Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel Paperback

I ordered this biography after reading in the Guardian that Sylvia Pankhurst was recently voted Britain's most admired radical figure from the twentieth century. I had seen a short bio paperback at London's Bookmarks shop, and remembered her name. As an American more versed in the Sixties radical histories, Ms. Parkhurst was unknown to me. Having read only the excellent preface, I am eager to delve into this copious biography.

I bought this for my wife who is a committed feminist. She thought the book was well-written and comprehensive.

Unfortunately, I bought the book before receiving my LRB issue that reviewed this book (see “Worth the Upbringing” by Susan Pedersen (London Review of Books, vol. 43 No.5, March 4, 2021) (https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n05/susan-pedersen/worth-the-upbringing). It is rare for the LRB to give scathing reviews but it did here. For example, the reviewer writes: “Rachel Holmes’s new biography of Pankhurst rightly gives equal weight to the three great causes – feminism, left internationalism and anti-imperialism – to which Pankhurst devoted her life. Almost a thousand pages long, and weighing in at three and a half pounds, it is clearly intended to be the definitive Life. Disappointingly, it isn’t. It is digressive, repetitive, and rife with typographical and factual errors, but that isn’t the main problem.”Later in the review, the reviewer writes: “Here, in its final third, Holmes’s book improves dramatically. It’s still baggy and repetitive, but the final three hundred pages are fresher and more engaging than the preceding six hundred, probably because Pankhurst did not write obsessively about her life during these decades, so that Holmes has had to piece the story together from more prosaic sources.*” What is interesting is the footnote, which reads: "* I am sorry to labour this point, but Bloomsbury deserves some sharp words for its failure to edit and proofread this book properly. Holmes’s factual errors and interpretative choices are obviously her own, but surely someone might have noticed when Amy Ashwood Garvey (750) turns into Amy Ashmore Garvey (751), or when Emmeline’s sister Ada Goulden Bach (624) reappears – without having married some other Pankhurst – as Ada Pankhurst (628), or when garbled sentences have simply migrated uncorrected into the text (121, 650). Need we be told twice that Sylvia reminded Emmeline Pethick Lawrence of a young Russian student revolutionary (189, 197), twice that Norah Smyth could afford to keep Sylvia’s East End ventures afloat ‘since she managed her investments well’ (353, 359), twice that during his state visit to Britain Selassie reminded Sylvia of his invitation to her to move to Ethiopia (745, 775), twice about the importance of folk dancing to the women’s movement (182-3, 267-8), three times about the wonders of the eucalyptus tree in Ethiopia (760-1, 783-4, 834-6), half a dozen times (at least) that Sylvia hated porridge, and twice that Harriot Stanton Blatch tried to persuade Emmeline to stop making Sylvia eat it when she was a child (41, 284)? Key events are often recounted twice: Sylvia’s first trip to Ethiopia in 1944 once on pp. 721-2 and again at greater length on pp. 758-66; the story of her breach with her mother and sister over Richard’s birth once in Chapter 5 and then again in Chapter 30. I would not have wanted the job of paring this manuscript down, but surely a publisher employs people for this purpose."Had I read this review first, I would not have bought the book. Being a professional editor myself, I recognize that there is no justification for such sloppiness reaching print. Rarely does a reviewer note these types of problems, so when a reviewer does, a buyer should be cautious. This book has been moved from my TBR pile to what is essentially the dustbin of my library. With problems like those noted, I cannot trust the accuracy of the book nor the scholarship invested in it.

Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel by Rachel Holmes sweeps the reader along as we revisit much of 20th century history. This is so much more than just a biography of a remarkable woman, this is a history of some of the major struggles of last century.I tend to read several books at a time and when I approach a lengthy book I try to figure out how much I want to read each day while giving the time and thought to my other reads. This is so well written and the subject was such a dynamic person that I found myself reading this faster than I intended. Even at the end of those three days I would have happily spent more time wrapped up in Pankhurst's life and Holmes' prose.While many of the issues Pankhurst confronted are still with us today I think another valuable aspect of this work is showing the reader the types of decisions a person has to make if they decide to follow what they believe to be right. Taking a stand, broadly speaking, can be straightforward. But figuring out exactly how you're going to make that stand can put one at odds with people making the same general stand. It is in deciding specifically how one tries to make an impact that one really has to make tough decisions. Sometimes family and friends are sacrificed in the name of what is right. These more nuanced choices are highlighted in this volume because Pankhurst never shied away from the difficult decisions.I highly recommend this to any reader interested in the early suffrage movements, as well as 20th century activism as a whole.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

This book was a very interesting and informative account of the life of Sylvia Pankhurst but it was in dire need of editing and proofreading. It’s frustrating to spend so much money on a book whose publishers can’t be bothered to check for garbled sentences and missing words in the text.

Rachel Holmes’ 'Sylvia Pankhurst: Natural Born Rebel’ is an impressive and hugely detailed biography of the woman who was a member of Britain’s most well-known feminist family; her mother, Emmeline, was a famous suffragette; her father, Richard, drafted the 1870 Married Women’s Property Act with John Stuart Mill; and her sister, Christabel, like Sylvia and Emmeline, was a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) which was founded at their Manchester home in1903. Sylvia led a very full and active life which, as Rachel Holmes points out in her introduction to this biography, began in the Victorian age and continued until the advent of the Swinging Sixties; she had a long love affair with the first leader of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie, but after his death became involved with Italian anarchist Silvio Corio with whom (at the age of 45) she had a son, Richard; she was involved in, and witness to, the growth of the Labour Party and the socialist and feminist movements; her militant suffragism resulted in her being imprisoned many times and force-fed (which caused health problems throughout the remainder of her life); she fell out with her mother and sister over her pacifism during the First World War; after the Russian Revolution she travelled to Russia and later remained in contact with Lenin; she was vociferously opposed to fascism, racism and colonialism; she was very interested in Africa and, in Ethiopia, in particular, where she became a supporter of Haile Selassie and where she died in 1960. And this is only a part of Sylvia Pankhurst’s very interesting life.Rachel Holmes has obviously researched her subject exhaustively and this very comprehensive biography, which is almost a thousand pages in length, is one which must rank as the definitive life of Sylvia Pankhurst. Although a huge biography in size and scope (and maybe not one to embark upon if you have only a passing interest in Ms Pankhurst), for me this didn't seem a page too long and I now feel I have a much better understanding of Sylvia Pankhurst and the time she lived in. A magnificent achievement and a wonderful tribute to a remarkable and inspirational woman, this is a biography that I have no hesitation in recommending.5 Stars.I would also recommend highly Ms Holmes' biography of Eleanor Marx.

This is.an impressive biography. It's on Sylvia's side, of course, otherwise why write it? We all know, or think we do, about the "suffragettes" (Who didn't call themselves that), but it's Emmeline, Sylvia's mother, who has a statue next to Parliament. Sylvia was an unwavering socialist, and her views and life are still radical today. I hadn't known that much about her, not even that she had a long relationship with Keir Hardie, who was much older than her, that she didn't marry, out.of.conviction, but had a child in her forties, that she had a long and close relationship of friendship with Haile Selassie, and that she spent the last year's of her life in Ethiopia, where she died. A fascinating read, about a highly singular, and.probably difficult, woman. We do not see many of her like in a century.

This is a long book but totally justified !! It is beautifully written and researched. Shamefully, I had not engaged with this particular era or subject before. The torture inflicted by the British State on these brave (largely) women was appalling and grotesque . Syliva was a truly extraordinary person clever, stubborn, unconventional and principled. This is perfectly captured by the author. A superb read and highly recommended !!

I cannot comment on the contents of the book as it is a gift for someone. However, the edges of the book had dirty marks on it and a pen mark. Given the cost of the book, Disapointing.

gr8 book