Elaine Weiss is an award-winning journalist and writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Times, and The Christian Science Monitor, as well as in reports and documentaries for National Public Radio and Voice of America. A MacDowell Colony Fellow and Pushcart Prize Editor's Choice honoree, she is also the author of Fruits of Victory: The Woman's Land Army in the Great War (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press).
"At the heart of democracy lies the ballot box, and Elaine Weiss's
unforgettable book tells the story of the female leaders who--in
the face of towering economic, racial, and political
opposition--fought for and won American women's right to vote.
Unfolding over six weeks in the summer of 1920, The Woman's Hour is
both a page-turning drama and an inspiration for everyone, young
and old, male and female, in these perilous times. So much could
have gone wrong, but these American women would not take no for an
answer: their triumph is our legacy to guard and emulate."--Hillary
Rodham Clinton "Stirring, definitive, and engrossing....Weiss
brings a lucid, lively, journalistic tone to the story...The
Woman's Hour is compulsory reading."--NPR.org "Weiss is a clear and
genial guide with an ear for telling language ... She also shows a
superb sense of detail, and it's the deliciousness of her details
that suggests certain individuals warrant entire novels of their
own... Weiss's thoroughness is one of the book's great strengths.
So vividly had she depicted events that by the climactic vote
(spoiler alert: The amendment was ratified!), I got goose
bumps."--Curtis Sittenfeld, The New York Times Book Review "With a
skill reminiscent of Robert Caro, [Weiss] turns the potentially dry
stuff of legislative give-and-take into a drama of courage and
cowardice."--The Wall Street Journal "A genteel but bare-knuckled
political thriller...the account reads like a reality show,
impossible to predict...Weiss' narrative is energetic and buoyant
even at the most critical moments."--Ms. Magazine "A nonfiction
political thriller...Weiss zeroes in on the final campaign of the
suffrage movement."--Bustle.com
"Riveting... Weiss provides a multidimensional account of the
political crusade... The result is a vivid work of American
history." --The National Book Review
"Anyone interested in the history of our country's ongoing fight to
put its founding values into practice--as well as those seeking the
roots of current political fault lines--would be well-served by
picking up Elaine Weiss's The Woman's Hour. By focusing in on the
final battle in the war to win women the right to vote, told from
the point of view of its foot soldiers, Weiss humanizes both the
women working in favor of the amendment and those working against
it, exposing all their convictions, tactics, and flaws. She never
shies away from the complicating issue of race; the frequent
conflict and occasional sabotage that occurred between women's
suffrage activists and the leaders of the nascent civil rights
movement make for some of the most fascinating material in the
book."--Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the #1 New York Times
bestseller Hidden Figures
"Even the most informed feminists will learn a thing or
two."--HelloGiggles "[A] lively history."--Newsday "This timely
exploration of the history of American gender politics reverberates
during the present debate over female equality in all aspects of
life and reminds us of how long and complex that struggle has
been."--Knoxville News Sentinel "An intriguing, timely read. Ripe
for book club discussion."--South Coast Today "[An] important
tale...Weiss' reportage...enables her to add splashes of color
[and] wonderful dimension."--USA Today
"A page-turner...the story here is told in all its ugliness."--New
York Journal of Books "This well-researched and well-documented
history reveals how prosuffragists sometimes compromised racial
equality to win white women's enfranchisement, and that, although
the 19th Amendment was ratified, there exists to this day an
ongoing battle to effect universal, unrestricted
suffrage."--Library Journal "Weiss does a wonderful job of laying
out the background of the American women's suffrage movement....A
lively slice of history filled with political drama, Weiss's book
captures a watershed moment for American women."--Book Page
"Remarkably entertaining ... a timely examination of a shining
moment in the ongoing fight to achieve a more perfect
union."--Publishers Weekly, Starred and Boxed Review "Imaginatively
conceived and vividly written, The Woman's Hour gives us a stirring
history of women's long journey to suffrage and to political
influence. Making bold connection with race and class, Weiss's
splendid book is as much needed today as it was in 1940 when
Eleanor Roosevelt noted that men hate women with power. As every
victory since the Civil War and Reconstruction faces the wrecker,
The Woman's Hour is an inspiration in the continuing struggles for
suffrage, and for race and gender justice, and for
democracy.--Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of the New York Times
bestseller Eleanor Roosevelt Praise for Fruits of Victory "Weiss's
excellent work of cross-disciplinary scholarship offers readers a
unique look at how WWI changed society."
--Booklist "Weiss effectively chronicles the birth of the WLA
movement and the dedicated women behind it. Recommended for both
scholarly readers and interested history buffs."
--Library Journal
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