Fearless Woman

Ward's book offers a vision of Irish feminism in its complexity, revealing the subtler and more nuanced relationships that crossed ideological differences, as well as the friendships and alliances among feminists in Ireland, England, America and Europe. Through close and devoted study of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, scholars may see how all the theatrics of resistance - choreographies, stage business, the orchestration of shots, interruptions, heckling - is developed and transmuted. She remains a powerful feminist ancestor to study and admire. Lucy McDiarmid, Irish Literary Supplement; It takes a book like this to remind us how women have been written out of mainstream Irish history. In this biography of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington she draws out of oblivion the history of Irish feminism in the first decades of this century. When one reads Margaret Ward's account of that period it is astounding that such consistent political action was omitted from Irish history. Ethna Viney, Irish Times ;Margaret Ward's biography of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington reveals her to have been a remarkable woman in her own right who established a militant suffrage movement in Ireland, supported the organization of women workers and went on to become a significant figure in Sinn Fein. Throughout her life Hanna faced the difficult task of balancing the claims of her feminism and her commitment to Irish independence. Margaret Ward gives a balanced account, sifting through stories and myths. Sheila Rowbotham, The Times; Margaret Ward is one of a number of women historians who have been engaged in excavating the history of women in Ireland and the history of Irish feminism. This biography is an important contribution to that process. Catriona Crowe, Sunday Tribune; ‘Margaret Ward’s Fearless Woman, a well-researched and highly readable biography of the feminist and latter-day convert to Irish Republicanism Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, exemplifies the positive attributes of the recent crop of Irish women’s history.’ - Aidan Beatty, Journal of Modern History, February 2024.