Why am I passionate about this?

We are the creators, writers, lyricists, directors, and producers of the original musical, 19: The Musical. These are the best books we read on the topic of Alice Paul, suffrage, and the fight for the passage of the 19th Amendment. The amendment finally gave women the right to vote, but almost immediately, legislatures around the country began disenfranchising women of color by clawing voting rights back away from them. Researching the background for 19: The Musical was intense. These books were essential background for us to understand the historical landscape enough to write about it and, where necessary, combine events or create composite characters for our musical.


I wrote

19 The Musical: An American Suffrage Story

By Jennifer Schwed , Doug Bradshaw,

Book cover of 19 The Musical: An American Suffrage Story

What is my book about?

This book is the dynamic and little-known story of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt,…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot

Jennifer Schwed Why I love this book

We found this to be the definitive book on Alice Paul. In our opinion, Alice Paul was the single most important person in getting women the right to vote.

This book is a brilliantly researched and written history of a true American hero that very few people have ever heard of. It is essential reading for understanding the suffrage fight. 

By Mary Walton ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Woman's Crusade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Alice Paul began her life as a quiet girl from a strict Quaker family in New Jersey. But as a young woman, an interest in social work brought her to England, where she apprenticed with the militant suffrage movement there, led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters. Upon her return to the United States, Alice founded her own suffrage movement. Calling themselves 'Silent Sentinels,' she and her followers were the first protestors to picket the White House. Behind bars, they went on hunger strikes and were force-fed and brutalized. Years before Gandhi's campaign of nonviolent resistance, and decades before civil…


Book cover of Alice Paul: Claiming Power

Jennifer Schwed Why I love this book

This book is so good that other authors and academics often reference it. It provided us with great background and insight into Alice Paul and how/why she was able to accomplish what she did.

It does a great job of fleshing out the person behind the movement, which helped us humanize Alice in our musical.  

By J.D. Zahniser , Amelia Fry ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Alice Paul as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Alice Paul redirected the course of American political history. Raised by Quaker parents in Moorestown, New Jersey, she would become a passionate and outspoken leader of the woman suffrage movement. In 1913, she reinvigorated the American campaign for a constitutional suffrage amendment and, in the next seven years, dominated that campaign and drove it to victory with bold, controversial action-wedding courage with resourcefulness and self-mastery.

This riveting account of Paul's early years and suffrage activism offers fresh insight into her private persona and public image, examining for the first time the sources of Paul's ambition and the growth of her…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote

Jennifer Schwed Why I love this book

This is a remarkable book about a remarkable chapter in the fight for women’s right to vote. The story of the suffrage fight throughout the Summer of 1920 in Tennessee is so incredible that it seems impossible.

And what is even more bonkers is how remarkably similar some of the issues and players are to those of today. We could have done an entire show based on what we learned in The Woman’s Hour!

By Elaine Weiss ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Woman's Hour as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Both a page-turning drama and an inspiration for every reader" -- Hillary Rodham Clinton

Soon to be a major television event, the nail-biting climax of one of the greatest political battles in American history: the ratification of the constitutional amendment that granted women the right to vote.

Nashville, August 1920. Thirty-five states have approved the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote; one last state--Tennessee--is needed for women's voting rights to be the law of the land. The suffragists face vicious opposition from politicians, clergy, corporations, and racists who don't want black women voting. And then there are the…


Book cover of Alice Paul: Equality for Women

Jennifer Schwed Why I love this book

This is an easy-to-read yet unflinching history about Alice Paul and her role in the fight for the vote. We found it to be written in an accessible manner, but the stories of what Alice Paul and the other suffragists went through (physically, mentally, and emotionally) during their arrests and incarcerations left a lasting impression on us. 

By Christine Lunardini ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Alice Paul as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Alice Paul: Equality for Women shows the dominant and unwavering role Paul played in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, granting the vote to American women. The dramatic details of Paul's imprisonment and solitary confinement, hunger strike, and force-feeding at the hands of the U.S. government illustrate her fierce devotion to the cause she spent her life promoting. Placed in the context of the first half of the twentieth century, Paul's story also touches on issues of progressivism and labor reform, race and class, World War I patriotism and America's emerging role as a global power, women's activism in the…


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Book cover of And Then They Were Gone: Teenagers of Peoples Temple from High School to Jonestown

And Then They Were Gone by Ron Cabral,

Of the 918 Americans who died in the shocking murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, in the tiny South American country of Guyana, a third were under eighteen. More than half were in their twenties or younger.

The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…

Book cover of Jailed for Freedom: American Women Win the Vote

Jennifer Schwed Why I love this book

Doris Stevens’ book is one of the very few published about Alice Paul and the suffrage fight during the era itself. Her firsthand accounts of the trials, tribulations, strategies, suffering, and eventual victory had a great impact on us.

Historically, not a lot was written about the subject, so we appreciated this book immensely! 

By Doris Stevens , Carol O'Hare (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jailed for Freedom as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A firsthand account of the National Woman’s Party, which organized and fought a fierce battle for passage of the 19th Amendment. The suffragists endured hunger strikes, forced feedings, and jail terms. First written in 1920 by Doris Stevens, this version was edited by Carol O’Hare. Includes an introduction by Smithsonian curator Edith Mayo, along with appendices, an index, historic photos, and illustrations.


Explore my book 😀

19 The Musical: An American Suffrage Story

By Jennifer Schwed , Doug Bradshaw,

Book cover of 19 The Musical: An American Suffrage Story

What is my book about?

This book is the dynamic and little-known story of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Inez Milholland, Lucy Burns, and the other suffragists who fought to get women the right to vote—The 19th Amendment. The inspirational story of these fearless women is brought to life through jazz, traditional musical standards style, spoken word, and hints of gospel.

This audiobook is an enhanced version of the full musical stage play that was performed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 2019. It includes all the music and dialog from the show, as well as narration and sound effects, to bring it to life as an audio experience. 

Book cover of A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot
Book cover of Alice Paul: Claiming Power
Book cover of The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote

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