The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss

THE WOMAN'S HOUR by Elaine Weiss is an absolutely terrific non-fiction book which tells the story of the fight to ratify voting rights for women. As such, it makes me think of the quote attributed to Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Although author Weiss focuses mainly on the six weeks in 1920 during which the Tennessee legislature debated ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment, in THE WOMAN'S HOUR she notes that “winning the vote required seventy-two years of ceaseless agitation by three generations of dedicated, fearless suffragists … the women who launched the movement were dead by the time it was completed; the women who secured its final success weren’t born when it began.” 

This is, frankly, a dense and detailed read but it is surprisingly suspenseful and a fascinating look at American attitudes towards women, with elements of regionalism/states’ rights, class, and race included, too. I have already been talking about incorporating it in class discussions with our American Studies teachers. A reading guide link is here. THE WOMAN'S HOUR received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.

For more ideas on truly inspirational women, see the display in the library; plus, check out more ideas online from Goodreads regarding how well-behaved women seldom make history (a list of recommended titles from Elaine Weiss) and see a new feature called  “Overlooked” which profiles women whose obituaries were not previously published by The New York Times.