Goddess of Anarchy, Jacqueline Jones
Goddess of Anarchy, Jacqueline Jones
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Goddess of Anarchy
The Life and Times of Lucy Parsons, American Radical

Author: Jacqueline Jones

Narrator: Nylsa Smallwood

Unabridged: 14 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 12/05/2017

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

From a prize-winning historian, a new portrait of an extraordinary activist and the turbulent age in which she lived

Goddess of Anarchy recounts the formidable life of the militant writer, orator, and agitator Lucy Parsons. Born to an enslaved woman in Virginia in 1851 and raised in Texas-where she met her husband, the Haymarket "martyr" Albert Parsons-Lucy was a fearless advocate of First Amendment rights, a champion of the working classes, and one of the most prominent figures of African descent of her era. And yet, her life was riddled with contradictions-she advocated violence without apology, concocted a Hispanic-Indian identity for herself, and ignored the plight of African Americans.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources, Jacqueline Jones presents not only the exceptional life of the famous American-born anarchist but also an authoritative account of her times-from slavery through the Great Depression.

About Jacqueline Jones

Jacqueline Jones is the Ellen C. Temple Professor of Women’s History Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin and the past president of the American Historical Association. Winner of the Bancroft Prize for Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History, she lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeff on February 03, 2018

In the history of American anarchy, women loom large. Most significant among these may be Emma Goldman, who -to be honest- was something of a stage hog. Not that I don't respect her, but when you read her autobio, the many bios of her, and the first-person recollections of Goldman captured in Paul A......more

Goodreads review by Victoria on December 10, 2017

Jones goes into as much detail as she can dig up from historical archives & newspaper clippings, which I greatly appreciate. (One of my favorites is the 1886 newspaper headline "Poor Oliver Gathings & His Pretty Mulatto Wife Whom Albert Parsons Stole Away," as if nothing else newsworthy was going on......more

Goodreads review by JC on October 06, 2019

I finished this book on a Friday night, sitting alone in a parking lot eating pupusas and curtido. While I felt definitively good about my late night fare, I remained undecided about the overall tone of this book — at least in some places. By this, I mean that Jones definitely had a very specific sl......more

Goodreads review by Catherine on November 09, 2018

Fascinating biography about a fascinating figure. The background to Parson's life also serves as a history of the labor movement and Leftist politics in the U.S.,which I found interesting. The writing is terrific and Parsons emerges as a complicated individual, well worth reading about. Highly recom......more

Goodreads review by Edward on February 08, 2018

A fascinating, "warts and all" biography of a great American radical, a fiery voice of revolution in the labor movement and other causes.......more

Quotes

"Goddess of Anarchy displays the powers of a master historian, taking the reader to both post-Civil War Texas and to Gilded Age Chicago."—ChicagoTribune

"An outstanding book.... Jones' fascinating portrait presents an enigmatic, unpredictable activist who sustained a lifelong oratory and writing career."—Booklist

"Goddess of Anarchy is meticulously researched."—Harper's Magazine

"Jones impresses with this richly detailed and empathetic study of a complex figure."—Publishers Weekly

"[A] tough-minded biography of a fiery revolutionary whose activism spanned the decades from Reconstruction to the New Deal...comprehensive and fair."—Kirkus Reviews

"In disentangling the riddle of Lucy Parsons, one of America's most famous Anarchists, Jones has written an important biography."—National Book Review

"Jones's book persuasively explains both the causes for which Parsons fought as well as inconsistencies apparent in her character and actions. This readable biography will appeal to readers with many interests, including the history of women's studies, radicalism, labor, race relations, urbanism, and especially Chicago."—Library Journal

"Thanks to Goddess of Anarchy...readers finally have a penetrating account of Parsons's long, remarkable life."—New York Review of Books

"Jacqueline Jones has produced a stunning, meticulously researched, complex narrative of Lucy Parsons, America's first black woman anarchist."—Kali Nicole Gross, author of HannahMary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence inAmerica

"No scholar has done more to illuminate the tangled politics of race and class in American history than Jacqueline Jones.... A richly revealing story, brilliantly told."—Michael Willrich, author of Pox: AnAmerican History and City of Courts

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