Publishers Weekly
★ 04/01/2019
Historian and biographer Ware (American Women’s History: A Very Short Introduction) crafts a smart, eclectic collection of 19 mini-biographies of Americans who worked for women’s suffrage. Ware’s take is fresh; she includes subjects in less-discussed locales (such as Massachusetts “farmer suffragettes” Molly Dewson and Polly Porter, or Utah Mormon suffragette Emmeline Wells), and analyzes cultural artifacts such as newspaper cartoons by women cartoonists and buttons worn by activists to highlight the various ways movement ideas were communicated. The first of the book’s three sections, “Claiming Citizenship,” opens with Susan B. Anthony voting in the 1872 election in Rochester, N.Y., justifying doing so with her interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment: as citizens, women had the right to vote. In the second part, “The Personal is Political,” Ware’s subjects illustrate how the suffrage movement changed women’s private lives; Illinois activist Ida Wells-Barnett, for instance, backed a losing Chicago mayoral candidate in 1915, which cost her her job as a probation officer. The final section, “Winning Strategies,” focuses on a new generation of suffrage supporters’ dramatic tactics, as when, in 1909, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton climbed Washington’s Mount Rainier to stake a “Votes for Women” banner. Though heavily reliant on stories of white women, Ware’s excellent compendium expertly shows there are new ways to tell the suffrage story. This is a must-read for those interested in women’s and American history. Illus. (May)
The Atlantic - Gal Beckerman
In this history of women’s suffrage, Ware spends time with the individuals who never received recognition for their efforts in the cause…Ware explores the thousands of ways that the idea of universal suffrage circulated and identifies who allowed it to circulate. We see minds changing, which would eventually lead to laws changing too.
Socialist Worker - Jan Nielsen
As we see abortion rights attacked so fiercely in the U.S., this book is a reminder that winning the vote was not the end of the fight. It was the beginning of a continuing battle for real equality.
H-Net Reviews - Rachel Gunter
A wonderful use of material history, which students will find engaging and entertaining…A thoroughly researched and fascinating read on a diverse suffrage movement that will help spur interest in the movement well after the Anthony Amendment’s centennial.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
One woman can refuse to pay taxes. A dozen can issue a manifesto. But it takes a multitude to mount a parade. Susan Ware’s lively and delightful book zooms in on the faces in the crowd to help us understand both the depth and the diversity of the women’s suffrage movement. Some women went to jail. Others climbed mountains. Visual artists, dancers, and journalists all played a part. Suffragists tangled with each other as well as with opponents. Far from perfect, they used their own abilities, defects, and opportunities to build a movement that still resonates today.
This entertaining and lively history of the women’s suffrage movement is full of surprises, featuring accounts of people and events that are not well known and highlighting women from minority groups and from regions other than the Northeast. What a fresh take on the traditional narrative that begins with Seneca Falls and ends with the victory in 1920. I found myself looking forward to each new section.
Ms.
[Ware] places 19 women who've been overlooked because of race, class or sexuality back on the front lines of the fight for the ballot. Their stories provide readers with an intimate account of the unheralded activism that won women the right to vote, and an opportunity to celebrate a truly diverse cohort of first-wave feminist changemakers.
New Yorker - Casey Cep
Her cast of characters usefully illustrates the geographic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic range of the suffrage movement. Ultimately, though, the diversity of the voting-rights advocates is less shocking than the diversity of voting rights themselves…Demonstrates the steady advance of women’s suffrage while also complicating the standard portrait of it: the right to vote is less a switch than a dial, one that can be turned up or dimmed down.
Tanya Selvaratnam
Susan Ware’s book should be required reading for anyone who cares about our democracy and has forgotten how hard women had to fight for their right to participate in building a better future. She reminds us how far we’ve come—and how far we have yet to go.
Book Riot - Nancy Snyder
A complete historical portrait of the suffrage movement. Ware delves into the racism and Eurocentrism of the suffrage movement, as well as portraying suffragists from the South and West, Mormon suffragists, and pockets of suffrage history just brought to light. A tremendous work…this is my newest favorite history book.
Canadian Journal of History - Karla J. Strand
An endlessly readable ode to lesser-known—but equally important—women from a variety of backgrounds, all dedicated to the cause of women’s suffrage…Ware is intentional in naming the racism of white suffragists and not backing away from shining a long-overdue light on the imperfections and inequities of the movement…While meticulously researched to satisfy the most seasoned suffrage scholar, the book is written most prominently for the enjoyment of armchair historians.
A Mighty Girl
Moving, inspiring, and empowering, this is a testament to political action, the bond between women, and the power of raising your voice.
Boston Globe
Looks at 19 activists from around the country, from a variety of races and backgrounds, revealing that the movement was made up of a wider and much more diverse group than is typically noted in the history books…It comes at a potent moment as the nation next year will see the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which deals with women’s suffrage, and a presidential election that has drawn a record number of women candidates.
Marjorie J. Spruill
This entertaining and lively history of the women’s suffrage movement is full of surprises, featuring accounts of people and events that are not well known and highlighting women from minority groups and from regions other than the Northeast. What a fresh take on the traditional narrative that begins with Seneca Falls and ends with the victory in 1920. I found myself looking forward to each new section.
Ms.
[Ware] places 19 women who've been overlooked because of race, class or sexuality back on the front lines of the fight for the ballot. Their stories provide readers with an intimate account of the unheralded activism that won women the right to vote, and an opportunity to celebrate a truly diverse cohort of first-wave feminist changemakers.
Library Journal
★ 04/01/2019
One hundred years ago, in 1919, the Nineteenth Amendment was finally submitted to the states for ratification. The road to the Nineteenth Amendment and women's suffrage was long and arduous, and many key players have been forgotten or lost among names such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Historian and biographer Ware (American Women's History: A Very Short Introduction) does a wonderful job of highlighting people and subjects often passed over when exploring the fight for women's rights, including names such as Mary Church Terrell, Rose Schneiderman, Claiborne Catlin, and Emmeline W. Wells. Ware does not shy away from some of the controversies often hidden when studying suffragism, namely racism, and is able to give both a broad and detailed look at the movement through her thoughtful choices of chapter subjects. This text brings to light fascinating stories underrepresented in traditional looks at women's suffrage in the United States, providing just the right amount of detail in each chapter before moving on to yet another enthralling tale. VERDICT Those interested in 18th- and 19th-century American history, specifically women's history, would enjoy this comprehensive read.—Rebecca Kluberdanz, Central New York Lib. Resources Council, Syracuse
Kirkus Reviews
2019-03-03
A collection of inspiring stories of the women who fought for the 19th Amendment.
Refreshingly, Ware (American Women's History: A Very Short Introduction, 2015, etc.), the honorary women's suffrage centennial historian at the Schlesinger Library, focuses on many of the lesser-known but equally audacious, talented women who joined the fight, profiling 19 courageous individuals who thought for themselves and brought their husbands willingly with them. "To bring the story of the…movement to life," writes the author, "I have organized the narrative as a prosopography featuring nineteen discrete but overlapping biographical stories." Many suffragists were abolitionists first, which both strengthened and weakened their cause, as the same arguments against granting votes for black men were applied to women. The feminist movement merged with the suffragists in the early 1900s, and feminism brought a broader commitment to economic independence, sexual emancipation, and freedom from the need to marry. Individual states began to give women the vote slowly, beginning with Utah in 1870, although it was temporarily repealed in 1887 in an attempt to control polygamous marriage. By 1896, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho had given women the vote. Those who fought for enfranchisement were often writers, artists, and cartoonists, and their work was put to good use in designs for banners, buttons, and posters and in publications like Alice Stone Blackwell's Woman's Journal and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Forerunner. There were also those who were practically a one-woman show—e.g., Claiborne Catlin, who raised awareness in Massachusetts during her long unfunded pilgrimage on horseback. Ware also discusses the experiences of black women, like Ida B. Wells and Sojourner Truth, who faced not only sexism, but racism as well. Mary Church Terrell, the daughter of wealthy ex-slaves, not only traveled to Europe, but also addressed the Berlin International Council of Women in 1904. By 1919, most of the Western states had granted women the vote; the next fight would take all their talents to gain ratification of the amendment.
Important American history that is also timely given recent attempts at voter suppression.
