Dr Susannah Gibson is an Affiliated Scholar of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. She holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge on the history of the life sciences of the eighteenth century, a master's degree in the history of nineteenth-century science, and a bachelor's degree in experimental physics. She is the author of two books: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and The Spirit of Inquiry.
Brilliant, earnest, quietly unconventional, the Bluestockings are the unsung pioneers of early British feminism. Their networks empowered women, while their salons stressing conversation and civility opposed the misogynous boozy male culture of the 18th century. Blending story, history and delicious anecdote, Susannah Gibson's book opens a sparkling window onto this extraordinary society of engaged, energetic and very witty women -- Janet Todd, author of JANE AUSTEN AND SHELLEY IN THE GARDEN Rich and sophisticated . . . Gibson's balancing act, skilfully managed, is to highlight the extraordinary place these women carved out for themselves against the odds in 18th-century society, without glossing over aspects less congenial to 21st century readers . . . As Gibson writes, the legacy of the bluestockings was to lay the foundations for a whole new world-view. It was the basis of all that followed: for women's right to an education, to earn an income, to vote, to bodily autonomy. It is a call that echoes down the centuries, and attempts to silence it continue. * New Statesman * A lively account [of] a social and political movement that would, over the next two hundred and fifty years, transform the expectations and conditions of women around the world * Daily Mail *