Book Review

• Publication year: 2022
• Pages: 0068
• Citation: Vol. 28 No. 2 Pg. 0068

Book ReviewNo. Vol. 28 No. 2 Pg. 68Georgia Bar JournalOctober, 2022

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...