The Right to Rule and the Rights of Women

Queen Victoria and the Women's Movement

The Right to Rule and the Rights of Women
Arianne Chernock
RRP:
NZ$ 49.95
Our Price:
NZ$ 44.95
Paperback
Not defined - 261pg
20 Aug 2020 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781108735377
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
Queen Victoria is often cast as a foe of the women's movement - the sovereign who famously declared women's rights to be a 'mad, wicked folly'. Yet these words weren't circulated publicly until after the Queen's death in 1901. Beginning with this insight, this book reveals Victoria as a ruler who captured the imaginations of nineteenth-century feminists. Women's rights activists routinely used Victoria to assert their own claims to citizenship. So popular was their strategy that it even motivated anti-suffragists to launch their own campaign to distance Queen Victoria from feminist initiatives. In highlighting these exchanges, this book draws attention to the intricate and often overlooked connections between the histories of women, the monarchy, and the state. In the process, it sheds light on the development of constitutional monarchy, concepts of female leadership, and the powerful role that the Crown - and queens specifically - have played in modern British culture and politics.
'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
'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
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.

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