To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity [Paperback]

Angela Woollacott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0195147197 | ISBN-13: 978-0195147193

Between 1870 and 1940, tens of thousands of Australian women were drawn to London, their imperial metropolis and the center of the publishing, art, musical, theatrical, and educational worlds. Even more Australian women than men made the pilgrimage "home," seeking opportunities beyond those available to them in the Australian colonies or dominion. In tracing the experiences of these women, this volume reveals hitherto unexamined connections between whiteness, colonial status, gender, and modernity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Although life histories feature prominently in Woolacott's account, this is not simply a thrilling adventure story Drawing on postcolonial theories, she investigates the meaning of whiteness. The construction of identities, and the relationship between center and periphery in the British Empire."--Oceania and the Pacific Islands

"In its several intertwined arguments concerning the ways in which white colonial women's travel between Australia and London (and back) were one such 'vector' shaping global modernity, the book exemplifies the rich potential of the new post-colonial history for generating fresh insight into formation of national and international subjectivities." - - Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History.

"This is a wonderful book. It is well written, beautifully designed and conceptually challenging." - - Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History.

The themes in To Try Her Fortune in London also belong with new theoretical approaches to discussions of national identities, discussions that emphasize that such identities are formed outside, as well as inside, national boundaries, in imagining and creating narratives about the other ---nations, colonies, centers of empires."--Australian Book Review

"There have been a number of studies of the way in which British imperial power structured colonial stereotypes but few surveys of the experiences of colonial subjects as they interacted with that imperial power at its centre. Woollacott's book bases its thesis mainly on personal accounts of such experiences and weaves them into a compelling argument." - - Australian Women's Book Review

About the Author

Angela Woollacott Professor of History Case Western Reserve University

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195147197
• ISBN-13: 978-0195147193
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #559,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs Work, But Interesting Subject, May 7, 2009

By 

A. Ferraiolo (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity (Paperback)

I've only read some of the first chapter, but it has already made me frustrated with the way Woollacott expresses her ideas.

In her writing she:
- States the obvious, sometimes twice in a row
- Relies on ready-made, rigidly academic terms
- Has little eye for the subtleties of the situations she describes (she seems to need to fit everything into a framework that makes perfect logical sense. But this makes her writing hollow and way too rigid for me to feel like I'm really learning anything)
- Her examples and quotations don't say much

The best part of the chapter was the introduction, which mainly consisted of insights and used few to no academic terms. I gave the book three stars because I obviously don't have the full picture from reading so little.