In this well-structured, fluent and lively account, Paula Bartley uses new archival material to assess whether Pankhurst should be seen as a heroine or a tyrant, a conservative or a progressive. Emmeline Pankhurst was the most prominent campaigner for the women's right to vote and was transformed into a popular heroine of the early twentieth century. Early in life she was attracted to socialism, she grew into an entrenched and militant suffragette and ended up as a Conservative Party candidate. This new biography examines the guiding principles that underpinned all of Emmeline Pankhurst's actions, and places her achievements within a wider social and political context.