Women, Madness and Spiritualism History of Feminism

This two-volume collection reproduces writings by three exceptional nineteenth-century women:

* Georgina Weldon, a semi-professional concert singer who narrowly escaped being committed to an asylum by her husband, and later conducted an ardent campaign against the lunacy and marriage laws

* Louisa Lowe, who after spending time in three different asylums in the 1870s, became a leading participant in the Lunacy Refrom Movement

* Susan Willis Fletcher, an American spiritualist living in London who was sentenced to twelve months' hard labor for conspiring to obtain jewellery under false pretences, and later published an account of her trial and subsequent sentence

New introductions by the editors and the late Roy Porter provide context and discussion of the pieces included, pointing to the themes and issues that they raise.

With an extensive index, this set provides an invaluable resource for those studying the role of feminism in the history of medicine and the power of the medical profession in the Victorian era.