Sisters : The Lives of America's Suffragists

They forever changed America: Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Alice Paul. At their revolution's start in the 1840s, a woman's right to speak in public was questioned. By its conclusion in 1920, the victory in woman's suffrage had also encompassed the most fundamental rights of citizenship: the right to control wages, hold property, to contract, to sue, to testify in court. Their struggle was confrontational (women were the first to picket the White House for a political cause) and violent (women were arrested, jailed, and force-fed in prisons). And like every revolutionary before them, their struggle was personal. For the first time, the eminent historian Jean H. Baker tellingly interweaves these women's private lives with their public achievements, presenting these revolutionary women in three dimensions, humanized, and marvelously approachable. Jean H. Bakerteaches history at Goucher College and is the author ofJames BuchananandMary Todd Lincoln:A Biography. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. They forever changed America: Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Alice Paul. At their revolution's start in the 1840s, a woman's right to speak in public was questioned. By its conclusion in 1920, the victory in woman's suffrage had also encompassed the most fundamental rights of citizenship: the right to control wages, hold property, to contract, to sue, to testify in court. Their struggle was confrontational (women were the first to picket the White House for a political cause) and violent (women were arrested, jailed, and force-fed in prisons). And like every revolutionary before them, their struggle was personal. Books have extolled their accomplishments and noted their sacrifices. For the first time, historian Jean H. Baker interweaves these women's private lives with their public achievements. Baker presents these revolutionary women in three dimensions, humanized and approachable. Stone the martyr and missionary; Stanton the antireligious individualist; Anthony the activist lesbian; Willard the organizational mastermind; Paul the militant feminist. Finally, these formidable founding mothers of American feminism have been introduced as the sisters they were to each other, and as they must be remembered by the feminists who follow in their footsteps. "No reader can walk away from this [book] without understanding, and being moved by, the tremendous accomplishments of these women."Geeta Sharma-Jensen,Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "No reader can walk away from this [book] without understanding, and being moved by, the tremendous accomplishments of these women."Geeta Sharma-Jensen,Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Jean H. Baker shows us the human web that shaped five women in their self-awareness, nonconformity and leadership in the struggle for suffrage . . . By weaving together their public and private lives, Baker deepens our appreciation for the warp and woof of their struggle."Anne Grant,The Providence Journal "Baker's book gives a clear picture of these women who passion for equal rights led them to spend their lives seeking social change."Stell Simonton,The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "InSisters, historian Jean Baker provides an eminently readable account of the lives of five of the leaders of America's women's suffrage movement. Baker's contribution to this well-mined field is to thoroughly interweave the private lives of her subjects into their public lives and contributions . . . This book, which includes eight pages of black-and-white photographs, prov

Jean H. Baker teaches history at Goucher College.