We the Resilient: Wisdom for America from Women Born Before Suffrage

by Sarah Bunin Benor, Tom Fields-Meyer (Editor)

Overview

Amid the rancor of the 2016 presidential campaign, an uplifting story captured the media’s attention. A website called “I Waited 96 Years!” highlighted the voices of women born before August 1920, when the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. Now they were enthusiastically casting ballots to send a woman to the White House. The election’s shocking result left many asking how the country could possibly overcome its division and move forward. We the Resilient offers compelling answers from those who know best: the same remarkable women, between 96 and 104 years of age, who have experienced so much and endured so long. Their wisdom offers much-needed perspective, reassurance, and inspiration at this critical moment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781944733193
Publisher:	Thomas Fields-Meyer
Publication date:	04/24/2017
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

SARAH BUNIN BENOR is an associate professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College. She received her PhD from Stanford University in Linguistics. She is the author of Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers University Press, 2012, winner of the Sami Rohr Choice Award for Jewish Literature) and many articles about Jewish languages and American Jews. She has created several websites, including the Jewish English Lexicon.

TOM FIELDS-MEYER is the author of Following Ezra: What One Father Learned About Gumby, Otters, Autism, and Love from His Extraordinary Son and coauthor of Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism. Formerly a People magazine senior writer, he has written articles for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He assists individuals in writing memoirs and teaches memoir writing in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Senator Barbara Boxer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Questions and Answers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Voters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Wisdom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Perspective: A Response by Michele L. Swers, Political Scientist. . 133

Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

About the Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Editorial Reviews

“It’s a treat to hear about the good old days when FDR was president and to gain perspective on today’s politics from women who have survived a century’s worth of loss and turmoil. They don’t take anything for granted, and neither should those of us who stand on their shoulders.”

—Eleanor Clift, columnist, The Daily Beast

“Moving forward can sometimes seem impossible. These stories of women who waited so long to have their voices heard serve as an inspiration for anyone interested in the patience, passion, and devotion required for change.”

—Mayim Bialik, PhD, actor, neuroscientist, author

“I’m pretty sure I just made 78 new best friends. I love reading about and seeing pictures of the eleven Marys, nine Helens, six Ruths, and the countless others—I would hire any of them for my writers’ room. They make me excited to be 104, and I hope they get to see a woman in the White House. At least they got to see a female late-night host.”

—Samantha Bee, Host of TBS’s late-night show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

“Inspiring testimony from survivors—women in late old age who have lived through the Great Depression, World War II, and McCarthyism, as well as Hillary Clinton’s defeat. They advise courage, hope, humor, keeping on, and knowing that conditions will change. A wonderful, comforting read!”

—Bonnie S. Anderson, Professor Emerita of History, City University of New York

From the Publisher