{"product_id":"autobiographical-sketches-9781551114484","title":"Autobiographical Sketches","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnnie Wood Besant (1847-1933) was a problematic and notorious figure in Victorian England, questioning and then breaking from the Anglican Church to become an atheist, women’s rights advocate, and Freethinker. As editor of her own journal, \u003cem\u003eOur Corner\u003c\/em\u003e, she responded to inquiries about her life experiences by serializing her life story, which was published in 1885. After providing a vivid account of her trial, along with Charles Bradlaugh, for the right to publish birth control literature, Besant recounts her heartbreaking trial for custody of her daughter. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a critical and historical introduction by Carol Hanbery MacKay, this Broadview Edition includes comparative passages from \u003cem\u003eAn Autobiography\u003c\/em\u003e, written in 1893 after Besant’s conversion to Theosophy. Contemporary reviews, excerpts from publications about issues such as Socialism and trade unionism, and additional examples of Besant’s writing about secularism and labour reform are also included.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This important edition brings Annie Besant’s first autobiographical work back into print. Written before her conversion to Theosophy, \u003cem\u003eAutobiographical Sketches\u003c\/em\u003e details Besant’s remarkable spiritual and political transformation from wife of a Christian clergyman to celebrated campaigner for Freethought, secularism, women’s rights, and birth control. Carol Hanbery MacKay’s splendid introduction and supplementary materials offer an illuminating context for students and scholars alike. Altogether, the volume is a major contribution to the literature of feminism, autobiography, religion, and radical politics.” — Elizabeth Miller, University of California Davis\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“‘Naughty Annie’ (as the press called her) has been ill served by biographers and critics. This meticulous edition of her fascinating first foray into autobiography—before her extraordinary but quintessentially Victorian passage from secularism and Socialism to Theosophy and India—not only allows her to speak again for herself as a woman and a public figure, but, through the rich array of reviews, speeches, essays, and extended passages from her later \u003cem\u003eAutobiography\u003c\/em\u003e, also allows us to understand her against the full backdrop of her life and the times she helped to change.” — Joss Marsh, University of Indiana\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgements\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: Annie Besant’s First Foray into Self-Writing\u003cbr\u003eAnnie Besant: A Brief Chronology\u003cbr\u003eA Note on the Text\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAutobiographical Sketches\u003c\/em\u003e (1885)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAppendix A: Publication of \u003cem\u003eAutobiographical Sketches\u003c\/em\u003e (1884-85) and Aftermath\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReviews of \u003cem\u003eAutobiographical Sketches\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnsigned review, “Contemporary Literature: History and Biography,” \u003cem\u003eThe Westminster Review\u003c\/em\u003e (July 1886)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eG.W. Foote, “The Latest Apostle of Socialism,” \u003cem\u003eProgress: A Monthly Magazine of Advanced Thought\u003c\/em\u003e; Annie Besant, Rejoinder”; and Foote, “Reply to Mrs. Besant’s Rejoinder” (1886)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e“Foreword” of W.T. Stead, “Mrs. Annie Besant,” \u003cem\u003eThe Review of Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e (October 1891)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom Annie Besant, \u003cem\u003eWhy I Don’t Believe in God\u003c\/em\u003e (1887)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom Annie Besant, \u003cem\u003eWhy I Became a Theosophist\u003c\/em\u003e (1889)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom Annie Besant, \u003cem\u003e1875 to 1891: A Fragment of Autobiography\u003c\/em\u003e (1891)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003eAppendix B: Publication of \u003cem\u003eAn Autobiography\u003c\/em\u003e (1893) and Critical Response\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e“Preface” to \u003cem\u003eAn Autobiography\u003c\/em\u003e (1893)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSelected parallel passages and entries from new sections\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eParallel passages (to \u003cem\u003eAutobiographical Sketches\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEntries from new sections in \u003cem\u003eAn Autobiography\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReviews of \u003cem\u003eAn Autobiography\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnsigned review, “Mrs. Besant’s Apologia,” \u003cem\u003eThe Westminster Budget\u003c\/em\u003e (December 1893)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e“Calcar,” “Mrs. ‘Annie’ Besant’s Apology,” \u003cem\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/em\u003e (December 1893)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnsigned review, “Annie Besant,” \u003cem\u003ePall Mall Gazette\u003c\/em\u003e (December 1893)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnsigned review, “Recent Biography,” \u003cem\u003eThe Athenaeum\u003c\/em\u003e (February 1894)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReview essay by W.E. Gladstone, Annie Besant’s reply, and letter from Gladstone to Digby Besant\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom Gladstone, “True and False Conceptions of the Atonement,” \u003cem\u003eThe Nineteenth Century\u003c\/em\u003e (September 1894)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom Annie Besant’s reply, \u003cem\u003eThe Nineteenth Century\u003c\/em\u003e (June 1895)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLetter from Gladstone to Digby Besant (October 1894)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003eAppendix C: Contemporary Issues\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCharles Knowlton, “Philosophical Proem,” \u003cem\u003eThe Fruits of Philosophy: An Essay on the Population Question\u003c\/em\u003e (1832; rev. ed. 1877)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom \u003cem\u003eThe Married Women’s Property Acts\u003c\/em\u003e (1870; 1882) and \u003cem\u003eAmendment Acts\u003c\/em\u003e (1874; 1893)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAn Act to amend the Law relating to the Property of Married Women\u003c\/em\u003e (1870)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAn Act to amend the Married Women’s Property Act of 1870\u003c\/em\u003e (1874)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAn Act to consolidate and amend the Married Women’s Property Act\u003c\/em\u003e (1882)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAn Act to amend the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882\u003c\/em\u003e (1893)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eSocialism: For and Against\u003c\/em\u003e, A Written Debate between Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, \u003cem\u003eOur Corner\u003c\/em\u003e (1887)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCharles Bradlaugh, “Socialism: Its Fallacies and Dangers” (March 1887)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, “Socialism: Its Truths and Its Hopes” (April 1887)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSidney and Beatrice Webb, “Preface,” \u003cem\u003eThe History of Trade Unionism\u003c\/em\u003e (1894)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003eAppendix D: Concurrent Issues as Seen by Annie Besant\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, The Political Status of Women (1874)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom The Secular Song and Hymn Book (1875) and from “Two Secular Burial Services” (1875)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, “Preface,” \u003cem\u003eThe Secular Song and Hymn Book\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLyrics attributed to Besant in \u003cem\u003eThe Secular Song andHymn Book\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, “Burial Service”\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, “Landlords,Tenant Farmers, and Laborers,” \u003cem\u003eNational Reformer\u003c\/em\u003e (1877)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrom Annie Besant, \u003cem\u003eThe Law of Population\u003c\/em\u003e (1877) and \u003cem\u003eTheosophy and the Law of Population\u003c\/em\u003e (1896)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, “Chapter I: The Law of Population,” \u003cem\u003eThe Law of Population\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnnie Besant, from the final two paragraphs of \u003cem\u003eTheosophy and the Law of Population\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelect Bibliography\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadview Press Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51041304314199,"sku":"9781551114484","price":27.86,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781551114484.jpg?v=1750949735","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/autobiographical-sketches-9781551114484","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}