Clare Debenham Livres

Focusing on Marie Stopes, the book explores her influential role in the birth control movement during the interwar period, highlighting her life, writings, and the controversies surrounding her achievements. It commemorates the centenary of her landmark publication, shedding light on her contributions to reproductive rights and the societal impacts of her work. The narrative delves into the complexities of her legacy, presenting a nuanced view of a figure who challenged norms and advocated for women's choices.

This study is the result of many years of research but is topical because of the current teacher shortage. At its peak in 1961 there were 40,000 men and women who entered colleges of education in Britain compared to 50,000 who entered traditional universities. There have been interesting histories of individual colleges but this book takes a holistic approach which was supported by the historian Professor Asa Briggs. This controversial study is packed with fascinating facts that will intrigue and inform readers. As well as the relationship between colleges and schools social issues are analysed such as the role of working class teachers and the battles of women staff and students. New evidence is provided for the colleges' expansion and their sudden closure. The study draws on undiscovered official and local archival sources. An important feature is the testimony drawn from interviews from former college students, the oldest being 101 years. This immensely readable book appeals to general readers as well as specialist historians of education. It is of particular interest to teachers, especially those whose institutions were originally colleges of education. Political scientists and sociologists will find much of relevance, as will feminists who have enjoyed Debenham's last two published books.

After the granting of the vote to women in 1918, the struggle for womens rights intensified with a nationwide campaign for the right to birth control. This campaign was met with a great deal of hostility; it threatened to overturn Victorian ideas about female sexuality, female empowerment and the traditional roles within the family. The most well known of the campaigners, scientist and early feminist Marie Stopes, opened clinics across England which fitted contraception caps to women for free. The first history of this grassroots social movement, After the Suffragettes offers a window into the social and cultural history of the period, and features new archival material in the forms of memoirs, personal papers and press cuttings. This is an essential contribution to the influential field of womens history and a vital addition to the history of feminism.