title: Writing the Revolution (A Feminist History Society Book)
author:  Michele Landsberg 
description: I think of Michele Landsbergs book as a clutch purse, in the sense that I tuck the gleaming thing under my folded arm, clutching it for safety and comfort and for the treasure it holds. Open it and jewels spill out: the stories of lives lived by women during feminisms second wave. Love, humiliation, struggle, pain, small triumphs, great victories, all dressed in this great womans words imbued with the warmth for which she is famous. It isnt the book of the year or the decade, its our own personal true story.  (<i>Heather Mallick</i>)<br /><br />It's a fascinating read that put recent history into perspective for me. All I know is that she got a lot right. She advocated for causes like the right to abortion, better child programs, same-sex marriage and ending the war in Iraq, but she also put her personal life - her issues and experiences - from becoming a mother to surviving breast cancer out there, too. (<i>Canadian Living "Life" blog</i> 2011-10-15)<br /><br />Michele Landsberg's columns in the Toronto Star were the first of their kind in a daily newspaper - fearless and unabashedly feminist. Her book mines the best of these passionate pieces that gave women a voice where there was none. It's easy to see how Landsberg inspired an entire generation of women - and men, including husband Stephen Lewis, who never gives a speech without mentioning her influence on him. (Susan Cole <i>NOW Magazine</i> 2011-10-13)<br /><br />Writing the Revolution, Ms. Landsberg's passionate repository of wit, wonder and worriment offering her unique and unforgettable views upon those heavenly hellish years she spent as one of The Toronto Star's most influential and controversial voices. (<i>"In Other Words" blog, The Globe and Mail</i> 2011-10-13)<br /><br />She brought legitimate left political cred to what began as a place in the "Women's section" and morphed over the years to front-section prominence. Long before she left the Star in 2003, Landsberg was renowned as one of the nation's clarion Second Wave feminists. She was the very model of the journalist-as-social activist, no mere recorder of the heady parade. (<i>The Toronto Star</i> 2011-10-16)<br /><br />Writing the Revolution demonstrates how Landsberg took feminism to the masses with intelligence, passion, and wit, and illustrates the enormity of the role she played in changing the lives of Canadian women. (<i>Quill &amp; Quire</i> 2011-12-01)<br /><br />Even more interesting is Landsberg's running commentary of back stories, details about sources, and other asides, fascinating additions that make this book much more than a mere collection of newspaper columns. (<i>Quill &amp; Quire</i> 2011-12-01)<br /><br />Reading her columns is sometimes difficult work, and rewarding for that very reason. One cringes, clenches, sometimes has to shut ones eyes for a moment of respite before re-embarking down the page. But you end up caring. (<i>The Toronto Review of Books</i> 2012-05-02)<br /><br />As a record of feminist organizing over the past fifty years, I doubt "Writing the Revolution" can be beat. (<i>The Outlook on Books</i> 2012-03-01)<br /><br />The book, and particularly the added commentary, serves as a reminder that despite the incredible advancements made by the women's movement we still have a long way to go before we fully achieve society-wide equality. (<i>herizons Magazine</i> 2012-07-23)
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  # A Woman's Part in a Revolution
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Natalie Harris Hammond
  
  
  This page formatted 2004 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  PREFACE
  
  
  
  
  
  A WOMAN'S PART IN A REVOLUTION
  
  
    
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  E-text prepared by Michael Ciesielski, Jeannie Howse, and the
  
  
  Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
  
  
  A WOMAN'S PART IN A REVOLUTION
  
  
  by
  
  
  MRS. JOHN HAYS HAMMOND
  
  
  Longmans, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row London New York and
  
  
  Bombay
  
  
  1897
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### PREFACE
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  To the American Public, whose sympathy was my chief support through
  
  
  days of bitter trial, this book is gratefully dedicated. My personal
  
  
  experience forms the subject of my story. The causes of the Revolt in
  
  
  Johannesburg, and the ensuing political questions, are but lightly
  
  
  touched upon, in defere