First published 2009
Sally McMillen examines the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention that launched America's women's rights movement. The book traces five decades of activism from 1840 to 1890 through the lives of four key figures: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony. McMillen shows how these women came to champion women's rights and documents the advances they achieved during their lifetimes. The convention in that quiet New York town demanded full equality with men, expanded legal rights, better professional and educational opportunities, and voting rights. These ideas shocked contemporary society. Susan B. Anthony later called the convention "the grandest and greatest reform of all time." McMillen reveals the complete significance of those two July days and explores the enormous changes that followed. The book demonstrates how a small gathering of determined activists transformed American society and created lasting effects that extended far beyond their own era.
Genres: history, feminism, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 19th-century, womens-rights, activism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-figures, social-justice
Setting: Seneca Falls, New York
Period: 1840s, 1890s
322 pages · Paperback · Oxford University Press