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Wanderers: A History of Women Walking Paperback – August 25, 2021
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“A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of ‘knowing’ that they found along the path.”—Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path
“I opened this book and instantly found that I was part of a conversation I didn't want to leave. A dazzling, inspirational history.”—Helen Mort, author of No Map Could Show Them
This is a book about ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces their footsteps, from eighteenth-century parson’s daughter Elizabeth Carter—who desired nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond in the wilds of southern England—to modern walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed. For each, walking was integral, whether it was rambling for miles across the Highlands, like Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, or pacing novels into being, as Virginia Woolf did around Bloomsbury. Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing—of being—articulated by these ten pathfinding women.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherReaktion Books
- Publication dateAugust 25, 2021
- Dimensions5 x 1 x 7.75 inches
- ISBN-101789145015
- ISBN-13978-1789145014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Historically, women were consigned to domestic tasks that hemmed them in. For a woman to walk as freely as a man was a radical act and fraught with potential danger. Here Andrews turns a scholarly eye on ten women throughout history, most of whom lived in Great Britain, who walked or, rather, hiked long distances. . . . Andrews interacts with each walker by either tracing similar paths herself or reflecting upon those paths' significance." ― Booklist
"Through the life stories of ten wandering women, Andrews explores 'the previously unacknowledged breadth, depth, and distinctiveness' of their writing, and reveals a rich 'female tradition of walking.' . . . For Linda Cracknell, who lives in the Tayside town of Aberfeldy, both writing and walking are empathetic activities. The paths she walks 'ring with the voices of earlier women-walkers who passed there.' After writing this book, Andrews too finds her paths 'companioned' (to use Nan Shepherd’s word) by other women-wanderers, part of a rich cultural heritage that her fascinating research has revealed." ― Guardian
"In her book Wanderers: A History of Women Walking, Borders-based writer and hillwalker Kerri Andrews profiles women writers for whom walking solo has been an empowering act, pivotal to their creativity and personal freedom. 'The history and literature of walking is all about men, so there’s the sense that it is therefore a male space because women have no role models or history,' said Kerri. 'But there is a long history of women walking. It held great importance for them but they wrote in journals and letters, so their accounts were not as well-known." ― Sunday Post
"The history of walking has always been women's history, Andrews declares, even if the weight of manmade literature suggests otherwise." ― Sunday Telegraph
"Literary scholar (and walker) Andrews offers a deft introduction to ten women walker/writers. Her overall point is that women's walking has been overlooked by those (men) who have considered walking a modern cultural activity. . . . Recommended." ― Choice
"Andrews features a wonderful cast of characters. . . . It still feels somehow radical to talk about women ramblers and flâneuses; the sensitive, well-researched portraits in Wanderers rightly begin to redress the balance." ― The Idler
"This book not only brings to light some women who walked and have been hidden in the shadows, but inspires us to consider our own reasons for walking and what we get from it. Andrews brings her own experiences and connections with the women she introduces in the book into each chapter, and her own love of walking shines through. . . . If I hadn't read this book already, it would be on my wish list this Christmas!" ― Scottish Mountaineer
"In Wanderers, the reader finds him or herself in excellent company. We accompany literary legends such as Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Wordsworth as well as less well known, but equally exceptional, figures such as Ellen Weeton and Sarah Stoddard Hazlitt as they stride out through the landscapes that inspired and sustained them. . . . Although Wanderers does show its readers that there have, historically, been barriers to women’s freedom to walk, its great achievement is to remind us of the prize worth challenging convention and facing those risks, that the freedom to walk is." ― The Pilgrim
“In giving voice to female walker-writers, Wanderers fills out some big blanks in the history of walking, from an eighteenth-century pioneer to walkers of the present day. . . . In Andrews's sensitive portrayals there's a sense of identification with her subjects. This may be as close as you'll get to the inside of Nan Shepherd's head—and that seems like an interesting place to be.” ― UKHillwalking.com, "Top Picks of 2020"
"Think of famous walkers and it's men like Wordsworth and Keats who likely spring to mind. But that's only half the story: here Andrews fills in the blanks with a history of women walkers of the last three hundred years, including eighteenth-century roamer Elizabeth Carter, Anaïs Nin, Nan Shepherd, and Cheryl Strayed." ― Country Walking Magazine
"Andrews's academic background is balanced by her sociable writing style which gives it a broad appeal. This is a truly pioneering book from an author whose love of her subject shines through. Whether you read it from the comfort of your armchair or take it with you on your next walking adventure, it is the kind of book that will stay with you for many years to come." ― Yorkshire Gazette and Herald
"What unites these accounts of plucky women is that they use walking and wandering to break gender barriers and to acquire a measure of freedom and independence." ― Perceptive Travel
"The written works of these women walker-authors offer new insights into the role of walking in human creativity. They also demonstrate that while women at times walked for the same purposes as men, the experience of being on foot has often meant markedly different things for them. As Andrews makes clear, the burdens placed on women throughout the centuries have never stopped them from walking." ― Geographical
"[Andrews's] study successfully fills in several of the blanks that have characterized and marginalized the Western history of female walking until today. As such, Andrews’s pioneering book is a must-read for any scholars working on the interplays of gender and mobility." ― Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies
"Andrews’s Wanderers [is] an attempt to redress the masculine bias of our literary history of walking by highlighting the achievements of ten notable female walker-writers. . . . What Andrews provides—and it is no mean feat—are inspiring pen-portraits of ten remarkable women, intercut with reminiscences of the author’s own exploits as either a novice or experienced walker. . . . Wanderers is a delightful, impassioned study of female walkers, which should significantly raise the profile of a number of its subjects. . . . This well-researched and highly readable book [carries] forward the vital project of writing women fully into our literary history of walking." ― Women's Writing
"A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of 'knowing' that they found along the path." -- Raynor Winn, author of the "The Salt Path"
"For centuries, women have walked for freedom, pleasure, identity, and solace: they have walked-for-their-lives. Andrews’s remarkable history of these wanderers is timely and exciting. Enchanted by Andrews’s accessible, engaging, rigorous work, I opened this book and instantly found that I was part of a conversation I didn’t want to leave. A dazzling, inspirational history." -- Helen Mort, author of "Black Car Burning," "Division Street," and "No Map Could Show Them"
“Walking is a seemingly straightforward, near-universal activity. But Andrews’s revelatory and important book shows us how walking has, for women, come to hold such political significance that walks—Reclaim the Streets marches—are a mainstay of feminist protest. With the absorbing voice and attention to detail of a favorite hiking companion, Andrews unearths the forgotten women who have walked for creativity, for independence and self-discovery, to remember, to forget, to escape violence, to find physical and emotional strength. It’s easy to think of hiking as a solitary pursuit, but Andrews expertly reveals how walking and walkers are profoundly shaped by social dynamics. The remarkable women in Wanderers walk in the face of restrictive corsets and crinolines, the demands of motherhood, nay-saying medical advice, and an ever-present fear of male violence. When we picture a walker, it is usually a man, alone on a mountain summit. But Andrews opens up a very different and vastly more expansive vista, in which ‘the history of walking has always been women’s history,’ and every present-day walker, male and female, should be grateful to her.” -- Rachel Hewitt, historian and trail-runner, author of "Map of a Nation"
“Wanderers discovers a history of women walkers which spans three hundred years. . . . [Andrews’s] company is just as intelligent and lively as the women she ‘companions’ along the way. Heaven knows how many miles are covered—an astonishing number. But miles don’t really matter. What matters is that all women who can, should feel encouraged to get out there and claim our birthright. We should all be able to enjoy our walking free from fear, in what is, after all, our world too. Thanks to this book, we know that even in solitude we never walk alone. A fine female tradition is at our backs, encouraging us along.” -- Kathleen Jamie, author of "Surfacing," "Sightlines," and "Findings" ― from the foreword
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Reaktion Books; 1st edition (August 25, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1789145015
- ISBN-13 : 978-1789145014
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 1 x 7.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #151,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #201 in Travel Writing Reference
- #224 in Running & Jogging (Books)
- #446 in Women in History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Kerri Andrews is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Edge Hill University. She writes about literary history, particularly untold or forgotten histories, and has published widely on women’s writing. Her book, Wanderers: A History of Women Walking, will be published by Reaktion in September 2020. Tracing the footsteps of ten women walker-writers from eighteenth-century parson’s daughter Elizabeth Carter – who desired nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond in the wilds of southern England – to modern walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed, Wanderers offers a beguiling, alternative view of the history of walking.
Kerri is also one of the leaders of Women In The Hills, an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project aimed at exploring the factors enabling and inhibiting women's access to upland landscapes. The project brings together people from all areas of walking, mountaineering, land access and management, to drive change in women's access and experiences.
Kerri is the General Editor of Nan Shepherd’s letters, the first ever edition of Shepherd's, which will be published in 2023 by Edinburgh University Press. She is also a keen hill-walker and a member of Mountaineering Scotland.
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Profiles of women walking
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2024This was a gift purchase for my 28 year old daughter. She is pleased with in - for walkers and creative types.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2024The writing is lovely; the author takes us in different journeys by different women walkers during a time when it was not only unusual but strange. She includes male siblings and male friends to orient us to the time and compares their trekking to that of these remarkable women. Since reading this book I've taken solo hikes in England (Yorkshire) and Scotland (Ballachulish/Glencoe; the Cairngorm Mountains).
- Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023Andrews, K. (2020). Wanderers: A history of women walking. Reaktion Books.
Kerri Andrews is Reader in Women’s Literature and Textual Editing at Edge Hill University. Kerri is one of the leaders of Women In The Hills, an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project aimed at exploring the factors enabling and inhibiting women’s access to upland landscapes. The project brings together people from all areas of walking, mountaineering, land access and management, to drive change in women’s access and experiences.
The forward sets the tone: "As humans, walking defines us. . . We walk, and we talk. . . . The rhythms of our walking and of our thinking are one." Andrews explains: This is a book about ten women who, over the past three hundred years, have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers." Part of what drives her is that while the "history of walking has always been women's history," women's stories are omitted from the narratives on walking. Featured women included: Elizabeth Carter, Dorothy Wordsworth, Ellen Weeton, Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, Harriet Martineau, Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd, Anais Nin, Cheryl Stayed, and Linda Cracknell. Andrews acknowledged that for women walking can create risk and vulnerability, still "Women have always walked. . . . Women writers too have, for hundreds of years, found walking to be essential to their creative processes, and to their sense of self." Walking was a way of escape, discovery, inner reflection, embodiment and experiencing the body in relation to nature. Andrews concluded: "For women walkers, their literary creativity is bound to walking just as tightly, and just as profoundly, as men's. But women move differently, see differently and write differently about their experiences." She identifies 15 additional authors in an appendix who walk and/or write about walking.
Such a wonderful read, although I though the analysis provided in the Coda was weak and repetitive to what was already said within the women's profiles. I love the escape from dailiness and anonymity that walking provides, it's a chance to "walk away" from responsibility and any demand on my attention to just be. It's freeing and exhilarating to be in nature or even a cityscape, for me curiosity and exploration drive my steps forward - I love not knowing what's around the next corner. Reading these women's stories and how they reflected on walking within their writing felt comfortable, like I had found women I wanted to have coffee with...
4.0 out of 5 stars Profiles of women walkingAndrews, K. (2020). Wanderers: A history of women walking. Reaktion Books.
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023
Kerri Andrews is Reader in Women’s Literature and Textual Editing at Edge Hill University. Kerri is one of the leaders of Women In The Hills, an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project aimed at exploring the factors enabling and inhibiting women’s access to upland landscapes. The project brings together people from all areas of walking, mountaineering, land access and management, to drive change in women’s access and experiences.
The forward sets the tone: "As humans, walking defines us. . . We walk, and we talk. . . . The rhythms of our walking and of our thinking are one." Andrews explains: This is a book about ten women who, over the past three hundred years, have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers." Part of what drives her is that while the "history of walking has always been women's history," women's stories are omitted from the narratives on walking. Featured women included: Elizabeth Carter, Dorothy Wordsworth, Ellen Weeton, Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, Harriet Martineau, Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd, Anais Nin, Cheryl Stayed, and Linda Cracknell. Andrews acknowledged that for women walking can create risk and vulnerability, still "Women have always walked. . . . Women writers too have, for hundreds of years, found walking to be essential to their creative processes, and to their sense of self." Walking was a way of escape, discovery, inner reflection, embodiment and experiencing the body in relation to nature. Andrews concluded: "For women walkers, their literary creativity is bound to walking just as tightly, and just as profoundly, as men's. But women move differently, see differently and write differently about their experiences." She identifies 15 additional authors in an appendix who walk and/or write about walking.
Such a wonderful read, although I though the analysis provided in the Coda was weak and repetitive to what was already said within the women's profiles. I love the escape from dailiness and anonymity that walking provides, it's a chance to "walk away" from responsibility and any demand on my attention to just be. It's freeing and exhilarating to be in nature or even a cityscape, for me curiosity and exploration drive my steps forward - I love not knowing what's around the next corner. Reading these women's stories and how they reflected on walking within their writing felt comfortable, like I had found women I wanted to have coffee with...
Images in this review - Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2024My mother walks and walks and she used to teach high school history and also a baby boomer. A kind of book she loves.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2023I found myself skimming thru this book just looking for the quotes of the walker featured in each section. The Author's commentary was too repetitive. Yes, already, we know... these women loved to walk, walking was important to them, transformative, etc.etc.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2023Pleased with product [book], but delivery was the BIG issue:
[Amazon] Paper wrapped package [book] was thrown from delivery vehicle and landed on dirt, several feet away from open porch. Rain would have soaked package and book content. No regard !!
- Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022I sure would like to listen to this while walking — too bad there’s not an Audible version (yet).
Top reviews from other countries
- LisaReviewed in Canada on April 9, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Gift Idea
This book is a fantastic gift for women who love to walk. Buy it for your friends who love to enjoy nature.
- Helen CartyReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read..
Bought for a friend and she loved - would be a interesting read for all women who love walking ..
- JessicaReviewed in Spain on January 8, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Read - a must for women walkers everywhere!
What a treasure of a book to find, and I don't know how I never found it sooner. Fantastic read, and a must for women walkers everywhere, and indeed, a must for all hikers in general. It would certainly help everyone understand the challenges of life in society as a woman, and particularly, life as a woman hiker. 100% recommend.
- J EdwardsReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Joyful
A deeply contemplative experience for the reader whilst discovering details from the past. Whilst absorbing the past experiences of a range of walkers - many new to me - this book also makes you consider your own reasons and enjoyment for walking, whilst giving a broad scope of past experiences. Personal reminiscences by the author are poignant and stimulate a philosophical element to the consideration of the nature of walking and bring outdoors. Highly interesting for those who have newly discovered the joy of walking in lockdown, and those who have held this passion in their lives for many years. A joyful book to read but also ‘feel’ with contemplation and mindfulness about how to experience walking - the inspirations of solitude and the happiness of companionship. A book to buy for good friends.
- RpstennettReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2022
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Excellent read