The following is often quoted about women and those brave enough to fight for what they believe in.
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
Emma Goldman was not a well-behaved woman, by any stretch of the imagination. She was a revolutionary, an anarchist and a feminist in a time when women were starting to fight for their rights. Vivian Gornick‘s 2013 biography of Goldman is entitled Emma Goldman: Revolution as a Way of Life.
Emma Goldman was born in 1869 in Lithuania to a Jewish family. From an early age, she was stubborn, independent and refused to settle into the traditional life of marriage and motherhood. When she emigrated to the United States in 1885, she continued to live in the same manner that she lived in Europe. Depending on whom one spoke to, she was either a hero standing up to injustice or a troublemaker. She died in 1940, after years of exile and still fighting against governments that would keep the little person down.
In my experience, there are two types of biographies. The first type attracts a general reader who is looking to expand their mind. The second type attracts a reader who is interested in that topic/subject or is using the book to reach an academic goal. This book falls into the second category.
It was not the worst biography that I’ve read. However, I felt like this book is the type of book that would be assigned reading in an academic setting as a posed to a book to read just for readings sake.
Do I recommend it? Maybe.
Writergurlny 