Harriot Stanton Blatch and the winning of woman suffrage

Harriot Stanton Blatch (1856-1940), daughter of the famous suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, played an essential role in the winning of woman suffrage in the Undited States. Ellen DuBois' powerfully written book is both a biography of Harriot Blatch and a new appraisal of the triumph and aftermath of the American woman suffrage movement. Blatch's dedication to woman suffrage, marked by a concern for social justice and human liberty, closely paralleled that of her mother. After her mother's death in 1902, Blatch returned to the United States. There she encouraged women from all classes to participate in the suffrage movement, advocated a lively activist style, and brought a genuine political sensibility to the movement. She led the 1913-15 votes for women referendum campaign in New York state and cofounded in 1916 the National Woman's Party. And though she devoted herself to enfranchisement, she also envisioned a feminism that encompassed economic power and independence for women. In telling the story of Blatch's life and work, DuBois reinterprets the history and politics of the American suffrage movement and its impact on women's freedom.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.