General+Books

= = = General Books- Annotations =

Flexner, Century of Struggle
Annotation: The covers the variety of topics from education, employment, trade union organization, the professions, the law, the political franchise up until 19th Amendment. It is broken up into three parts. The first part starts with the colonial era and transitions into the antebellum era covering the abolitionist movement which sparked the women's rights movement and the Seneca Falls Convention. The second part of the book covers the Civil War, the start of the Suffrage movement (including women in western states getting the right to vote) and other reform movements that impacted women's lives. The third part covers the twentieth in the years before the 19th Amendment. While the first two parts are more the focus for this path finder it is important for any researcher to know what happened before and after their time frame. This book is good for a over all view of the women's rights movement.

Norton, Major Problems in American Women's History
Annotation: Is a great resource to get primary sources without having to track down sources at a archive at places across the country. It also includes scholarly articles at the end of the chapters. While there is a newer edition of this book that was published in 2007. But the 1989 version has more chapters that focus on the 19th century. The documents introduce key issues and reveal both the flavor of the times and the passionate spirit and conviction typically underlying the debate. The essays are to to show varying interpretation that can be drawn the study of these documents and the convictions they sparked. The aim of this book is to encourage readers to develop their own interpretations.

Chapters 7, 8, 10 highlight the Suffrage Movement.

Ryan, Women in Public
Annotation: While this book does not explicitly talk about the women's rights movement it talks a great deal about women used public spaces for their own movements. First it gives a good back ground into the ways space was seen in the 19th century with women being kept in the home and men having reign outside the home this includes more than the business world but restaurants and theaters. But it goes into more detail about how public spaces and women were starting to embrace each other and how women found their own niches in public spaces. It also discusses that politicians used women to influence their husband's votes. Then with the Civil War it was more accepted for women to use public space to raise funds for the war. This discusses in detail the way women used public space in the cities of New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco so while this might limit the history it portrays it gives good insight into the history of women in public spaces.

Sklar, Women's Rights Emerges
Annotation: The book features documents from Sarah and Angelina Grimké lives including letters and speeches that they made and that were written about them. The focus of this book is to show through these women’s lives the emergence of the women’s rights movement that came out of the anti-slavery movement in the 1830s. The second focus of the book is to show the transformation of the definition for acceptable behavior for women in public life in the United States. The reason why this book focuses of these sisters is because they were principal actors in anti-slavery movement and the emergence of the women’s rights movement. This book is good for a case study for the women that came from these movements. It is also good resource for primary documents so one does not have to spend large amounts of times going through archives to find this information.

Wellman, The Road to Seneca Falls
Annotation: While this book's subtitle is "Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights Convention" this book covers a great deal of subjects mostly because Stanton had her hands in a lot reform movements. She was involved in the abolition movement, Quaker heritage, and Legal Reform in New York. Wellman focuses on Stanton in the case of Seneca Falls Convention because Stanton can't be separated from the Seneca Falls Convention because she was its main organizer. The book also focuses on the history of Seneca Falls town as Wellman calls it a "fulcrum point." During the years between the Revolution and the Civil war tried to figure out what it meant to be American? And because of its geography upstate New York became a particular focus for the reforms that took place in the 19th century. So while the focus of the book focuses on Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Seneca Falls it gives a good history of the women's rights movement. = =

** Other Books- Annotations **
===**Bacon, Mothers of Feminism ** ===

Annotation: This book covers the story of Quakers in the way they influenced both the abolitionist movement, other reform movements and the Suffrage movements. Quakers were considered the first feminist because Quaker women were given the same rights as men. Though Quakers were a small percentage of the population in the 19th century famous women that came from the Quaker heritage are the Grimké sisters, Abigail Kelley, Susan B. Anthony and the twentieth century suffragist Alice Paul. This book is good for a case study for how a religious sect could impact so many reform movements.

Chapter 8 and 12 are the high lights the Suffrage Movement.

Sterling, Ahead of Her Time
Annotation: This is the only book in the Beately Library that primarily focuses on Abigail Kelley Foster. Foster came from the Quaker heritage and was a leader in the abolitionist movement and because of her powerful ways she inspired other suffragist such as Lucy Stone. This book is a little gem in the collection because it gives light to a woman who fought for human's rights. It is a good insight into a woman who pushed boundaries because she dared not to be a submissive woman and took charge of her own life. It is very focused case study so not good for a general study on the women's rights.