Great historical overview of the suffrage movement. Organized well and very thorough research and documentation.

Loved it. Recommended it to friends.

(i missed submitting this review when it fell off my "Shelf" page to the "older" page. sorry!)

This is a well written, easy to read history of the Women's Suffrage movement in the United States. Many well known women associated with the movement are included as well as some long forgotten names. Along with the text lots of wonderful historical photographs are included. The author also tries to unsuccessfully tie the historical movement with the recent movement of women in politics but does not explain why Hillary lost. Nor does she offer a compelling reason for women to become more involved in politics. In the back of the book she includes short bios and photographs of current women in politics. No matter what your politics are you should Remember the Ladies who fought and died to give women the vote. Read this book for the fascinating history on women finally gained the vote and the photographs not for the recent history.

I requested this from NetGalley because I thought it sounded interesting - it's a history of the suffragette movement in America. I don't know if this is the right but from the book the American version seems to be a movement largely born and bred in America, with only a little bit of inspiration of Britain.

Considering that this is a movement that started in 1848 (the book starts by going back and forth in history so I'm not entirely sure) and involves many many people, the author did an admirable job of condensing it into one book. The chapters are also pretty short and simple, which makes it a good introduction for beginners like me. (Though I think people looking for a more in-depth exploration of the subject may not be satisfied)

Apart from the history, there are also "columns" that give brief biographies of key figures. I think this would work very well as a history textbook, but since I read it in three or four sittings, those biographies and mini-essays felt a bit disruptive to the flow of the book.

I did learn a few things though! One was why there was an overlap between the Temperance movement and the suffragist movement! The book puts it this way:

"Wives of drunkards were generally unable to provide for themselves or protect themselves and their children in their homes. Hence sobriety became a primary women's rights issue."

Another thing I've noticed is that identity politics is not new. The movement for voting rights for women and African Americans (although focused more on the men) occurred roughly at the same time and when African American men began making progress, one of the leading women of the suffrage movement "began using language in speeches and written commentaries that denigrated both black men and poor immigrants who had begun pouring into the country."

I found that to be very sad and self-defeating (especially when the African Americans 'fought back' by essentially saying that women's rights were not important because they weren't in danger). Not a historian but it feels like this quarreling only serves to help people who were against these movements because it's basically dividing and self-defeating.

And this, by the way, is the reason why I'm not a fan of identity politics and the recent trend in emphasising how one is somehow part of the most oppressed good - this may be soothing to your ego but I really don't feel it's effecting in getting you the allies you need to effect real change. We should be building everyone up, not just one particular community.

The ending too was a bit odd. It sort of jumps from when women get the vote to Hilary Clinton's presidential run (about which books can and probably are being written). There are intriguing facts mentioned - like how significant numbers of white women voted for Trump, but no exploration into the reason why. Personally, I would have preferred the book to stop at the vote, especially since the beginning did talk about current affairs.

Overall, I think this book is a good introduction to the history of women's voting rights in America. I'm not a fan of the awkward ending but that's just me - others may like that fact that she brought it back to the present day.

(And I'm very torn between 3 and 4 stars but I think I'll give 4 because of the subject matter)

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Most histories of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States go back to the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 but ‘Remember the Ladies’ takes its title from a letter from Abigail Adams to her husband, John, whilst he was attending the Second Continental Congress, imploring him and his colleagues "Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors" when devising "the new Code of Laws". This plea was, of course, not heeded and this book tells the uplifting story of the struggle to gain the right to vote for women in federal elections which culminated in the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

One of the book’s many attractive features is its inclusion of beautiful black and white photographs of many of this movement’s key figures. All the ‘usual suspects’ are there, including Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Ida B Wells-Barnett, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, and Lucy Burns.

It is a tribute to Angela P. Dodson’s breadth of vision that her photo gallery and text also has room for much less familiar individuals, including Amelia Bloomer (who popularized the bloomer), Victoria Woodhull (who helped found the Equal Rights Party) and Belva Lockwood (who ran for President in 1884 and 1888), as well as some of the key men who championed sexual equality, such as Frederick Douglass (who spoke at Seneca Falls), Henry Ward Beecher (the first President of the American Woman Suffrage Association) and Aaron Augustus Sargent (who in 1878 introduced an amendment in Congress that would have given women the vote).

Dodson writes that when she “embarked on the project to write this book, I was inspired by the upcoming centennial anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment”. She is a Hillary Clinton supporter and clearly hoped that publication would also coincide with the smashing of the ultimate political glass ceiling.

It was not to be and ‘Remember the Ladies’ ultimately revolves around two questions: why was Wilson converted to support for votes for women, when in 1912 he expressed himself “definitely and irreconcilably opposed to woman suffrage” and why did Clinton fail to win the 2016 presidential race?

Dodson considers all the possible reasons for Wilson’s conversion: a calculation that women would be more likely to support the Democratic party than the Republicans; the embarrassment caused by Alice Paul’s hunger strike tactics; the desire to reward women for their war work; even the extent to which he was nagged by his pro-suffrage daughter, Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre. Ultimately, however, Dodson ducks any attempt to place these factors in order of importance, just as she fails to provide a detailed explanation for Hillary’s ‘failure’, observing that according to CNN exit polls, 53% of white women voted for Trump without really explaining why that was the case.

In retrospect it would have been better for Dodson to cut her losses and end the book in 1920, rather than extend the story to 2016. Notwithstanding this sense of anti-climax, this is a very enjoyable book which will illuminate the story of women’s suffrage for the general reader as well as providing many thought-provoking vignettes for those already familiar with the basic story.