Read complete books and articles on: Victorian Women

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12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Victorian Women

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Queen Victoria: A Personal History » Read Now
by Christopher Hibbert. 557 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

"Mein Gott! That is a woman!" exclaimed the Iron Chancellor, Count Bismarck, as he emerged, shaken and mopping his brow, from an interview with Queen Victoria. The unearthing of such lively, telling anecdotes is the special province of Christopher Hibbert, who delights in forcing readers, in the...
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"Mein Gott! That is a woman!" exclaimed the Iron Chancellor, Count Bismarck, as he emerged, shaken and mopping his brow, from an interview with Queen Victoria. The unearthing of such lively, telling anecdotes is the special province of Christopher Hibbert, who delights in forcing readers, in the most entertaining way, to radically reassess all their received notions about some of the world's most famous, intriguing historical figures. His biography of Victoria is no exception. We will learn in these pages that not only was she the formidable, demanding, capricious Queen of popular imagination, but she was also often shy and vulnerable, prone to giggling fits and crying jags. Often puritanical and censorious when confronted with her mother's moral lapses, she herself could be passionately sensual, emotional, and deeply sentimental. Ascending to the throne at eighteen, her sixty-four year reign saw thrones fall, empires crumble, new continents explored, and England's rise to global and industrial dominance. Hibbert's account of Victoria's life and times is just as sweeping as he reveals to us the real Victoria in all her complexity: failed mother and imperious monarch, irrepressible woman and icon of a repressive age.
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2.

The Victorian Heroine: A Changing Ideal, 1837-1873 » Read Now
by Patricia Thomson. 182 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...as was usual for Victorian women, from that apocalyptic...and careers for women. It is easy to...governess with the Victorian novelist. In 1851...admirably suited to...
3.

Nobody's Angels: Middle-Class Women and Domestic Ideology in Victorian Culture » Read Now
by Elizabeth Langland. 268 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
4.

Victorian Working Women: An Historical and Literary Study of Women in British Industries and Professions, 1832-1850 » Read Now
by Wanda Fraiken Neff. 288 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
5.

Wives & Mothers in Victorian Industry » Read Now
by Margaret Hewitt. 245 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
6.

Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain » Read Now
by K. D. Reynolds. 261 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This is a study of gender and power in Victorian Britain. It examines the contribution made by women to the public culture of the British aristocracy in the nineteenth century. It challenges the view that power and authority were predominantly masculine attributes and shows that a partnership of...
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This is a study of gender and power in Victorian Britain. It examines the contribution made by women to the public culture of the British aristocracy in the nineteenth century. It challenges the view that power and authority were predominantly masculine attributes and shows that a partnership of authority between men and women was integral to aristocratic life. The book is thus an important addition to the debate on `separate spheres'. Dr Reynolds explores the roles of aristocratic women in estate management, patronage of churches and schools, and in caring for the poor and other dependants. She shows how women were at the heart of the local communities and institutions on which aristocratic power was based. The book goes on to discuss the realm of national politics, analysing women's participation in the electoral process, in Westminster-based political life, and at Queen Victoria's court. Based on a wide range of previously unused archival sources, Aristocratic Women and Political Society presents a lively portrait of women's experiences and a corrective to the view of the upper-class Victorian woman as a passive social butterfly.
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7.

Madonnas and Magdalens: The Origins and Development of Victorian Sexual Attitudes » Read Now
by Eric Trudgill. 336 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Psychology, Entire Library
8.

The American Victorian Woman: The Myth and the Reality » Read Now
by Mabel Collins Donnelly. 168 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...about the status of American Victorian women, and each of them appears valid...sources for the lives of American Victorian women is impressive. Theirs was the...surprising...
9.

Victorian London's Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day » Read Now
by Yaffa Claire Draznin. 231 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Through a detailed description of the life and activities of the middle-class married woman of London between 1875 and 1900, this study reveals how housewives unwittingly became engines for change as the new century neared. In marked contrast to the stereotypical depictions of Victorian women in...
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Through a detailed description of the life and activities of the middle-class married woman of London between 1875 and 1900, this study reveals how housewives unwittingly became engines for change as the new century neared. In marked contrast to the stereotypical depictions of Victorian women in literature and on television Draznin reveal a woman seldom seen: the ordinary stay-at-home housewife whose activities were not much different than those of her counterparts today. By exploring her normal activities; how she cleaned her home, disciplined her children, managed her servants, stretched a limited budget and, later in life began to indulge herself, one discovers a human dimension to women who lived more than a century ago. While most studies of this period consider values, aspirations, and attitudes, this book concentrates on actions, what these women did all day, to provide readers with a new perspective on Victorian life.
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10.

Victorian Feminists » Read Now
by Barbara Caine. 284 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

A study of Victorian feminism, this book focuses on four leading feminists: Emily Davies, Frances Power Cobbe, Josephine Butler, and Millicent Garrett Fawcett. Caine uncovers the range, diversity, and complexity of Victorian feminism, and examines the relationship between personal experience and...
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A study of Victorian feminism, this book focuses on four leading feminists: Emily Davies, Frances Power Cobbe, Josephine Butler, and Millicent Garrett Fawcett. Caine uncovers the range, diversity, and complexity of Victorian feminism, and examines the relationship between personal experience and feminist commitment. Caine sets her carefully researched biographical studies of the four women, each with her own fascinating history, in the context of the Victorian feminist movement. She explores the ideas and strategies of feminists in the late nineteenth century, analyzing the tensions which arose as they sought to achieve their aims and focusing on the complex relationship of party politics and feminist commitment. Caine's insight into the vision and beliefs of these Victorian feminists is balanced by her scholarly understanding of the society within which they worked. She gives us vivid and perceptive portraits of four very different individuals, who nevertheless shared a commitment to improving the lot of women.
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11.

"Not Worse than Other Girls": The Convent-Based Rehabilitation of Fallen Women in Victorian Britain, in Journal of Social History » Read Now
by Susan Mumm. 20 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...rehabilitation of fallen women in Victorian Britain...penitentiaries in Victorian Britain offered...sexual violence, women fleeing abusive...another group of Victorian...
12.

Consuming Angels: Advertising and Victorian Women » Read Now
by Lori Anne Loeb. 230 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Timid and retiring, the Victorian housewife was an "angel in the house," or so says the stereotype. But when this angel picked up a popular magazine--The Lady, for instance--she saw in its advertisements images of Grecian goddesses, women warriors, queens, actresses, adventurers. These arrestingly...
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Timid and retiring, the Victorian housewife was an "angel in the house," or so says the stereotype. But when this angel picked up a popular magazine--The Lady, for instance--she saw in its advertisements images of Grecian goddesses, women warriors, queens, actresses, adventurers. These arrestingly sexual and surprisingly powerful images are the subject of Consuming Angels, a major examination of how Victorian ads shaped social values. Stylishly written and featuring 73 reproductions, this book shows how ads used the hedonistic aspects of Victorian culture to sell their wares, glorified consumerism, and mythologized the middle-class life. Images of aggressive women, Loeb shows, played well to both men and women. And ultimately, these ads helped usher in the twentieth century with the creation of a new community: the community of consumers.
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