Overview

Shortlisted for the National Jewish Book Awards! Both a love letter to America and a stirring rallying cry for the country to live up to the ideals on which it was founded, this propulsive biography from National Book Award Finalist and ""nonfiction maestro (Horn Book)"" Deborah Heiligman chronicles the extraordinary life and work of groundbreaking political activist Emma Goldman. ★ ""Heiligman's latest . . . solidifies her as one of the absolute best in the business . . . Loudmouth is a master class."" --Booklist, starred review Emma Goldman made trouble her whole life. The first time was by accident. Her birth (in Lithuania, in 1869) angered her father. He had wanted a dutiful son, not a headstrong daughter. The other times were on purpose. When she arrived in America as a young woman, she loved its democratic ideals but was appalled by its hypocrisy. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seemed to be only for those at the top. Something had to be done for everyone else. Someone had to speak up. Soon Emma was delivering rousing speeches on topics like workers' rights, feminism, and the atrocities of capitalism. This is the story of Emma's complex love affair with America. It's also the story of her many romances with the men she met while trying to change America. Emma believed marriage was disempowering to women and lived her life according to the principles of free love. Emma called herself an anarchist and a freethinker. Her critics called her a troublemaker, a ""loudmouth."" But sometimes you need to be loud, if you want your voice to be heard. Deborah Heiligman is a National Book Award finalist, a YALSA Nonfiction Award winner, and a Printz Honor winner. In Loudmouth she tells the extraordinary true story of a woman who was a fearsome fighter for change in her complicated new country--and a complicated human being in her own right. This is an essential read for young people--or for anyone--who wants to use their voice to make the world a better place.

Full Product Details

9781250823076

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Activist Emma Goldman was a remarkable woman and, as this sharp, informed biography shows, a ferocious, engaged, observant, and compassionate child and teen as well . . . The book is fearless in exploring Goldman's considerable strengths as an orator and activist, while also rounding her out as a full woman who became the unofficial spokesperson for the free love movement, who was a loyal friend, and who carried the scars of a nightmare childhood all of her life . . . Heiligman also does exceptional work in exploring how any single speech, warm exchange, or relationship that Goldman had also changed the other people involved."" --BCCB

A National Jewish Book Awards Shortlist Selection A Chicago Public Library Best Books of the Year Selection A New York Public Library Best Books of the Year Selection: Top 10 Books for Teens A Booklist Editors' Choice List Selection A Jewish Women's Archives Winter 2025 Book Club Pick An Official Rewire 2025 Book List Selection ★ ""Heiligman's latest YA biography, about Emma Goldman, solidifies her as one of the absolute best in the business . . . Heiligman treats Goldman with immense perception and compassion, providing helpful context around her subject's contradictions and delivering a lucid portrait of a complicated, multifaceted, and dynamic individual who dared to imagine a better world, full of joy and unconstrained by rules established by people aiming to maintain or increase their own power. As a work of biography, Loudmouth is a master class, but it's Goldman's story in particular that makes this such a success . . . Juicy, empowering, extraordinarily well researched, and deeply intelligent, this is essential reading, and not just for teens."" --Booklist, STARRED REVIEW ""Activist Emma Goldman was a remarkable woman and, as this sharp, informed biography shows, a ferocious, engaged, observant, and compassionate child and teen as well . . . The book is fearless in exploring Goldman's considerable strengths as an orator and activist, while also rounding her out as a full woman who became the unofficial spokesperson for the free love movement, who was a loyal friend, and who carried the scars of a nightmare childhood all of her life . . . Heiligman also does exceptional work in exploring how any single speech, warm exchange, or relationship that Goldman had also changed the other people involved."" --BCCB ""The complexities and passions that characterized Jewish, Lithuanian-born writer and anarchist Emma Goldman (1869-1940) drive this comprehensive, thoroughly researched biography by Heiligman . . . Drawing information from Goldman's own works, Heiligman builds a vivid portrait of a resilient figure who navigated prejudices against immigrants, Jews, women, and the working class at the dawn of the 20th century."" --Publishers Weekly ""Well-researched and comprehensive . . . will feel relevant to contemporary teens. Vividly portrays the life of a champion who stood up--loudly--to injustice."" --Kirkus Reviews ""Heiligman's newest work of nonfiction touches on a long list of hot-button contemporary issues: due process, free speech, gender equity, economic inequality, pacifism, prison reform, reproductive freedom, political violence, and sexual mores . . . True to form, Heiligman distills this remarkable, complex legacy for a new generation with a sure hand, using a conversational voice that draws readers into her meticulously researched narrative."" --The Horn Book ""An engrossing biography . . . Heiligman's depth of research and absorbing, crisp writing makes for a page-turner about a fierce, complex, and influential dissident."" --School Library Journal ""Heiligman doesn't attempt to whitewash Goldman's complicated and sex-filled life for young readers, and her story reads more like a novel than a biography."" --Rewire News Group ""Deb-o-rah Heilig-man presents a detailed view of her subject's life in all its com-plex-i-ty. Whether read-ers are unfa-mil-iar with Goldman's life and work, or aware of her influ-ence on move-ments for social and polit-i-cal change, Loud-mouth will offer new facts and per-spec-tives on 'the most dan-ger-ous woman in America.'"" --Jewish Book Council ""As a fan of Heiligman's work and her meticulous commitment to factual accuracy, Loudmouth certainly doesn't disappoint. It feels at once historical and urgently contemporary. It's a must read for YA readers and adults as well. Goldman is presented not as an idea or symbol, but as a wholly realized human. Commercialism and capitalism within the publishing industry aside, even Goldman herself probably would have approved of her depiction in Loudmouth."" --JUDITH MAGAZINE

★ ""Heiligman's latest YA biography, about Emma Goldman, solidifies her as one of the absolute best in the business . . . Heiligman treats Goldman with immense perception and compassion, providing helpful context around her subject's contradictions and delivering a lucid portrait of a complicated, multifaceted, and dynamic individual who dared to imagine a better world, full of joy and unconstrained by rules established by people aiming to maintain or increase their own power. As a work of biography, Loudmouth is a master class, but it's Goldman's story in particular that makes this such a success . . . Juicy, empowering, extraordinarily well researched, and deeply intelligent, this is essential reading, and not just for teens."" --Booklist, STARRED REVIEW ""Activist Emma Goldman was a remarkable woman and, as this sharp, informed biography shows, a ferocious, engaged, observant, and compassionate child and teen as well . . . The book is fearless in exploring Goldman's considerable strengths as an orator and activist, while also rounding her out as a full woman who became the unofficial spokesperson for the free love movement, who was a loyal friend, and who carried the scars of a nightmare childhood all of her life . . . Heiligman also does exceptional work in exploring how any single speech, warm exchange, or relationship that Goldman had also changed the other people involved."" --BCCB ""The complexities and passions that characterized Jewish, Lithuanian-born writer and anarchist Emma Goldman (1869-1940) drive this comprehensive, thoroughly researched biography by Heiligman . . . Drawing information from Goldman's own works, Heiligman builds a vivid portrait of a resilient figure who navigated prejudices against immigrants, Jews, women, and the working class at the dawn of the 20th century."" --Publishers Weekly ""Well-researched and comprehensive . . . will feel relevant to contemporary teens. Vividly portrays the life of a champion who stood up--loudly--to injustice."" --Kirkus Reviews ""Heiligman's newest work of nonfiction touches on a long list of hot-button contemporary issues: due process, free speech, gender equity, economic inequality, pacifism, prison reform, reproductive freedom, political violence, and sexual mores . . . True to form, Heiligman distills this remarkable, complex legacy for a new generation with a sure hand, using a conversational voice that draws readers into her meticulously researched narrative."" --The Horn Book ""An engrossing biography . . . Heiligman's depth of research and absorbing, crisp writing makes for a page-turner about a fierce, complex, and influential dissident."" --School Library Journal

Author Information

Deborah Heiligman has written many books for children and young adults, including Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of ""The Children's Ship"", a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award finalist and Golden Kite winner; Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, a Michael L. Printz Honor winner, YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, and Golden Kite winner; and Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, a National Book Award finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor winner, and YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner. She lives with her husband and dog in New York City.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available