Great collection of writing across genres in this volume. Fierce and audacious female voices, their perspectives and ideas brilliantly curated and executed in this fine book. Almost a lesson in history as being introduced to so many female writes from the period.
Really impressive and intriguing read.
Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving the eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Thank you for providing me with an arc. I found the novel to be overall quite thoughtful and thought-provoking! I wasn’t sure this would be as good as it was and it exceeded my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to what this author is going to put our next! Thank you for providing me with an arc. I found the novel to be overall quite thoughtful and thought-provoking! I wasn’t sure this would be as good as it was and it exceeded my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to what this author is going to put our next!

This is a wonderful anthology. Out of all these authors, I had only previous heard of four. It is clear the authors were very conscious and careful with their curation, and there is an incredibly diverse cross-section of women writers present in this collection. With topics ranging from sex, loss, love, and recreational drugs, the topics that mattered to these outspoken women are all present in these pages, and it is a thrilling read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about women's history, women writers, or just for fun.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an excellent anthology that introduced me to a number of radical female authors and poets I'd never heard of before. Well worth reading!!

I really loved this book. I think all the pieces were very compatible and yet I enjoyed the variety. They were all well written, by amazing people and so interesting.

For the first volume, this one covers a somewhat enormous breadth of writers and contexts, which makes me wonder how they're going to surpass that in volume 2. I was pleasantly surprised by how many writers in here were completely new to me, and I think this book would work particularly well as a jumping off point to find new authors and texts. Not all the writers worked for me, but that's to be expected with an anthology of this size. 'A Chinese Boy-Girl' by Sui Sin Far was my personal favourite. Definitely going to be picking up volume 2, whenever it's out!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. I could not finish, the first story didn't grab me and then I never found the motivation to circle back for more. Love the concept though!

I found this anthology to be so moving. It was full of works and women authors that I was completely unfamiliar with, and I learned so much from them. I will be looking forward to seeing what Volume 2 entails!

This book is such a wonderful collection of feminist writings that I'm sure will become a mainstay in Women and Gender Studies classes all throughout the United States.

Extremely important and relevant collection, and masterfully curated. This collection succeeds in bringing attention to radical works that have gone unnoticed or pushed to the side for far too long. Even though some of these women writers may seem familiar, the collection includes works that have been forgotten and/or overshadowed by the one text that brought them to the limelight. Very useful, will definitely be looking into the other volumes. Must read, must have.

Thought-provoking beautiful collection of women's writing! I absolutely loved reading the anthology and it is a book that should be on the shelf of every woman and should be read and not sitting in a TBR pile! Read it!

I found this to be an interesting collection, focusing on intersectionality. There is a lot of feminist radicalisation from female-identifying persons from history, and it was genuinely something I haven't really read much of.

I felt that the texts chosen were very deliberate, and they definitely had an impact. Although they were powerful texts, I struggle with the heaviness of some, but that's likely due to be from personal preference.

Nonetheless, I really found this one to be well worth the read! Happy publication day to this anthology!

Rating: 3/5

Thanks to University of Iowa Press for a copy of this title via NetGalley!

From Fanny Fern (born in 1811) to Georgia Douglas Johnson (who died in 1966). the female writers in this collection range—in their life spans—from the Romantic to the Postmodern periods in literature. Therefore, it's no surprise why "Radicals, Volume 1: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama", includes works from lesser-known and very well-known female writers who touch on taboo subjects, such as ghosts, lesbian love, women's writing being published, cross dressing and revenge—each excerpt reflects a specific moment in time. The writers use different types of traditional literary forms to write about topics outside of acceptable societal and gender norms. However, using traditional literary forms is not a criticism, just an observation.

On the whole, I loved this anthology! It's a fantastic collection of women's writing! I suspect that Meredith Stabel and Zachary Turpin were faced with making difficult decisions about whose work and which work to include in this anthology. I feel that what has resulted is a collection of writing that, as is pointed in the foreword, is radical primarily because "literacy has always been a privilege rather than an inalienable right for marginalized people" (Loc 45). For women of any colour, writing was a means to say what was inappropriate for them to say aloud. As a woman of colour, reading this made me feel included in a history of literature that tends to exclude us. For example, there were moments I was waiting to read Phyllis Wheatley and then had to remind myself that, although Wheatley's poetry and writing is phenomenal, she was not writing about radical topics of her time. Yet, she's the only black poetess I learned about when I was studying American literature in university (in Canada). I wish I'd had a collection like "Radicals, Volume 1: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama" to refer to when I was studying.

I highly recommend this text! I especially hope that your local public library has it once it's released!

My personal favourites in this anthology were, "The Storm" by Kate Chopin, "A Chinese Boy-Girl" by Sui Sin Far, "If I Had Known" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "A Double Standard" by Frances E.W. Harper, "Talma Gordon" by Pauline Hopkins, "The Hermaphrodite" by Julia Ward Howe, "An Appeal to Woman" by Sarah Forten Purvis, "Clotelle—A Tale of Florida" by Katherine Davis Chapman and "The Soft-Hearted Sioux" by Zitkala-Sa.

I'd like to end this review with a fantastic quote from Fanny Fern's "Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time (1885):

"'when I get to be a woman shall I write books, mamma?'
'God forbid,' murmured Ruth kissing the child's changeful cheek; 'God forbid,' murmured she, musingly as she turned over the leaves of her book; 'no happy woman ever writes' (Loc 854).

Many thanks to NetGalley and the University of Iowa Press for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of "Radicals, Volume 1: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama" in exchange for my honest review. I can't wait to get my hands on volume 2!

Radicals Volumes 1 and 2 are anthologies that are perfectly designed for an undergraduate syllabus. Whether it is an American Studies class, a gender studies survey or a history overview, the texts in these volumes would be relevant to the material taught. I particularly appreciate that the editors have not picked the most commonly anthologized selections and called it a day. The healthy mix of classic texts with lesser-known-but-no-less-essential works provides a great reading experience. I did find that these books weren't ideal for cover-to-cover reading; they are more the kind of texts one would dip in and out of as necessary. I didn't necessarily find that there is an argument that develops as one reads the books and moves from one text to the next.

Volume 1 is a collection of creative writing - primarily fiction and poetry - while volume 2 focuses on nonfiction. At first, I thought the separation of creative and didactic writing was a good idea as it would allow the books to stand on their own but be enhanced as a collective. However, the separation is instead between nonfiction and all other genres. Creative autobiographical nonfiction jas been included in volume 2 which distracts from the largely didactic content in the rest of the collection. While the editors do a wonderful job of selecting content, I only wish they had focused a bit more on choosing which text goes where and what they place in conversation with what. I would love to see these same texts organized in thematic sections or placed in conversation with each other in more creative ways,

All in all, I would say Radicals is a well curated collection that is only equal to, and no more than, the sum of tis parts.

Mixed quality but there are some really stunning pieces in this collection. Anthologies are not always an easy sell to my patrons but those who pick this up will love it.

I really loved this anthology! I loved the emphasis on brining to light lesser known texts written by these women. For many of these women, this was the first time I had ever read anything of theirs. It really opened my eyes and made me want to explore some of these women even more.

A beautiful collection of poetry by late women writers. If you enjoy poetry (especially classical poetry) and want to read about the unrepresented then I'd check this volume out!

Disclaimer: I read this in advanced on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was incredible! I loved it. The emotions! The different is so intelligently chosen and fit perfectly.

Oh my goodness, I truly cannot express how much I love this anthology. These voices, from Kate Chopin to Emma Lazarus and so many other women in between, are fascinating and smart and brave, romantic and witty and sometimes brutal. These are works that should live on everyone’s shelves, writers who should be celebrated, stories that should be heard and passed along. I will certainly do my part in passing this along to as many people as I can. What a wonderful collection.

My thanks to NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for an advance reader’s copy.

Pretty straight forward here - an anthology, or collection, of women’s writing through the years. I think it’s a wonderful collection and can’t wait to add it to my physical shelf when it comes out. I see myself pulling pieces out to use in my classroom!