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Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America
Both a love letter to America and a stirring rallying cry for the country to live up to the ideals on which it was founded, this propulsive biography from National Book Award Finalist and “nonfiction maestro (Horn Book)" Deborah Heiligman chronicles the extraordinary life and work of groundbreaking political activist Emma Goldman.
Emma Goldman made trouble her whole life. The first time was by accident. Her birth (in Lithuania, in 1869) angered her father. He had wanted a dutiful son, not a headstrong daughter. The other times were on purpose.
When she arrived in America as a young woman, she loved its democratic ideals but was appalled by its hypocrisy. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seemed to be only for those at the top. Something had to be done for everyone else. Someone had to speak up. Soon Emma was delivering rousing speeches on topics like workers’ rights, feminism, and the atrocities of capitalism.
This is the story of Emma’s complex love affair with America. It’s also the story of her many romances with the men she met while trying to change America. Emma believed marriage was disempowering to women and lived her life according to the principles of free love.
Emma called herself an anarchist and a freethinker. Her critics called her a troublemaker, a “loudmouth.” But sometimes you need to be loud, if you want your voice to be heard.
Deborah Heiligman is a National Book Award finalist, a YALSA Nonfiction Award winner, and a Printz Honor winner. In Loudmouth she tells the extraordinary true story of a woman who was a fearsome fighter for change in her complicated new country—and a complicated human being in her own right. This is an essential read for young people—or for anyone—who wants to use their voice to make the world a better place.
Emma Goldman made trouble her whole life. The first time was by accident. Her birth (in Lithuania, in 1869) angered her father. He had wanted a dutiful son, not a headstrong daughter. The other times were on purpose.
When she arrived in America as a young woman, she loved its democratic ideals but was appalled by its hypocrisy. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seemed to be only for those at the top. Something had to be done for everyone else. Someone had to speak up. Soon Emma was delivering rousing speeches on topics like workers’ rights, feminism, and the atrocities of capitalism.
This is the story of Emma’s complex love affair with America. It’s also the story of her many romances with the men she met while trying to change America. Emma believed marriage was disempowering to women and lived her life according to the principles of free love.
Emma called herself an anarchist and a freethinker. Her critics called her a troublemaker, a “loudmouth.” But sometimes you need to be loud, if you want your voice to be heard.
Deborah Heiligman is a National Book Award finalist, a YALSA Nonfiction Award winner, and a Printz Honor winner. In Loudmouth she tells the extraordinary true story of a woman who was a fearsome fighter for change in her complicated new country—and a complicated human being in her own right. This is an essential read for young people—or for anyone—who wants to use their voice to make the world a better place.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 16, 2025
About the author
Deborah Heiligman
42 books162 followersDeborah Heiligman has been writing for children since she worked at Scholastic News soon after college. Since then she has written more than thirty books for children and teens. Her books include picture books, both fiction and nonfiction, and young adult nonfiction and fiction. Some titles: Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, a National Book Award finalist; The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos, a Cook Prize Winner and Orbis Pictus honor; Intentions, a Sydney Taylor Award winner, and a picture book series about Tinka the dog. Her latest book is Vincent and Theo: The van Gogh Brothers. For more information please visit www.DeborahHeiligman.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 2, 2025
I love a historical biography. This was super intriguing as I was unfamiliar with this person before reading this book. Emma Goldman is a fascinating person to learn more about. Especially as she lived in a time that women had limited rights and experiences, she truly pioneered in an area of workers rights that truly helped shape the future of work conditions and the labor movement. The book was very detailed and informative. At times, the stories seemed long winded and I found myself wanting the book to end sooner and wrap up the influence and life impact.
January 22, 2026
Emma Goldman's story and her activism is alarmingly relevant to today's political climate and as someone who's never been considered a "quiet woman," in any sense, hit very close to to home for me.
"Remember that those who fought and bled for your liberties were in their time considered as being against the law, as dangerous disturbers and trouble-makers. They not only preached violence, but they carried out their ideas by throwing tea into the Boston harbor. They said that "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." They wrote a dangerous document called the Declaration of Independence. A document which continues to be dangerous to this day, and for the circulation of which a young man was sentenced to ninety days prison in a New York Court, only the other day.
They were the Anarchists of their time--they were never within the law. Your Government is allied with the French Republic. Need I call your attention to the historic fact that the great upheaval in France was brought about by extra-legal means?" -Emma Goldman, 1917
"Remember that those who fought and bled for your liberties were in their time considered as being against the law, as dangerous disturbers and trouble-makers. They not only preached violence, but they carried out their ideas by throwing tea into the Boston harbor. They said that "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." They wrote a dangerous document called the Declaration of Independence. A document which continues to be dangerous to this day, and for the circulation of which a young man was sentenced to ninety days prison in a New York Court, only the other day.
They were the Anarchists of their time--they were never within the law. Your Government is allied with the French Republic. Need I call your attention to the historic fact that the great upheaval in France was brought about by extra-legal means?" -Emma Goldman, 1917
March 31, 2026
This timely biography about the anarchist once considered the most dangerous woman in the world is important because of the great example Emma Goldman provides of speaking truth to power, no matter what the consequences. Many times she was arrested and put in prison for daring to speak, write, and try to hold her adopted country and its leaders accountable. Born in Lithuania, she followed her sister to the United States, convinced that it was a place where dreams were possible and where she could thrive. But she quickly realized that certain rights and privileges belonged to those with money and power and that many others were barely getting by, barely able to afford bread. In some ways it’s tempting to compare conditions then and now as there are many individuals struggling to get by today and we’ve recently seen books pulled from shelves, parts of history erased, and universities and law firms, not to mention an entire political party, bending to the will of someone in power—the President of the United States. Goldman herself epitomizes the meaning of the word “provocative,” and it’s impossible not to wonder at how she coped with all the vilification, hatred, and injustices she faced simply for speaking out against capitalism, war, violence, and providing information about birth control. She’s a perfect example of someone who can love his/her/their country and still see its flaws and ways to improve. After all, patriotism doesn’t mean blind allegiance.
I knew only a few details about Goldman before reading this well-written account of her life, but after finishing it, I certainly respected her and some of her goals even while being fascinated by her relationship with men and her various lovers. The cover attempts to show Goldman in all her complexities, having a cartoonish, almost surreal take on the many versions of Goldman there seem to have been. While design isn’t this book’s strong suit, the writing is. Heiligman relies on many of Goldman’s own words to present her life and times to readers. The lens through which her story is framed—as a love story to America—may work to attract older teen readers. It’s thoroughly researched, important, and just as engaging in its way as Heiligman’s previous titles, Torpedoed, Vincent and Theo, and Charles and Emma, each of which I loved. Upon finishing it, I kept asking myself how the world would have responded to Emma had she lived today. (As a funny sidenote, every time I saw the word “anarchist,” I read it as “anachronism,” and had to back up and correct myself.)
I knew only a few details about Goldman before reading this well-written account of her life, but after finishing it, I certainly respected her and some of her goals even while being fascinated by her relationship with men and her various lovers. The cover attempts to show Goldman in all her complexities, having a cartoonish, almost surreal take on the many versions of Goldman there seem to have been. While design isn’t this book’s strong suit, the writing is. Heiligman relies on many of Goldman’s own words to present her life and times to readers. The lens through which her story is framed—as a love story to America—may work to attract older teen readers. It’s thoroughly researched, important, and just as engaging in its way as Heiligman’s previous titles, Torpedoed, Vincent and Theo, and Charles and Emma, each of which I loved. Upon finishing it, I kept asking myself how the world would have responded to Emma had she lived today. (As a funny sidenote, every time I saw the word “anarchist,” I read it as “anachronism,” and had to back up and correct myself.)
December 29, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. all opinions in this review are my own.
I only became aware of Emma Goldman and her place in American history (and world history) in recent years. I don’t recall ever reading about her in school.
This book is certainly written for a YA audience. I think it does a fair job portraying Emma as a complex and passionate person. She was a self identified anarchist and while opposed to violence, she was blamed by President McKinley’s assassin as inspiring his violent crime.
"As an anarchist, I am opposed to violence. But if the people want to do away with assassins, they must do away with the conditions which produce murderers."
While she has probably always been considered “radical”, and even more radical for her time in the late 1800s and early 1900s, she was a champion of so many things long taken for granted in the United States: access to birth control, free speech and freedom of/from religion, women’s rights, and worker’s rights among other causes.
I would recommend this audio for anyone curious about a lesser know historical figure who led a fascinating life.
I only became aware of Emma Goldman and her place in American history (and world history) in recent years. I don’t recall ever reading about her in school.
This book is certainly written for a YA audience. I think it does a fair job portraying Emma as a complex and passionate person. She was a self identified anarchist and while opposed to violence, she was blamed by President McKinley’s assassin as inspiring his violent crime.
"As an anarchist, I am opposed to violence. But if the people want to do away with assassins, they must do away with the conditions which produce murderers."
While she has probably always been considered “radical”, and even more radical for her time in the late 1800s and early 1900s, she was a champion of so many things long taken for granted in the United States: access to birth control, free speech and freedom of/from religion, women’s rights, and worker’s rights among other causes.
I would recommend this audio for anyone curious about a lesser know historical figure who led a fascinating life.
February 2, 2026
In 1885 sixteen-year-old Emma Goldman immigrated to the United States. By her early twenties she was at the heart of her new country’s political protests, an anarchic activist urging workers demand their rights and take what they needed. For the next thirty plus years Goldman made headlines, wrote articles, roused crowds, and bounced in and out of jail until J. Edgar Hoover, and the newly written Naturalization Act, deported her in 1919. This superbly researched biography showcases Emma’s indomitable zeal and refusal to compromise, backing social-justice causes from fair pay, to legalizing birth control, to anti-war demonstrations. Heiligman’s surprising and exhaustive account makes clear Goldman deserves a place in the pantheon of American political activism. Word choice sometimes excuses questionable behavior; attentat in place of assassinate, Emma doesn't choose, she is compelled. Yet this eye-opening glimpse into the political and sexual passions of a seminal rebel reveals a fascinating figure, and a chilling period of American political persecution. Contains content warning, notes, bibliography, further reading, index and photographs.
September 23, 2025
Goldman's name is going to be one that most people don't know much about and if the intended audience is teens, even more so, as I'm an adult who didn't know anything about her and her loudmouth, troublemaking ways. Heiligman realizes that she was and would still be considered a polarizing figure and went hard into research to share Goldman's life story from being a disappointment to her parents in Lithuania (though it was part of the Russian Empire) for being a girl to spitting fire at rallies about causes important to her after moving to America and seeing injustice.
Heiligman does not sugarcoat Goldman's life from romances and friendships to incarceration and labor though it does at times dive deep enough to get lost among the many life experiences and feels lengthy. The cover is sure to garner attention as is her general story.
Heiligman does not sugarcoat Goldman's life from romances and friendships to incarceration and labor though it does at times dive deep enough to get lost among the many life experiences and feels lengthy. The cover is sure to garner attention as is her general story.
April 8, 2026
Emma Goldman has been one of my heroes since I was teenager. I know if I had found this book in my teens I would have loved her even more! The writing is crisp and uncomplicated without ever talking down to the reader. One of the advantages of YA history is that the author takes time to explain things the reader might not know already.
I also enjoyed this book's frankness. It didn't shy away from Emma Goldman's free love principles nor her complicated relationships with men. I would have liked to read more about her activism relating to birth control, abortion, and sex work.
The book highlighted and emphasized Emma's love for America. Yes, she hated the government and capitalism, and exploitation, but she never gave up her vision of how the American people could one day unite and throw off their oppressors. Maybe someday, Emma.
I also enjoyed this book's frankness. It didn't shy away from Emma Goldman's free love principles nor her complicated relationships with men. I would have liked to read more about her activism relating to birth control, abortion, and sex work.
The book highlighted and emphasized Emma's love for America. Yes, she hated the government and capitalism, and exploitation, but she never gave up her vision of how the American people could one day unite and throw off their oppressors. Maybe someday, Emma.
December 8, 2025
You know that saying "they were a product of their time" which is used to excuse the abhorrent ideas and beliefs of people in the past? The more I read about historical figures and events, the more I realize how ridiculous it is. Emma Goldman is one such person. She had widely progressive ideas, even by today's standards. And she was living at the turn of the century.
Goldman was a self-described anarchist. But that term has definitely been twisted. Her main belief was that people do not need government and that life would be better if we all worked together to support each other. It was a utopian idea that ultimately got her jailed multiple times and then deported.
Heiligman's account of Goldman's life and beliefs was endlessly engaging and widely entertaining. She has a gift for
Goldman was a self-described anarchist. But that term has definitely been twisted. Her main belief was that people do not need government and that life would be better if we all worked together to support each other. It was a utopian idea that ultimately got her jailed multiple times and then deported.
Heiligman's account of Goldman's life and beliefs was endlessly engaging and widely entertaining. She has a gift for
November 11, 2025
It was a very interesting read, though repetitive in places. I would have liked to know more about Emma Goldman's feelings and more details on her health. Also, I wasn't quite sure about the target audience for this book. It could have been briefer for a young adult reader and meatier for an adult reader. However, it certainly fascinated me and provided good background for this period in history. It made me want to read more and obviously that makes it a success in my book. Also, very good choice for a title!
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I hope many teens choose to read it.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I hope many teens choose to read it.
December 19, 2025
Some topics discussed in Loudmouth:
- Censorship
- Working conditions and worker's rights
- Immigration
- Does violence beget violence?
- Capitalism
- Where does social evil come from? How can we correct it (education, religion, etc)?
- Media and how the news can influence perceptions of political figures
- Plus many more!
I enjoyed reading this book because of these topics and how much they overlap with current issues in America. I also liked learning about Emma Goldman's interesting life. For lack of a better description, she was bold af and had some really unconventional ideas for the time period and as a woman.
- Censorship
- Working conditions and worker's rights
- Immigration
- Does violence beget violence?
- Capitalism
- Where does social evil come from? How can we correct it (education, religion, etc)?
- Media and how the news can influence perceptions of political figures
- Plus many more!
I enjoyed reading this book because of these topics and how much they overlap with current issues in America. I also liked learning about Emma Goldman's interesting life. For lack of a better description, she was bold af and had some really unconventional ideas for the time period and as a woman.
August 24, 2025
Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing an ARC of this book.
This was an interesting biography for me, as I was not familiar with Emma Goldman. Emma lived in a time where women had very limited rights, and she worked to help shape the future work conditions and labor movements. This book was detailed, maybe a little too much, as some portions felt a little long winded. But overall an interesting biography.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
This was an interesting biography for me, as I was not familiar with Emma Goldman. Emma lived in a time where women had very limited rights, and she worked to help shape the future work conditions and labor movements. This book was detailed, maybe a little too much, as some portions felt a little long winded. But overall an interesting biography.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
September 24, 2025
I knew nothing about Emma Goldman before listening to this audiobook. I am a fan of Heiligman's other books and how she takes a complicated subject and makes it accessible for teen readers. She does that once again with this book, but I am not sure of the appeal of Goldman to teen readers. I also don't think I needed to know this much about Goldman - a good, long article probably would have worked for me.
October 16, 2025
Deb Heiligman’s writing about history is always to be read and this is no exception. As someone who knew little about Emma Goldman or the anarchist movement in the United States, I was fascinated by “EG.” Her drive, her determination, and her compassion were impressive and illustrated perfectly here. As Deb said in the Acknowledgements and I have been lucky to meet and hear her speak about her writing process, it is clear she loved “spending more than four years with her (EG).
November 5, 2025
Emotional and informative biography of a historical figure I knew very little about. Emma Goldman is fascinating and her battles with the US Government are particularly poignant right now. Her strong ideals and her determination are something to which readers can aspire. The author includes quite a bit of Goldman's tumultuous personal life, which humanizes her and highlights how the people she knew and loved affected her ideas.
August 6, 2025
This was super informative! I didn't know anything about Emma Goldman before reading this, but she was a fascinating person who had a lot of influence on women's and workers rights in the US. I think the book overall was a little longer than it needed to be, and I don't think it will have a wide appeal to teens necessarily, but still an interesting book overall.
October 25, 2025
I can't quite put my finger on why this didn't work for me, but it just wasn't quite right. I didn't really know anything about Emma Goldman before reading this, and I'm not sure how much about her I'm going to retain. I think I just needed to know more about her as a person than just the info dump about the things she did. The book itself was fine, but it just didn't click for me.
December 17, 2025
Quite an interesting nonfiction and good audio. Clearly well researched. Fascinated with her speaking out and also many lovers -lots of references to her love of men and radical free love beliefs at the turn of the century. Appreciated her work on abortion. Not sure that anarchy is the best way but nothing else seems to be working well either…
December 30, 2025
A fascinating read on the life of Emma Goldman. And while I disagree with the violence aspect within anarchy, I am in awe of her tireless efforts to QUESTION EVERYTHING, changing the way we see and understand unions, marriage equality, birth control, and more. We all have a voice- some just use theirs better than others to fight for something meaningful.
April 16, 2026
I can’t figure out whether Emma Goldman was a woman ahead of her time (maybe any time) or a product of her time, when it seems Americans were more informed about and invested in society and politics. Regardless, she emerges in these pages as a woman committed to her principles, her family, and her friends. A totally unique and unforgettable figure.
August 9, 2025
What a wonderfully engaging biography of an extraordinary woman! Emma Goldman was a force of nature, and that sense of motion carries into the biography. I think young historians will be fascinated by her life and ideas, which still feel daring and fresh.
August 29, 2025
The cover design and apparent thorough research earn an A+. However, at 328 pages, it's quite long even for someone genuinely interested in Emma Goldman. I think it might be a tough sell for teenagers, who are the target audience.
September 29, 2025
I didn't realize this was aimed at a YA/teen audience, because there's nothing mentioned on the cover and it was shelved with adult nonfiction at the library. It reads like it was written for a much younger audience, like talking down to little children.
March 15, 2026
Wonderful to read this rich, 3-dimensional portrait of Emma Goldman. Who knew she served double scoops of ice cream to children? More importantly, we witness the development of an activist. Extremely relevant today, and I hope historical memory will treat her better.
November 5, 2025
Emma Goldman was such a fascinating person. Deborah Heiligman did a great job in displaying the complexities of this woman.
December 13, 2025
I preferred Heiligman’s Clara Lemlich book. Loudmouth is sort of similar but longer. I am not sure what it adds. Some of this is just me: I’ve been sort of down on biography as a genre lately
January 19, 2026
There is no doubt that Emma Goldman was an incredible woman—for her time and any time—but I didn’t love the book.
March 15, 2026
She was a firebrand! Interesting time to read an anarchist’s history
May 15, 2026
Interesting biography
May 23, 2026
I read Emma Goldman's autobiography in high school and hadn't really heard anything about her since. I preordered this book and am really glad I read it. What a badass!
November 25, 2025
A great biography for teen readers and someone looking for a simple overview of Emma Goldman’s life.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews