Book Review
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0068 |
The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear
By Kate Moore
388 pages, Sourcebooks
REVIEWED BY MEGAN HODGKISS
Be ready to be infuriated, riveted and inspired. The Woman They Could Not Silence is a true story about Elizabeth Packard, a woman whose husband committed her to an insane asylum—for the crime of publicly disagreeing with him.
Elizabeth Packard was a housewife and mother of six who lived in Illinois in the 1860s. She was thoughtful, intelligent and independent. After 21 years of marriage, her husband Theophilus has Elizabeth committed to the Jacksonville Insane Asylum. Theophilus, a local preacher, has been feeling increasingly threatened by his wife's opinions about religion and child-rearing, and he believes that an asylum is the only way to silence her. So, he arranges for a local doctor to falsify a report on her mental health and has the county sheriff take her into custody.
As horrific as this whole situation is, Elizabeth quickly realizes that she's not the only one to experience it. The Jacksonville Insane Asylum is full of sane, rational women whose husbands and families have tried to hide them away. Elizabeth observes the inhumane conditions inside the hospital, and the horrible way that the patients are treated for their "sickness." Overseeing the asylum is Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who may be even more dangerous than her own tyrant of a husband.
No one—not Dr. McFarland, the asylum employees, the community, her friends or even her family—is willing to fight for Elizabeth. She and the other patients have been labeled "insane" and "crazy" so that their voices and needs can be ignored. No one wants to support these disenfranchised women. So, Elizabeth decides to fight for her own freedom and rights. She refuses to be silenced. Her work and words bring justice to those in the Jacksonville Insane Asylum, and eventually, make a long-lasting impact within the fields of U.S. law and medical science.
Elizabeth Packard fought against the 19th century laws that gave men a shocking amount of power over their wives. Readers may be surprised to learn about the state and federal laws concerning property ownership, child custody and forced confinement (not to mention all of the gender-based social norms of the day). Elizabeth's journey takes place in 1860s Illinois, but...
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