, and I loved following this network grow. Given that so much of their work was unofficial and through social mediums, the structure of the book really helped support that.
The only chapter that I found difficult was Motherhood. While the role of mother is undoubtedly important for many, many women, this chapter was nearly double the length of most other chapters and felt very repetitive.
*Many will argue that the Bluestocking movement was not a movement, but I would disagree- it was an informal movement but a movement nevertheless.
♠
Want to read more group biographies?
A Secret Sisterhood by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney
Secret Servants of the Crown by Claire Hubbard-Hall
Is The Bluestockings by Susannah Gibson on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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