Alice Paul : claiming power / J. D. Zahniser & Amelia R. Fry.

By:

Zahniser, Jill Diane

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2014]Description: ix, 395 pages ; 25 cmISBN:

9780199958429 (hbk alk. paper)
0199958424 (hbk alk. paper)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

324.6/23092 B 23

Summary: Alice Paul has long been an elusive figure in the political history of American women. Raised by Quaker parents in Moorestown, New Jersey, she would become a passionate and outspoken leader of the woman suffrage movement. In 1913, she reinvigorated the American campaign for a constitutional suffrage amendment and, in the next seven years, dominated that campaign and drove it to victory with bold, controversial action, wedding courage with resourcefulness and self-mastery. This biography of her early years and suffrage leadership offers fresh insight into her private persona and public image, examining for the first time the sources of her ambition and the growth of her political consciousness. Using extensive oral history interviews with Paul and her colleagues, the authors revise our understanding about Paul's engagement with suffrage activism in England and later emergence onto the American scene. Though her Quaker upbringing has long been seen as the spark for her commitment to women's rights, the authors show how her childhood among the Friends forged crucial aspects of Paul's character, but her political zeal developed out of years of education and exploration. The authors explore the ways in which her involvement with the British suffragists Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst honed her instincts and skills, especially her dealings with her most important political adversaries, Woodrow Wilson and rival suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt. Applying new research to the persistent questions about Alice Paul and her legacy, this biography analyzes her charisma and leadership qualities, sheds new light on her life and work and is essential reading for anyone interested the woman suffrage movement.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	Adult Non-Fiction	324.623092 ZAH	Available		36748002191338

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Alice Paul has long been an elusive figure in the political history of American women. Raised by Quaker parents in Moorestown, New Jersey, she would become a passionate and outspoken leader of the woman suffrage movement. In 1913, she reinvigorated the American campaign for a constitutional suffrage amendment and, in the next seven years, dominated that campaign and drove it to victory with bold, controversial action -wedding courage with resourcefulness and self-mastery. This biography of Paul's early years and suffrage leadership offers fresh insight into her private persona and public image, examining for the first time the sources of Paul's ambition and the growth of her political consciousness. Using extensive oral history interviews with Paul and her colleagues, Authors J. D. Zahniser and Amelia R. Fry substantially revise our understanding about Paul's engagement with suffrage activism in England and later emergence onto the American scene. Though her Quaker upbringing has long been seen as the spark for her commitment to women's rights Zahniser and Fry show how her childhood among the Friends forged crucial aspects of Paul's character, but her political zeal developed out of years of education and exploration. The authors explore the ways in which her involvement with the British suffragists Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst honed her instincts and skills, especially her dealings with her most important political adversaries, Woodrow Wilson and rival suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt. Applying new research to the persistent questions about Alice Paul and her legacy this compelling biography analyzes Paul's charisma and leadership qualities, sheds new light on her life and work and is essential reading for anyone interested the woman suffrage movement.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Alice Paul has long been an elusive figure in the political history of American women. Raised by Quaker parents in Moorestown, New Jersey, she would become a passionate and outspoken leader of the woman suffrage movement. In 1913, she reinvigorated the American campaign for a constitutional suffrage amendment and, in the next seven years, dominated that campaign and drove it to victory with bold, controversial action, wedding courage with resourcefulness and self-mastery. This biography of her early years and suffrage leadership offers fresh insight into her private persona and public image, examining for the first time the sources of her ambition and the growth of her political consciousness. Using extensive oral history interviews with Paul and her colleagues, the authors revise our understanding about Paul's engagement with suffrage activism in England and later emergence onto the American scene. Though her Quaker upbringing has long been seen as the spark for her commitment to women's rights, the authors show how her childhood among the Friends forged crucial aspects of Paul's character, but her political zeal developed out of years of education and exploration. The authors explore the ways in which her involvement with the British suffragists Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst honed her instincts and skills, especially her dealings with her most important political adversaries, Woodrow Wilson and rival suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt. Applying new research to the persistent questions about Alice Paul and her legacy, this biography analyzes her charisma and leadership qualities, sheds new light on her life and work and is essential reading for anyone interested the woman suffrage movement.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Acknowledgments (p. vii)
A Note about Naming (p. x)
Introduction (p. 1)
1 "Mind the Light" (p. 5)
2 "We Will Find a Way, or We Will Make One" (p. 25)
3 "Heart and Soul Convert" (p. 41)
4 "A New and More Heroic Plane" (p. 65)
5 "A Little Stone in a Big Mosaic" (p. 86)
6 "We Came, They Saw, We Conquered!" (p. 105)
7 "A Procession of Our Own" (p. 126)
8 "A Dark Conspiracy" (p. 160)
9 "We Go to Smash, or Make Good" (p. 178)
10 "A Great Body of Voting Women" (p. 192)
11 "The Voice of the New Power" (p. 211)
12 "The Ghost at the Feast" (p. 231)
13 "The Young Are at the Gates" (p. 254)
14 "Jailed for Freedom" (p. 279)
15 "Not a Gift, but a Triumph" (p. 298)
Epilogue (p. 320)
Notes (p. 325)
Bibliography of Major Sources (p. 381)
Index (p. 387)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Zahniser and Fry's biography shines a bright light on the "elusive" figure of suffragist Alice Paul (1885-1977). A woman whose life bridged the "first" and "second waves" of feminism, Paul was once a towering figure in American suffragist politics, having cut her teeth on the battle for women's voting rights in Britain. The elegantly constructed narrative combines the filaments of Paul's precocious life into an incisive tale, beginning with her Quaker upbringing and following her as she emerges as an activist and agitator. The book shows how Paul navigated the shoals of propriety, respectability, and the necessity of forthright activist tactics. In addition, Zahniser and Fry (who died in 2009) effectively explore the often forgotten warrens of feminist history and its intersections with world events, including WWI. The authors deserve credit for tackling the issue of racism within the suffrage movement, as well as Paul's latent prejudices. While showing how Paul became a suffragist, and the battles that defined a generation of fractious feminist activism, the book leaves the rest of her long life, after 1920, to other scholars. This is not only the story of one person, but of her epoch and culture. Zahniser and Fry have done readers a profound service. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.