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When I went to law school, so many of the stories we heard in class treated menâs experiences as the ordinary baseline and womenâs experiences as something to skip over or briefly mention as a footnote. This narrow perspective warps our understanding of the past, present, and future, and helps perpetuate womenâs inequality. I have been studying and writing about sex discrimination for more than two decades. I wanted to write a book that included women in the center of American law and history. In the process, I learned about scores of fascinating women who Americans know too little about or forget entirely.
Another common misconception is that the Nineteenth Amendment extended the vote to all American women. In fact, many womenâespecially women of colorâremained disenfranchised after the Amendmentâs ratification in 1920.
Jonesâs engaging book tells the story of the black women who continued to fight for enfranchisement and equal rights for decades after the Amendment.
âAn elegant and expansive historyâ (New YorkTimes)of African American womenâs pursuit of political powerâand how it transformed America   InVanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American womenâs political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work ofBlackwomenâMaria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and moreâwhoâŚ
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 runâŚ
When I went to law school, so many of the stories we heard in class treated menâs experiences as the ordinary baseline and womenâs experiences as something to skip over or briefly mention as a footnote. This narrow perspective warps our understanding of the past, present, and future, and helps perpetuate womenâs inequality. I have been studying and writing about sex discrimination for more than two decades. I wanted to write a book that included women in the center of American law and history. In the process, I learned about scores of fascinating women who Americans know too little about or forget entirely.
Catt led the largest woman suffrage organization in the United States during the final push for the Nineteenth Amendment, which prohibited sex-based denials of the franchise. Too often, dominant accounts of how women got the vote describe the Nineteenth Amendment as a gift from men to women.
Cattâs 1923 book makes clear that winning the Nineteenth Amendment was a multigenerational battle that required mobilized women to overcome ferocious opposition.
"A political combat memoir like no other, suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt takes us to the front lines of the Votes for Women battlefields â in the states and in Congress â as American women fight for the franchise. With candor and flashes of wry humor, Catt offers sharp insights into the social, political, and economic forces arrayed against her cause, revealing the strategies that finally brought the suffragists' seven-decade campaign to dramatic victory. Woman Suffrage and Politics is not only a fascinating firsthand account of a major civil rights struggle, but a valuable guidebook for todayâs political activists." ââŚ
When I went to law school, so many of the stories we heard in class treated menâs experiences as the ordinary baseline and womenâs experiences as something to skip over or briefly mention as a footnote. This narrow perspective warps our understanding of the past, present, and future, and helps perpetuate womenâs inequality. I have been studying and writing about sex discrimination for more than two decades. I wanted to write a book that included women in the center of American law and history. In the process, I learned about scores of fascinating women who Americans know too little about or forget entirely.
Johnson was Jack Kerouacâs girlfriend, before and after On the Road (1957) made Kerouac a Beatnik star. I love Johnsonâs memoir because she expands the story of the writers and artists in the so-called Beat Generation to include women who mainstream accounts either ignore or treat as âminor characters.â
In my view, Johnson also demonstrates that she is a better writer than Kerouac, who tended to ramble. Some of her passages have stuck in my head for decades.
Named one of the 50 best memoirs of the past 50 years by The New York Times
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
âAmong the great American literary memoirs of the past century . . . a riveting portrait of an era . . . Johnson captures this period with deep clarity and moving insight.â â Dwight Garner, The New York Times
In 1954, Joyce Johnsonâs Barnard professor told his class that most women could never have the kinds of experiences that would be worth writing about. Attitudes like that were not at all unusual at a timeâŚ
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadâŚ
When I went to law school, so many of the stories we heard in class treated menâs experiences as the ordinary baseline and womenâs experiences as something to skip over or briefly mention as a footnote. This narrow perspective warps our understanding of the past, present, and future, and helps perpetuate womenâs inequality. I have been studying and writing about sex discrimination for more than two decades. I wanted to write a book that included women in the center of American law and history. In the process, I learned about scores of fascinating women who Americans know too little about or forget entirely.
I would not describe this book as a personal favorite, but I do think anyone interested in womenâs history and womenâs rights should read it. Schlafly was the driving force behind the movement to stop ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Her 1977 anti-feminist manifesto simultaneously argues that the ERA is unnecessary because America has supposedly established womenâs equality and that the ERA is threatening because it would take women out of the home. Schlafly outlined a playbook that decades of anti-feminists have followed to the present day.
Phyllis Schlafly is a constitutional attorney and president of Eagle Forum, a leading fighter for pro-family politics and agendas. This book is her reflections on the sexual liberations and other feminist's ideas in comparison to how she has lived. She demonstrates through her life that it was by living a Christian life of devotion and motherhood that she was to be "liberated." The book provides criticism and arguments against radical feminism. Betty Freidan once said over the radio, "I would like to burn her [Phyllis Schlafly] at the stake." It takes much courage for any individual to stand up againstâŚ
I graduated from Wheaton College, MA, at the time, a womenâs college where I developed a heightened appreciation of the power of womenâs abilities to strive for more and achieve more. After learning about an ancestorâs involvement in founding the first womenâs only medical school, I knew those graduatesâ stories needed to be unearthed from the shadows of history by writing my book. Every March, to coincide with Womenâs History Month, I celebrate these women, other glass-ceiling smashers, and the authors who write about them through my list of #31titleswomeninhistory. I have presented to the American Medical Womenâs Association, local chapters of AAUW, ADK sorority, and Soroptimist International, among others.
Wow, wow, wow. I never knew the first woman to run for president, pumped full of audacity and ambition, placed her name on a ballot over 150 years ago! This book dives into the life of Victoria Woodhull, a pioneering figure whose radical views shook 19th-century America.
The book doesn't just recount the historical 1872 election; I walked back into a vividly described past to embrace and celebrate the struggles and triumphs of women fighting for their rights with a new appreciation of those challenges. I read this novel with my book club as an apt choice to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Now, in 2024, I find that Woodhullâs gutsy moves are even more relevant.Â
Forty-eight years before women were granted the right to vote, one woman dared to run for President of the United States, yet her name has been virtually written out of the history books.Rising from the shame of an abusive childhood, Victoria Woodhull, the daughter of a con-man and a religious zealot, vows to follow her destiny, one the spirits say will lead her out of poverty to âbecome ruler of her people.âBut the road to glory is far from easy. A nightmarish marriage teaches Victoria that women are stronger and deserve far more credit than society gives. Eschewing the conventionsâŚ
My great-grandmother was a suffrage leader in Maine from roughly 1914-1920, and is the subject of my first book, Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maineâs Fight for Woman Suffrage. Florence helped found and led the Maine branch of the Congressional Union, working closely with the indomitable Alice Paul. In 2015 I retraced the original route of an epic cross-country trip for suffrage; this led to my novel, We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip. I did extensive research for both books and have become passionate about womenâs rights history. I speak frequently on suffrage to students, historical societies, libraries, book clubs, and other groups.
When I began researching suffrage history I was captivated by the images I found, including illustrations the suffragists created. Yet most books written about the suffrage movement are nonfiction narratives, with only a handful of images. The suffragists were brilliant at using images to skewer the anti-suffragistsâ ridiculous statements about how women voting would ruin families and society.
A graphic designer by trade, Cooney upended that model by gathering together a vast array of photographs, cartoons, and other images depicting both pro-and anti-suffrage sentiment. Itâs a great gift to us, and to future generations, to have all of these images gathered together in one book. I love being able to match the names to the photos of these amazing women.
Winning the Vote captures the color and excitement of a central, inspiring but nearly forgotten chapter in American history. This beautifully designed hardback presents the American woman suffrage movement clearly and chronologically with emphasis on the fascinating personalities and turbulent political campaigns of the early 20th century. Nearly 1,000 photographs, posters, leaflets and portraits illustrate this fascinating account of the expansion of American democracy. Large format images and a fast paced text highlight key developments between 1848 and 1920 including over 52 state electoral campaigns and the final, controversial drive for the 19th amendment. Winning the Vote shows how womenâŚ
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheâŚ
History is my passion as well as my profession. I love a good story! Because understanding the past can be a powerful tool to improving the future, I have written dozens of op-eds and give public talks (some of which can be found in the C-SPAN online library as well as on YouTube). Most of my work focuses on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1877-1920) and includes two award-winning biographies, Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer, and Belle La Follette Progressive Era Reformer. Iâm also the co-editor of A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and author of Beyond Natureâs Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History.
Written to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, this lively, exciting book provides a fresh and comprehensive history of the fight for womenâs suffrage. DuBois is a leading scholar who presents her expertise in prose that appeals to scholars and general readers alike. There are lots of books on the long history of womenâs suffrageâthis is the best.
Honoring the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, this "indispensable" book (Ellen Chesler, Ms. magazine) explores the full scope of the movement to win the vote for women through portraits of its bold leaders and devoted activists.
Distinguished historian Ellen Carol DuBois begins in the pre-Civil War years with foremothers Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojurner Truth as she "meticulously and vibrantly chronicles" (Booklist) the links of the woman suffrage movement to the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War, Congress granted freed African American men the right to vote but not whiteâŚ
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.
This is a remarkable book about a remarkable chapter in the fight for womenâs 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 Womanâs Hour!
"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 theâŚ
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.
Doris Stevensâ 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!Â
A firsthand account of the National Womanâs 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 OâHare. Includes an introduction by Smithsonian curator Edith Mayo, along with appendices, an index, historic photos, and illustrations.
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the worldâs most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the bookâŚ
As a teacher of US womenâs history and educational history, I have long been interested in womenâs collegesâin their faculties, administrators, students, alumnae, goals, and achievements. Most recently, as the biographer of a woman educator (a dean of Barnard College in the early 20th century), I became more deeply involved with the literature on single-sex schools. Major books focus on the older womenâs colleges, the âSeven Sisters,â but devote attention to other colleges as well. I am impressed with the talents of historians, with their skill at asking questions of their subjects, with the intensity of mission at the womenâs schools, and with changing styles of campus culture.
In its early decades, from the 1880s to the 1930s, Wellesley College boasted not merely a woman president butâalone among the âSeven Sistersââan exclusively female faculty. Palmieri examines the impact of an all-woman community on the collegeâs students, professors, traditions, and development. A model exploration of campus culture, highly original, and a fascinating read.
Wellesley College was unique in its commitment to an exclusively female faculty, and has educated women such as Katharine Lee Bates and Hillary Clinton. This book is a narrative history of the first generation of Wellesley professors.
