Undreamed Shores by Frances Larson
In the first decades of the 20th century, five women - Katherine Routledge, Maria Czaplicka, Winifred Blackman, Beatrice Blackwood and Barbara Freire-Marreco - arrived at Oxford to take the newly created Masters in Anthropology. Though their circumstances differed radically, all were intent on visiting and studying remote communities a world away from their own. Through their work, they resisted the prejudices of the male establishment, proving that women could be explorers and scientists, too. In the wastes of Siberia; in the villages and pueblos of the Nile and New Mexico; on Easter Island; and in the uncharted interior of New Guinea, they found new freedoms - yet when they returned to England, loss, madness and self-doubt awaited them. Frances Larson's masterful group biography is a revelatory portrait of five hidden heroines of British scholarship.
A deeply poignant account of five women who defied convention to pioneer female scholarship at immense personal costIf you want to understand why there is so little historical evidence of women's intellectual achievement, read this. A devastating indictment of prejudice and how it held women back -- Madeleine Bunting
Larson's close and sensitive attention... gives this book, superbly researched and winningly written, its compassionate authority as well as its storytelling zest -- Boyd Tonkin * The Arts Desk *
A vivid and moving history, sensitively told and rigorously researched. -- Sarah Moss
Engrossing, humbling and immensely enjoyable. These five courageous pioneers not only braved extreme conditions and heart-stopping dangers in remote lands, but also the prejudice and hostility of a male-dominated world. Their extraordinary lives are uplifting and tragic in equal measure, and Larson unfolds their story with her customary blend of scholarly insight and page-turning verve -- Wendy Moore
An absorbing biography of five extraordinary people - the hidden heroines of anthropology - which raises some intriguing questions about their era, and ours -- Jane Robinson, author of Ladies Can't Climb Ladders
Absorbing... With this tender and luminously written work, Larson has convincingly vindicated [the women's] careers * Rana Mitter, Literary Review *
Larson's subjects aren't as well-known as they deserve to be... The expansiveness and meticulousness of Larson's research deserves applause * Lucy Scholes, Daily Telegraph *
An extraordinarily well-crafted, many-layered and captivating book, in which the author makes the amount of research that underlies its chapters seem effortless -- Felix Haas * World Literature Today *
Enthralling... the first generation of professional female anthropologists faced far more prejudice back home than they ever did out in the field -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *
Undreamed Shores is a compelling group biography... This is a beautifully written and convincing book that is deeply sympathetic to the difficulties encountered by this first generation of British women anthropologists. It reveals much about how their work at the time was compromised by the myriad ways in which they, and the people they studied, depended on the colonial infrastructure * TLS *
Larson's close and sensitive attention... gives this book, superbly researched and winningly written, its compassionate authority as well as its storytelling zest -- Boyd Tonkin * The Arts Desk *
A vivid and moving history, sensitively told and rigorously researched. -- Sarah Moss
Engrossing, humbling and immensely enjoyable. These five courageous pioneers not only braved extreme conditions and heart-stopping dangers in remote lands, but also the prejudice and hostility of a male-dominated world. Their extraordinary lives are uplifting and tragic in equal measure, and Larson unfolds their story with her customary blend of scholarly insight and page-turning verve -- Wendy Moore
An absorbing biography of five extraordinary people - the hidden heroines of anthropology - which raises some intriguing questions about their era, and ours -- Jane Robinson, author of Ladies Can't Climb Ladders
Absorbing... With this tender and luminously written work, Larson has convincingly vindicated [the women's] careers * Rana Mitter, Literary Review *
Larson's subjects aren't as well-known as they deserve to be... The expansiveness and meticulousness of Larson's research deserves applause * Lucy Scholes, Daily Telegraph *
An extraordinarily well-crafted, many-layered and captivating book, in which the author makes the amount of research that underlies its chapters seem effortless -- Felix Haas * World Literature Today *
Enthralling... the first generation of professional female anthropologists faced far more prejudice back home than they ever did out in the field -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *
Undreamed Shores is a compelling group biography... This is a beautifully written and convincing book that is deeply sympathetic to the difficulties encountered by this first generation of British women anthropologists. It reveals much about how their work at the time was compromised by the myriad ways in which they, and the people they studied, depended on the colonial infrastructure * TLS *
Dr Frances Larson is the author of Severed, a Sunday Times Book Of The Year, and a biography of Henry Wellcome, An Infinity of Things, a Sunday Times Book of The Year and a New Scientist Best Book of 2009. She is an honorary research fellow at the University of Oxford.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781783783328 |
| ISBN 10 | 178378332X |
| Title | Undreamed Shores |
| Author | Frances Larson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Granta Books |
| Year published | 2021-03-04 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |