The eight-decade period covered in Roses and Radicals begins with a young Elizabeth Cady Stanton getting her consciousness raised about sexism in the Abolitionist movement while attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 and ends with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920 (with a nod forward to the failed effort to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in 1979). Many of us have encountered Victoria Woodhull’s name as a one-line reference to the first woman ever run for the US presidency how many of us knew that she got her start as Cornelius Vanderbilt’s personal clairvoyant, using her salary (and very prescient stock tips) to start a radical newspaper? Readers of any age will get to know the often-quirky, sometimes-conflicted personalities involved in the First Wave of the women’s movement in a way that impresses us with their courage and persistence without glossing over their faults. The result is an introduction to the subject that, at 168 pages, can be inhaled in a day and still leave most of us far more knowledgeable about the women’s rights struggle than the vast majority of Americans.īetter than that, it’s an exhilarating read, breezily written in language that neither talks down nor bogs down. So Zimet - New Paltz’s former town supervisor and now executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State - decided to delve more deeply into the history of the women’s suffrage movement and digest her research into a book geared toward middle-graders that could be used in schools to heighten awareness of this important aspect of our heritage. The struggle for suffrage wasn’t covered when I was in school…. “As I read, it struck me: I’m a woman and a former elected official, yet I knew so little about this enormous part of American history - my history. In her introduction to the book, due to be published next month by Viking, Zimet recalls how news of commemorations of the 2017 centennial of the enfranchisement of women in New York State made her realize that this wasn’t a familiar enough story. Those who choose to read further than the subtitle will be rewarded with a surprisingly juicy and engaging tale, and come away with a deepened appreciation for how “epic” the fight for women’s suffrage in America truly was.

So, upon picking up a copy of Susan Zimet’s new book Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote, some might be tempted at first to roll their eyes. Some would argue that the term has become so overused that it is losing its meaning. “Epic” is an adjective popularly thrown around these days, especially by young people wishing to express their approval of some pop-culture phenomenon like a new Star Wars movie.

Roses and Radicals by Susan Zimet