Concerned with women who were materially poor, Parisian seamstresses, what riches lie within Maria Tamboukou’s wonderful Sewing, Writing and Fighting. She provides an analytically outstanding feminist genealogy of the submerged histories of some fascinating women, who were socialist revolutionaries, unionised workers, militant feminists, thinkers and writers as well as seamstresses, and in a way that is both engaging and thought-provoking.

Liz Stanley, Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh

This highly original, richly theorised account draws us into the storyworlds of revolutionary seamstresses who struggled for recognition of the importance of women’s work. Maria Tamboukou’s meticulous scholarship brings a sense of personal connection, respect and reverence to her philosophical reflections on gendered power relations and the importance of association.

Marty Grace, Professor and Head of Social Work, Victoria University

The meticulous and detailed approach to exploring women’s lives that we have come to expect from Maria Tamboukou is turned in this book to the voices of Parisian seamstresses during the July Monarchy (1830–1850) … So often our research into women’s lives yields an enormous amount of apparently disconnected and potentially irrelevant information that we reluctantly return to the depths of an archive box. Tamboukou’s careful theoretical framing provides an excellent example of why, and how, the minutiae of women’s lives can be brought together to make sense of both the past and the present.

Women's History Review