My Own Story - Couverture souple

The most complete and authoritative presentation of the women's suffrage movement in England and America

"There is little doubt that history will accord Mrs. Pankhurst an honorable place among those who have fought for freedom; and there is still less question that every fair-minded person should read her book." -The Book News Monthly

"An excellent even though warmly partisan account of the movement, especially of that part in which she has been concerned, and closes with hopeful prophecies of the future. Addressing herself to American readers and appealing for their sympathies, she writes with a very telling directness of speech about the attitude and methods of the English government in seeking to withhold from women the rights to which it will be difficult for any candid reader of her book to maintain that they have no just claim. Even of the violent means for obtaining them which she so notably advocates, she makes no a bad defense - if violence is ever defensible. Certainly as material for a book, her stormy experiences of the last few years are rich in incidents of an unusual and not seldom a startling nature. And all this vehemence and hardihood, so little in harmony with accepted traditions of what is most excellent in woman and most truly characteristic of her, we find to be manifested not by one disappointed in early hopes of domestic happiness, soured by the repulse of her affection, denied the privilege of motherhood, but by a woman gently nurtured in a happy home, wedded in young womanhood to the man of her choice, with whom she enjoyed nineteen years of sympathetic and loving companionship, and to whom, as she relates, she bore five children. A most interesting and gifted personality is this that is presented so frankly in 'My Own Story' and at the same time the book is a clear and readable account of an important movement in English public life by the person most ardently devoted to the success of that movement." -The Dial

"It is the world-old story of the zealot that has been found in all countries, regardless of race, creed, or sex. A few big-hearted souls, seeing the oppression of their fellows, devote their lives to securing their freedom. The course is not always wisely chosen; but the zeal is never lacking. There is a continual movement in society from a lower to a higher plane....Had Emmeline Pankhurst succeeded in starving herself to death in an English jail for the sake of human liberty, the world would have been too small to hold her fame. But there is no reason why a just estimate of her work should be withheld because she was deprived of martyrdom. One gets a better idea of the woman and her work by reading her story." -The Public

Suffragette is now on release as a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst.

• Illustrated with nineteen photographs
• Introduction contextualizing Mrs Pankhurst and the path to women's suffrage
• Suggestions for further reading
• Timeline of events
• Annotations: 100 footnotes explaining concepts and characters

Emmeline Pankhurst was the most well known of the activists striving for the right for women to vote in the early twentieth century. This book is her story. It was first published in 1914 at the start of the First World War and before women received enfranchisement. In the text Mrs Pankhurst describes her path to radical politics and her life as leader of the suffragette movement. She does not hold back on her descriptions of the violent tactics employed or indeed the savage treatment of the women by the authorities. The accounts of the often sadistic cruelty of the British Establishment towards these women are not easy to forget. The book contains the sixteen photographs from the original 1914 publication with three additional images from Mrs Pankhurst’s visit to the USA. The text has been annotated by the publisher with short footnotes giving explanations of terms and descriptions of the people mentioned. The publisher is pleased to be able to include an introduction and a timeline written by Lesley Gray that provide an overview of the struggle for women to obtain the vote and of Mrs Pankhurst’s role in the suffragette movement.