The Woman They Could Not Silence

After reading Radium Girls and loving it, I decided to read another book by the author, Kate Moore, so I got on audiobook The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear. This is a nonfiction book about Elizabeth Packard. The book description says, "1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened―by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So he makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum. The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line―conveniently labeled 'crazy' so their voices are ignored. No one is willing to fight for their freedom and, disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose..."

Wow, what a read! Elizabeth Packard is a pretty amazing human being. I was amazed by her kindness, resilience, and dedication to fighting for the rights of both women and those who were in insane asylums. One of my favorite parts is when she got transferred to a ward with women with more mental health problems, and she took it upon herself to bathe them and care for them. I feel like she was such a go-getter! She had so many terrible things happen to her (being taken away from her children is one of the main ones), but she never just sat and moped or gave up--she always bounced back and got to work making a difference. It was really just unbelievable the condition of the world back in the 1860s and how limited rights women had. I mean, Elizabeth was basically put in the insane asylum because she had her own opinions and wasn't afraid to speak out about them. There are SO many women like that nowadays, and it's no problem, but things were really different back then. I thought the author did a wonderful job telling the story. I was engaged throughout, though sometimes held back by the limitations of reading via audiobook since I don't always have time alone to listen to a book. My only complaint was that sometimes at the beginning, I was under the impression that certain characters felt a certain way, only to find out otherwise later. I think it was purposeful of the author to introduce some surprises, but I guess the issue for me was I wasn't sure if I was reading an all-knowing narrator or a narrator from one point of view, and I think it wasn't always consistent. This made it kinda hard to know if certain parts of what I was reading were going to end up being accurate or if they would change if I later saw a different character's perspective. Anyway, I don't know if I'm even explaining this well, but it was only a small distraction and not a big deal. Overall it was a great read and really inspiring to learn about Elizabeth Packard and her determined fight to stand up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. Excellent book.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)