Women's Struggle for Equality: The First Phase, 1828-1876 (American Ways Series)
Both of these new titles provide a biographical and political base for dealing with the feminist and political aspects of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, but they examine different time periods and regions. Matthews (Toward a New Society; American Thought and Culture 1800-1830, Macmillan, 1990) looks at the roots of the Northern women's suffrage crusade in the reform movements of the liberal, religious middle class. Her focus is the feminist activity of the movement rather than the social history of women's lives. She covers no new ground, and her decision to list sources at the end, rather than to provide notes, makes tracing her ideas difficult. Still, she provides a good summary for the casual reader and a textbook for history students. In contrast, Green (history, Sweet Briar Coll.) concentrates on the feminist politics of the Southern suffragist (primarily antisuffragist) movement of the postbellum South. Through her examination of over 800 middle-class women, both from the rank-and-file as well as those in leadership roles, Green presents a more holistic picture of women's rights in the region. She looks at the effects of urbanization, race, and states rights on the organization and activities on both sides of the suffrage question. The result is a fresh look at the Southern women's suffrage question, which had previously been considered only on a state-by-state basis and through the eyes of movement leaders. Highly recommended.?Jenny Presnell, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OhioCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.