Heiligman, Deborah. Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America (A Love Story). Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 09/2025. 336pp. Biography. Trade $21.99. 978-1-2508-2307-6. GRADES 10–Adult. HIGH ADDITIONAL.
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 to 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 a content warning, notes, bibliography, further reading, index and photographs.
Melissa McAvoy—Retired