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 "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 -- 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 judices 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 -- 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 -- 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 m.