- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Viking; First Edition edition (6 Aug 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670916846
- ISBN-13: 978-0670916849
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 140,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Bluestockings
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Product Description
Review
'Jane Robinson's gem of a book ... tells a story of extraordinary courage and appalling discrimination ... Bluestockings is The History Boys for women' -- Frances Wilson, Sunday Times -- Frances Wilson, Sunday Times
'Modern girls need reminding of the long battle, and Jane Robinson's fine book does just that, charting the lives and struggles of campaigners ... But there is more joy than sorrow' -- Libby Purves, Mail on Sunday --Libby Purves, Mail on Sunday
'Jane Robinson is excellent on the determination of girls to go to university, sometimes in the face of parental opposition ... There is also riveting material in Bluestockings on the opposition that the women face at college' -- Mary Beard, The Times --Mary Beard, The Times
'Social history of the best kind' -- Sunday Times
-- Sunday Times
'Modern girls need reminding of the long battle, and Jane Robinson's fine book does just that, charting the lives and struggles of campaigners ... But there is more joy than sorrow' -- Libby Purves, Mail on Sunday --Libby Purves, Mail on Sunday
'Jane Robinson is excellent on the determination of girls to go to university, sometimes in the face of parental opposition ... There is also riveting material in Bluestockings on the opposition that the women face at college' -- Mary Beard, The Times --Mary Beard, The Times
'Social history of the best kind' -- Sunday Times
-- Sunday Times
Review
Social history of the best kind -- Sunday Times Sunday Times Modern girls need reminding of the long battle, and Jane Robinson's fine book does just that, charting the lives and struggles of campaigners ... But there is more joy than sorrow -- Mail on Sunday Mail on Sunday Jane Robinson is excellent on the determination of girls to go to university, sometimes in the face of parental opposition ... There is also riveting material in Bluestockings on the opposition that the women face at college -- Mary Beard, The Times -- Mary Beard The Times
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An excellent book, written with Jane Robinson's usual fluency, truly justifying the BBC's choice as book of the week. It provides a graphic picture of the issues faced by young women wishing to pursue their studies in a world dominated by masculinity, and illustrates how they overcame prejudice within both their own families and society more generally. A gripping series of stories emerges, told with insight and humour. How did Ms Robinson find all those remarkable illustrations? Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education
59 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this book a real eye opener as even though I was familiar with the women's liberation movement I hadn't appreciated how recently the right to a university education had been won. Cambridge University did not grant women degrees until 1948 though it was the last university to do so. Women were not considered capable of academic achievments and it was thought they would seriously damage their brains by study. Only men were capable of understanding complex subjects.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is written in an approachable style and includes many quotations from correspondence and diaries written by the pioneers of secondary and tertiary education for women. The extracts bring the subject to life. The snippets about the system of chaperones in place at the start of the twentieth century show how women were constrained by social expectations. One woman was sent down because she was seen talking to her brother alone in a public place. Many female undergraduates never even spoke to a man for the whole time they were at university. Fees and living costs had to be paid for by the student themselves or their families and many made heroic sacrifices in order to send their clever daughters to university.
This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the progress towards equality of opportunity for all. It will also be interesting to anyone who likes reading social history. There are some excellent photographs reproduced in the book as well as line drawings thoughout the text and a useful bibliography for further reading. I found it as enthralling as any fiction.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is written in an approachable style and includes many quotations from correspondence and diaries written by the pioneers of secondary and tertiary education for women. The extracts bring the subject to life. The snippets about the system of chaperones in place at the start of the twentieth century show how women were constrained by social expectations. One woman was sent down because she was seen talking to her brother alone in a public place. Many female undergraduates never even spoke to a man for the whole time they were at university. Fees and living costs had to be paid for by the student themselves or their families and many made heroic sacrifices in order to send their clever daughters to university.
This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the progress towards equality of opportunity for all. It will also be interesting to anyone who likes reading social history. There are some excellent photographs reproduced in the book as well as line drawings thoughout the text and a useful bibliography for further reading. I found it as enthralling as any fiction.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The book has been a real eye opener I knew women had had a hard time gaining the vote but it is quite shocking to read about what they had to put up with to gain a higher education. It is also quite frightening to think what society has lost by not allowing women to study at a higher level and do a multitude of things just because they were women.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Anecdotal
This book reveals much of the reactionary attitude of men towards women's university education - but not other types of education. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Peter K. Booker
An inspiring read
I only recently heard the term, "bluestocking", and thought this looked like a promising start. This book is a riveting read comprising of contemporaneous narrative interspersed... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Calluna
A great read!
This book was one I happened to see whilst browsing one day and I'm so glad I did. Robinson makes the information interesting and accessible by using real-life stories to drive... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Freethinker
Bluestockings
We read Bluestockings at our Book Club and were mostly agreed that it was an excellent book to have on the shelf for reference but that as a 'read' it was disappointing. Read more
Published 11 months ago by mandalise
Fascinating - and a valuable reminder ...
... that the education we take for granted today was fought for long and hard. The book is an inspiring and enjoyable read - the individual stories of some of the early pioneers... Read more
Published 14 months ago by bookelephant
Truly Inspiring
A remarkably inspiring anecdotal account of the fight for women to be allowed into further education and subsequently to be able to gain a recognised degree. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Bobby
good
Bought for my niece; her grandmother went to Oxford in the 30's and I thought she would like some background. She is american and lives in the US. Read more
Published 18 months ago by snowbunny
Bluestockings
A very interesting and informative book, especially as I did not realise that Cambridge did not offer women degrees until 1948!
Published 24 months ago by Rev. Shirley Ludlow
PROGRESS IN EDUCATION
I found this book interesting, and certainly thought provoking. Equality of opportunities has occured very quickly, basically in the last 50 years. Read more
Published 24 months ago by bibliophile
Smug with no good reason
This is Britain-only (apart from a few asides on US women's colleges) and university only - the subtitle ('.. First Women to Fight for an Education') is misleading. Read more
Published on 23 May 2010 by Rerevisionist
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