Encounters with Harriet Martineau: A Victorian Living Ahead of Her Time

by Stuart Hobday

A champion of women's rights, racial equality, scientific progress, economic fairness and cooperatives, Harriet Martineau’s popular and influential writing on political and economic issues led to fame across Europe and America in the 1830s.

The first female journalist and a founder of sociology she she was a pioneer amongst pioneers. Martineau influenced Charles Darwin, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Florence Nightingale, Josephine Butler and many others.

Her encounters with figures such as these reverberate even today.

She was truly a woman ahead of her time.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2017

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been wanting to read a book about Harriet Martineau for a long time and when I saw this book available to request, I knew I had to read it and I am glad I was approved.

A great book that discusses Martineau’s influences and ideas, ‘Encounters..’ goes into detail about her life in a way that makes it incredibly easy to read and gives you access to the sources so you can go and research for yourself more about the topic.

I like also how the author writes. It’s easy to read but also the way the chapters work going through the decades and showing where the influences on her work begin really works and it made for a fantastic biography of her life.

This book makes me want to know more and I think that makes for great Non Fiction.

(I received an ARC from Netgalley for review).

[Bethany Dark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about a fascinating and largely forgotten titan of the 19th-century literary scene, a woman who paved the way for many developments in literature and sociology yet has been consistently dismissed by academics and the establishment. Since I started researching Martineau six months ago, I have been continually amazed by the breadth of her work and the influence she had. Hobday tells the story of her remarkable life in a way that is detailed, rigorous, coherent and engaging. The writing style is unpretentious, which was a refreshing relief from the other academic works I have been reading!

If you have any interest in the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution, the abolition movement, sociology, or women's writing, this book is a must-read - because Martineau was actively involved in them all!

[Carole Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very readable book, divided into Harriet Martineau's different relationships or friendships with many significant people whose thinking or actions it seems she may well have influenced through her writing or conversation - Darwin, Nightingale and Josephine Butler just a few of many people I learnt more of in this interesting and informative book. Yet I had never heard of her! There is a helpful summary at the end of each chapter. She definitely deserves more recognition yet it seems her atheism/materialism caused distance and suspicion, and perhaps continues to. She sounds like she might have been called 'a difficult woman' but in my view it is women like her who push through barriers, speak the unspeakable and demand change when it is needed.

[Suzie Grogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been keen to find out more about Martineau, especially in relation to her links to the Lake District and key figures in The 19th century. Stuart Hobday has helped me to understand Harriet, her indomitable spirit and intellect and the impact she had and still has on our understanding of the human condition. His enthusiasm for his subject is always evident, his presentation of her ‘encounters’ innovative and clear (if resulting in a little duplication) and I am now keen to learn even more. Great stuff.

[Suzie Grogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect introduction or indeed ‘reintroduction’ to the work and relevance of Harriet Martineau to the field of sociology. Her interests and spheres of influence are helpfully presented as individual chapters that highlight how far she influenced sociological development and how relevant she is in the 21st century.