Together with her mother, Emmeline, Christabel Pankhurst co-led the single sex Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded in 1903 and soon regarded as the most notorious of the groupings campaigning for the parliamentary vote for women. A First Class Honours Graduate in Law, the determined and charismatic Christabel, a captivating orator, revitalised the women's suffrage campaign by rousing thousands of women to become suffragettes, as WSPU members were called, and to demand rather than ask politely for their democratic citizenship rights. A supreme tactician, her advocacy of 'militant', unladylike tactics shocked many people, and the political establishment. When an end to militancy was called on the outbreak of war in 1914, she encouraged women to engage in war work as a way to win their enfranchisement. Four years later, when enfranchisement was granted to certain categories of women aged thirty and over, she stood unsuccessfully for election to parliament, as a member of the Women's Party. In 1940 she moved to the USA, with her adopted daughter, and had a successful career there as a Second Adventist preacher and writer. However, she is mainly remembered for being the driving force behind the militant wing of the women's suffrage movement. This full-length biography, the first for forty years, draws upon feminist approaches to biography writing to place her within a network of supportive female friendships. It is based upon an unrivalled range of previously untapped primary sources.
Joe Alex Morris. Nelson Rockefeller, a biography This is a biography which claims to provide the first inside and intimate glimpse of Nelson Rockefeller's family background, schooling, business ventures and political career. Written in a cloying, adulatory tone the author goes to considerable lengths to demonstrate that Nelson Rockefeller has been unspoiled by money, that he is deeply religious, tolerant, ambitious and aggressive though democratic, that he is, in short, a regular fellow, -- as he manifested at Dartmouth, for example, by being ""as sloppy as anyone on campus"". Morris discusses the Rockefeller children's conscientious upbringing, their abstemious way of life; Nelson's marriage to Mary Todhunter Clark -- at which time young Nelson was regarded by Philadelphia's Main Liners as marrying into the Clark family; his early business experiments; his interest in South America and his appointment as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs under FDR; his subsequent career in Washington and in San Francisco during the formation of the U N; the foundation of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; and Nelson's campaign for Governor of New York State. In an Appendix the author provides The Rockefeller Viewpoint on the management of government which is brief and sufficiently vague to alienate no one. Morris's book is not the place to look for an objective appraisal of the tentative candidate. Steward Alsop's analysis of Nixon and Rockefeller accomplished much more within more defined limits. -- Kirkus review ; https://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/the-rockefellers/1033/thumbnail.jpg
Recently, PBS premiered a documentary biography about Woodrow Wilson that, for all its many positive qualities, was ultimately a disappointment. Like the vast majority of programs in the"American Experience" series, it was beautifully produced. Vivid photographs and footage were combined with informative and entertaining commentary by leading scholars. Unfortunately, the final product often gave us History Lite -- history reduced to the personal.
For more than a half century Douglas MacArthur was a servant of the United States. He is best remembered as a general and a soldier, especially for his leadership during World War II and the Korean War. MacArthur was also the Superintendent of West Point, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Generalissimo ( Commander) of the Armed Forces and Military Advisor (Minister of Defense) to the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, and the Supreme Commander Allied Powers and the Military Governor of occupied Japan. In these positions he functioned not as a soldier, but as a senior public administrator. The dissertation will begin by establishing the military as a valid and unique field of Public Administration. Contributions of military adminstration to the discipline of Public Administration will then be examined. The dissertation will examine MacArthur's professional and academic training for his previously listed administrative posts. A determination and analysis of MacArthur's theoretical and applied approaches to Public Administration and General Management Theories will be made. The analysis of MacArthur's performance in his administrative positions will be made against a backdrop of contemporary Public Administration Theory. ; Ph. D.
When the life of George Swinburne is first reviewed a wide diversity of work and interest is the immediate impression. He controlled and influenced in many ways the business and public administration of his country, and the story of his life is in a sense the history of the public affairs of Victoria for a long period. It was considered therefore that it was impossible to appreciate his life fully without an understanding of the public problems which he handled, and the biography will, it is hoped, fill a gap in the history of Victoria in a way that will be interesting to many readers and useful to students. Dr H. Sugden, as a close personal friend, has written the first part dealing with his personal life, and the Hon. F. W. Eggleston has written the second part dealing with his public life. This second part is a connected history of the Parliament of Victoria for thirteen years and an account of the institutions in which Swinburne acted after he resigned from the Legislative Assembly. The history of Parliaments is not usually described in detail, but in the Victorian Parliament from 1900 to 1913 great issues were fought out, issues of morethan ordinary interest in their effect on the history of the State and vital to our problems to-day. The fight of Sir William Irvine for constitutional government, the struggle in the House over the Liquor and Gambling Bills, the fate of land reform in Victoria, are most significant episodes for the student of political science; while the career of Bent and his struggle with Watt and Murray has dramatic interest. [preface]
Material contained herein is made available for the purpose of peer review and discussion and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense. ; Alan Shaffer, Commander, USN, Assistant Professor, Permanent Military Professor (PMP), Department of Computer Science, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
Abstract. The article explores a celebrity biography of the person known to have written a number of works,but yet didn't qualify for a literary biography. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806) was an 18 th century socialite who, among other achievements, wrote poetry and fiction. However, she did not gain her fame through literature. The authors study the function of pieces of written works used in the biographies of the Duchess. The biographer's tend to choose the Duchess's works known to be autobiographical. The 1779 novel "The Sylph" arises the most interest. The custom has been to dismiss the novel as a roman à clef. Though all of the Duchess' biographers to various degrees include her creative works, none of them can be called literary biography, because they do not recognise their literary value. They do not view Georgiana as a writer, as writing was not her chief occupation. Her political activity and private misfortunes overshadowed her talents.Keywords: biography, Duchess of Devonshire, The Sylph, roman à clef, 18 th century novel.
With Angela Merkel favoured to win the German election again, several political books about the German chancellor were published during 2013. Both in Germany and abroad, observers puzzled over the reasons for the on-going success of Mrs. Merkel, the scientist from East Berlin who became an internationally honoured stateswoman. One book stood out because of the label 'authorized biography' on the cover: Angela Merkel. The Chancellor and her world, written by Stefan Kornelius. Whether Merkel asked Kornelius, head of the international section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, to write a book about her political career and vision, or just commented and approved a book Kornelius had written independently, is not mentioned. However, the fact is that Kornelius' book is the first biography for which Merkel gave her consent. The question is: what new light does this authorized biography shed on the person behind the politician? This article was first published in EJLW on 14 October 2014.
Art historian Joan Kerr (1938-2004) championed many little-known artists in her democratic approach to Australian art history. As an architectural historian she held strong views on how 'heritage' restoration should be conducted. She was always entertaining, at times controversial. Virginia Spate described her as fulfilling Baudelaire's definition of a critic as 'partial, passionate and political'. 1. Using material from Kerr's personal papers, interviews with Kerr herself and with family members, friends and colleagues, as well as selections from her impressive body of published work, I have aimed to write a sympathetic yet clearsighted biography of a woman who was, to quote her husband Jim Kerr, 'a teacher, writer, wife, mother and possum stirrer'. 2. Biography has not always enjoyed academic attention and until late in the 20th century it was traditionally consigned to history.3 Yet this has been an uneasy liaison and biography is now considered a hybrid form, between history and literature, with links to autobiography, psychology, sociology and anthropology. In the introductory chapter I explore the potential of these disciplines for interpreting the facts of a life. I also include a survey of literary biographical writing (including useful models), a discussion of the concept of 'public intellectual' in relation to Joan Kerr's reputation in Australian art history and technical issues such as structure, voice and 'speaking for'. Subsequent chapters trace Joan Kerr's private life – childhood, health, education, marriage and motherhood – as well as her academic achievements, her work in 19th- and 20th-century Australian art and architectural history, her curatorial practice and major publications, her use of humour and satire and confrontations with art critics, academics and administrators. The final chapter encompasses Kerr's tribute dinner at Government House in June 2003, her death on 22 February 2004 and funeral on 1 March 2004. In writing this biography I have aimed to do justice to Joan Kerr's life and ...
For five decades Golda Meir was at the center of the political arena in Israel and left her mark on the development of the Yishuv and the state. She was a unique woman, great leader, with a magnetic personality, a highly complex individual. She held some of the most important positions that her party and the State could bestow. She fulfilled most of them with talent and dignity. She failed in the top job – that of Prime Minister. This biography traces her origins, her American roots, her immediate family, her failed marriage, her rise in the party, the trade union movement, her massive and enduring achievements as Secretary of Labor and Housing, her ten year stint as foreign minister and finally the reasons that led to her failure as prime minister. She was a very good tactician, far less a strategist. She was a major builder of modern Israel whose influence on that country, on Israel-American relations and on Jewish history was evident primarily from 1969 to 1974.
The M. H. Ross Papers contain information pertaining to labor, politics, social issues of the twentieth century, coal mining and its resulting lifestyle, as well as photographs and audio materials. The collection is made up of five different accessions; L2001-05, which is contained in boxes one through 104, L2002-09 in boxes 106 through 120, L2006-16 in boxes 105 and 120, L2001-01 in boxes 120-121, and L2012-20 in boxes 122-125. The campaign materials consist of items from the 1940 and 1948 political campaigns in which Ross participated. These items include campaign cards, posters, speech transcripts, news clippings, rally materials, letters to voters, and fliers. Organizing and arbitration materials covers labor organizing events from "Operation Dixie" in Georgia, the furniture workers in North Carolina, and the Mine-Mill workers in the Western United States. Organizing materials include fliers, correspondence, news articles, radio transcripts, and some related photos. Arbitration files consist of agreements, decisions, and agreement booklets. The social and political research files cover a wide time period (1930's to the late 1970's/early 1980's). The topics include mainly the Ku Klux Klan, racism, Communism, Red Scare, red baiting, United States history, and literature. These files consist mostly of news and journal articles. Ross interacted with coal miners while doing work for the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA) and while working at the Fairmont Clinic in West Virginia. Included in these related files are books, news articles, journals, UMWA reports, and coal miner oral histories conducted by Ross. Tying in to all of the activities Ross participated in during his life were his research and manuscript files. He wrote numerous newspaper and journal articles on history and labor. Later, as he worked for the UMWA and at the Fairmont Clinic, he wrote more in-depth articles about coal miners, their lifestyle, and medical problems they faced (while the Southern Labor Archives has many of Ross's coal mining and lifestyle articles, it does not have any of his medical articles). Along with these articles are the research files Ross collected to write them, which consist of notes, books, and newspaper and journal articles. In additional to his professional career, Ross was adamant about documenting his and his wife's family history in the oral history format. Of particular interest are the recordings of his interviews with his wife's family - they were workers, musicians, and singers of labor and folk songs. Finally, in this collection are a number of photographs and slides, which include images of organizing, coal mining (from the late 19th through 20th centuries), and Appalachia. Of note is a small photo album from the 1930s which contains images from the Summer School for Workers, and more labor organizing. A few audio items are available as well, such as Ross political speeches and an oral history in which Ross was interviewed by his daughter, Jane Ross Davis in 1986. All photographic and audio-visual materials are at the end of their respective series. ; Myron Howard "Mike" Ross was born November 9, 1919 in New York City. He dropped out of school when he was seventeen and moved to Texas, where he worked on a farm. From 1936 until 1939, Ross worked in a bakery in North Carolina. In the summer of 1938, he attended the Southern School for Workers in Asheville, North Carolina. During the fall of 1938, Ross would attend the first Southern Conference on Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama. He would attend this conference again in 1940 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From 1939 to 1940, Ross worked for the United Mine Workers Non-Partisan League in North Carolina, working under John L. Lewis. He was hired as a union organizer by the United Mine Workers of America, and sent to Saltville, Virginia and Rockwood, Tennessee. In 1940, Ross ran for a seat on city council on the People's Platform in Charlotte, North Carolina. During this time, he also married Anne "Buddie" West of Kennesaw, Georgia. From 1941 until 1945, Ross served as an infantryman for the United States Army. He sustained injuries near the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944. From 1945 until 1949, Ross worked for the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, then part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), as a union organizer. He was sent to Macon, Georgia, Savannah, Georgia and to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he worked with the United Furniture Workers Union. He began handling arbitration for the unions. In 1948, Ross ran for United States Congress on the Progressive Party ticket in North Carolina. He also served as the secretary for the North Carolina Progressive Party. Ross attended the University of North Carolina law school from 1949 to 1952. He graduated with honors but was denied the bar on the grounds of "character." From 1952 until 1955, he worked for the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers as a union organizer, first in New Mexico (potash mines) and then in Arizona (copper mines). From 1955 to 1957, Ross attended the Columbia University School of Public Health. He worked for the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund from 1957 to 1958, where he represented the union in expenditure of health care for mining workers. By 1958, Ross began plans for what would become the Fairmont Clinic, a prepaid group practice in Fairmont, West Virginia, which had the mission of providing high quality medical care for miners and their families. From 1958 until 1978, Ross served as administrator of the Fairmont Clinic. As a result of this work, Ross began researching coal mining, especially coal mining lifestyle, heritage and history of coal mining and disasters. He would interview over one hundred miners (coal miners). Eventually, Ross began writing a manuscript about the history of coal mining. Working for the Rural Practice Program of the University of North Carolina from 1980 until 1987, Ross taught in the medical school. M. H. Ross died on January 31, 1987 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ; Digitization of the M. H. Ross Papers was funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
The M. H. Ross Papers contain information pertaining to labor, politics, social issues of the twentieth century, coal mining and its resulting lifestyle, as well as photographs and audio materials. The collection is made up of five different accessions; L2001-05, which is contained in boxes one through 104, L2002-09 in boxes 106 through 120, L2006-16 in boxes 105 and 120, L2001-01 in boxes 120-121, and L2012-20 in boxes 122-125. The campaign materials consist of items from the 1940 and 1948 political campaigns in which Ross participated. These items include campaign cards, posters, speech transcripts, news clippings, rally materials, letters to voters, and fliers. Organizing and arbitration materials covers labor organizing events from "Operation Dixie" in Georgia, the furniture workers in North Carolina, and the Mine-Mill workers in the Western United States. Organizing materials include fliers, correspondence, news articles, radio transcripts, and some related photos. Arbitration files consist of agreements, decisions, and agreement booklets. The social and political research files cover a wide time period (1930's to the late 1970's/early 1980's). The topics include mainly the Ku Klux Klan, racism, Communism, Red Scare, red baiting, United States history, and literature. These files consist mostly of news and journal articles. Ross interacted with coal miners while doing work for the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA) and while working at the Fairmont Clinic in West Virginia. Included in these related files are books, news articles, journals, UMWA reports, and coal miner oral histories conducted by Ross. Tying in to all of the activities Ross participated in during his life were his research and manuscript files. He wrote numerous newspaper and journal articles on history and labor. Later, as he worked for the UMWA and at the Fairmont Clinic, he wrote more in-depth articles about coal miners, their lifestyle, and medical problems they faced (while the Southern Labor Archives has many of Ross's coal mining and lifestyle articles, it does not have any of his medical articles). Along with these articles are the research files Ross collected to write them, which consist of notes, books, and newspaper and journal articles. In additional to his professional career, Ross was adamant about documenting his and his wife's family history in the oral history format. Of particular interest are the recordings of his interviews with his wife's family - they were workers, musicians, and singers of labor and folk songs. Finally, in this collection are a number of photographs and slides, which include images of organizing, coal mining (from the late 19th through 20th centuries), and Appalachia. Of note is a small photo album from the 1930s which contains images from the Summer School for Workers, and more labor organizing. A few audio items are available as well, such as Ross political speeches and an oral history in which Ross was interviewed by his daughter, Jane Ross Davis in 1986. All photographic and audio-visual materials are at the end of their respective series. ; Myron Howard "Mike" Ross was born November 9, 1919 in New York City. He dropped out of school when he was seventeen and moved to Texas, where he worked on a farm. From 1936 until 1939, Ross worked in a bakery in North Carolina. In the summer of 1938, he attended the Southern School for Workers in Asheville, North Carolina. During the fall of 1938, Ross would attend the first Southern Conference on Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama. He would attend this conference again in 1940 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From 1939 to 1940, Ross worked for the United Mine Workers Non-Partisan League in North Carolina, working under John L. Lewis. He was hired as a union organizer by the United Mine Workers of America, and sent to Saltville, Virginia and Rockwood, Tennessee. In 1940, Ross ran for a seat on city council on the People's Platform in Charlotte, North Carolina. During this time, he also married Anne "Buddie" West of Kennesaw, Georgia. From 1941 until 1945, Ross served as an infantryman for the United States Army. He sustained injuries near the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944. From 1945 until 1949, Ross worked for the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, then part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), as a union organizer. He was sent to Macon, Georgia, Savannah, Georgia and to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he worked with the United Furniture Workers Union. He began handling arbitration for the unions. In 1948, Ross ran for United States Congress on the Progressive Party ticket in North Carolina. He also served as the secretary for the North Carolina Progressive Party. Ross attended the University of North Carolina law school from 1949 to 1952. He graduated with honors but was denied the bar on the grounds of "character." From 1952 until 1955, he worked for the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers as a union organizer, first in New Mexico (potash mines) and then in Arizona (copper mines). From 1955 to 1957, Ross attended the Columbia University School of Public Health. He worked for the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund from 1957 to 1958, where he represented the union in expenditure of health care for mining workers. By 1958, Ross began plans for what would become the Fairmont Clinic, a prepaid group practice in Fairmont, West Virginia, which had the mission of providing high quality medical care for miners and their families. From 1958 until 1978, Ross served as administrator of the Fairmont Clinic. As a result of this work, Ross began researching coal mining, especially coal mining lifestyle, heritage and history of coal mining and disasters. He would interview over one hundred miners (coal miners). Eventually, Ross began writing a manuscript about the history of coal mining. Working for the Rural Practice Program of the University of North Carolina from 1980 until 1987, Ross taught in the medical school. M. H. Ross died on January 31, 1987 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ; Digitization of the M. H. Ross Papers was funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Biography is booming. William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Steve Jobs and Billy Conolly, for example, have all been the subject of recent biographies that have sold and earned millions. General biographies, such as The Hare with Amber Eyes have sold over 400,000 copies, as have Celebrity biographies and autobiographies. While political biographies may not reach these dizzy heights, they remain popular, as is evidenced by John Campbell on Margaret Thatcher, Robert Caro on Lyndon Johnson, Katherine Frank's Indira: The life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, Roy Jenkins on Churchill, Ben Pimlot on Harold Wilson and the Queen, and by the diaries of Harold Macmillan, Richard Crossman, Tony Benn and Chris Mullin (amongst others). Artists of diverse sorts, philosophers, historians and even economists have all attracted a steady stream of admirable biographies, from Bagehot and Beveridge to Warhol and Wittgenstein. At first blush, the contrast with legal biography (other than in the United States) could not be more striking. Under this optic, a few pearls glitter in the mud, such as Nichola Lacey on HLA Hart and R. Gwynedd Parry on David Hughes Parry (UK); Charles Herbert Curry on Sir Francis Forbes, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Leonie Star on Julius Stone (Australia); and Philip Girard on Bora Laskin and David Ricardo Williams on Chief Justice Sir Lyman Poore Duff (Canada). However, many have been written by unabashed admirers, based on inadequate or undisclosed sources, and published by small obscure presses where they rapidly, and perhaps deservedly, fell out of print. According to this view, the history of legal biography is largely one of failure. It is principally a manifestation of the conservative tradition of legal history and legal scholarship. In this paper, I problematize the notion that the history of legal biography is largely a story of failure and conservatism. Some of the key methodological and theoretical perspectives underlying legal and other forms of biography are described and analysed. I point to long-standing and recent work that embodies visions of biography that suggest ways of expanding the repertoire of legal biography and socio-legal scholarship, and which provide important insights into "what does legal biography add?" My comments derive, in part, from the oral history of English legal education and scholarship that I commenced in 1986, and whose interviewees include LCB (Jim) Gower, HLA Hart, Tony Honore, Peter Stein and William Twining.
