Deeply necessary, revelatory, and a most welcome counterpoint to a lot of accepted history. It is so vital, now more than ever, for us to meet queer history where it was, in all its mystery and glory.

"Female Husbands" is a somewhat interesting book. I think anyone that likes shows like "Gentleman Jack" might enjoy reading this. Historical facts and the overall research that went it made it an interesting read.

This book covers a topic that I didn’t know existed until reading it. This book is very well written and very well researched, the author has put a lot of time into this book to make sure that she is delivering facts and historical trips. I feel like this should be dedicated or required reading for anyone interested in the LGBTQ past and anyone who’s interested in early figures who paved the way for today.

I've tried several times to get into this book, but I just can't.. I was hoping for an engaging read, but it's too slow. I DNFed it after multiple attempts to read it.

Topic? YES PLEASE. Gimme all the queer history. Delivery? Meh...it got a little plodding and/or repetitive at times, and there were some grammatical mistakes that made me wince, but I wholly support more books like this being written. <3

"Female Husbands" was a really interesting read, but some chapters felt somewhat repetitive. Still, I loved learning more about female husbands and how the concept changed over time.

When I saw the title of the book, I was reminded of an incident in my state, here in India, where a young woman transitioned to a man so that they can be with their lover.
I found the book very sometimes dragged which hindered my reading experience. Otherwise, it was an informative read.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by this book. . It could be because the author's style doesn't work for me .
the subject is very interesting but not really worked. reading press articles on google teaches me as much

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

this was a really enjoyable read, I really couldn't believe how long there has been transgender people around. It was a fascinating read and I really enjoyed it.

This book is an important work; it collects all the known stories of female husbands, women who dressed to became a man and married as a man to another woman in the eyes of the public. No one was wiser until something happened, and the truth came out, and depending on the time and place, that would be death or acceptance.

I found the book a bit repetitive, especially after each example, as the author was trying to justify their existence and what could have been the actual story. Also, labeling them "they," which I understand because we don't know how they would have preferred to be called. Lastly, most of the info is secondary information, not much original works happening, so there is already a bias in the stories. They are an exciting and scandalous topic, so writers added salacious untrue details to their stories. Most of these stories were about women who wanted to live a life better than they had, or left that gendering themselves as a man was a better option during a time in history that being a man was everything. But I understand why, I thought, the author struggled, because we are so ingrained with gender norms and fluidity is hard to wrap around in the words we have. No matter who we try, it comes off clinical, impersonal, and hard.

I also an ARC, so perhaps all my issues were fixed during the final book. I received an ARC from Netgalley and Cambridge for an honest review.

As a queer person with a passion for history, I found this book to be very interesting. Of course this is information that I was never taught during my undergraduate study, so I enjoy finding out new information about the past, especially pertaining to LGBTQ+ history. Good information, but the writing was a bit dull and there were plenty grammatical errors that I came across, but overall this book is a great read for those interested in trans male and lesbian history.

An excellent, well researched history of the early trans pioneers. This is their story of life as men, and the women who loved them.
Told with raw emotion from archival materials, and from horrid newspaper articles back in the day, author Jen Manion weaves their stories into a timeline collection for today's reader.
Many female husbands became "outed" unfortunately when they fell ill or became injured, their wives and widows receiving the brunt of ignorant persecution by societal norms of the times.
Unbiased and non- judgmental, these stories are emotional and tragic, many without their happy ever after...
4⭐
Thank you NetGalley, Cambridge University Press and the author, Ms. Jen Manion, for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "Female Husbands". The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.

I enjoyed this book more than I had anticipated. I wanted to read it for the education, not because I thought it would be entertaining, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is the history of people who were assigned the female gender at birth but lived their lives as men and married women. "Female husbands" was the term that was used in the 18th and 19th centuries that pre-dated the labels "transgender" and even "lesbian." Manion is a historian by profession and has an interesting take on gender and its relationship to sexuality. The book is very academic, but if you have an interest in LGBTQ+ history, this would be a great addition to your library. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This was honestly just really offensive. The way the author talked about trans people was incorrect, and a lot of what was being said was just wrong.

"Female husband" is a historical term used to describe AFAB people who lived as men and married women. This nonfiction book explores - through personalized histories steeped in broader context - the presence and lives of female husbands in the United States and the UK. Long before we had the language of transgender, these people existed. This book adds valuable insight into the pre-20th century LGBTQ history.

I found this book so interesting. A gallop through time in which females pretended to be males in order to live together in a married state. I'm not an expert in any way, but I feel like this is more of lesbian history and not technically trans. I enjoyed reading about these women at various time periods, but I am confused by the title.

I was disappointed by this book. Yes, it is a history of female husbands; however, I had hoped for more insight into the husbands themselves instead of second hand external views of them. Story after story were about how they were viewed in court trials, by newspapers, and sometimes by individuals around them. Never by the female husband themselves. The author states at one point that "We are left to read between the lines and draw conclusions." Later she states that she chose to focus "on the perceptions and views of others" regarding female husbands. Ms. Manion states she did that because gender is constituted by those around them. I disagree. I would rather have empowered them and known how they felt and their motivation. Additionally, I finished the book feeling that these people assigned as females at birth but presenting as males were doing so more for economic reasons rather than a gender disparity. I can not recall anyone in the book stating they were born the wrong gender. A lot of assumptions were made in this book like a lot of assumptions are made now. I was hoping for something more.

While the writing itself is a bit dry, it's worth it for the detailed look at the lives of gender-nonconforming people that Female Husbands provides. It's one of the few accounts I've read of queer people in history that doesn't attempt to retroactively assign identities to its subjects and instead offers multiple possibilities for how a person may have identified, and as a nonbinary lesbian that made it a very refreshing read.

This book is not for me. It is a very detailed account of people in history who challenge preconceived assumptions on gender, with a focus on people considered "women" dressing and living as men. This isn't what I was expecting as a trans history, but it is not my place as cisgender man to decide what that classification is. My issue with this book isn't what it has to say, but with how it is said. This is a very dense and dry book. I think it is probably a great academic reference, but it it is not a good book for me.

I have DNFed this book at 45%. I normally would make a point to push through a book that has been provided for review, but it just wasn't worth it because I wasn't retaining the information. It is clear by the other reviews, that it works great for plenty of other people, so you may still get something out of it!

I also don't consider this read a complete waste. Upon reading other reviews, there were a few other books of similar subject that I will be looking into.

I liked how this delved deeper into the idea of Female Husbands and how they fit into the historical image we have of certain eras. I had a few issues with this book, a couple how it was formatted but my main one was that at times the author argued that they were trans because they dressed in men's clothing and that they did not have any other reason to be dressed in men's clothes than that. Manion did balance this up at other times well but at a couple of place I felt like that she was making too sweeping of a statement and projecting onto the past rather than using the evidence in an objective way.