First published 2021
Between 1840 and 1910, hundreds of thousands of women traveled into the underdeveloped American West seeking adventure and opportunity. Survival in these frontier communities demanded equal partnership between spouses, forcing women to abandon eastern conventions and shoulder responsibilities traditionally reserved for men. These circumstances proved women were as vital as men to westward expansion. Their efforts to achieve equality through action rather than argument succeeded remarkably. Wyoming Territory granted women voting rights in 1869, partly to attract more female settlers. Western suffragists used this victory as leverage to secure similar rights across the region. By 1914, most western women could vote while eastern women remained disenfranchised. Gallagher chronicles the White, Black, Asian, Native American, and Hispanic women who transformed both the frontier and women's roles in American society. These settlers established schools, churches, and charitable organizations while claiming their own homesteads and attending new coeducational colleges. Drawing from extensive research, the author reveals how these women created communities on harsh prairies and in rough mining camps while simultaneously advancing the women's rights movement and redefining what it meant to be an American woman.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, gender-studies, american, feminism, non-fiction, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, non-fiction
Setting: America, United States, West
Period: 1840-1910
304 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press