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A review by vibeke_hiatt
Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote by Todd Hasak-Lowy, Susan Zimet
4.0
I received a copy of this book from the author through Goodreads Giveaways.
When I saw this book in the list of giveaways, I was immediately interested in it. I can't speak for every high school and college in the country, but I can say that every US history class I took in school seemed to run out of time before we reached this point in history. After focusing on the birth of our nation, then stalling on the Civil War, we were usually left with a week to sprint through the 20th century. I realized that all I knew about suffrage was that it was led by Susan B. Anthony and that women were finally given the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th amendment. Aside from some things my husband and I have learned about female voters in Utah (more on that later), almost everything in this book was new to me.
The target audience for Roses and Radicals is listed as middle grade, but I found it highly readable even as an adult. The short length of the book and Zimet's style make for a quick read that will appeal to young readers and busy adults alike. The word "epic" in the subtitle is misleading, though, since it's not much more than an overview of the subject. But even as an overview, it contains a wealth of information. I would never have guessed that the women's rights movement wasn't even interested in giving women the right to vote at first. Of the demands women made in the early days, that just wasn't one of them. But even now, it's one of the only demands that was actually met.
My only frustration with the book was its Eastern-heavy perspective. Living in the Western United States, this has been a lifelong challenge. As I mentioned above, my husband and I have been learning a little of the history of female voters in Utah from the book [b:Saints Volume 2: No Unhallowed Hand|51247314|Saints Volume 2 No Unhallowed Hand|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581663723l/51247314._SX50_.jpg|71409920]. Knowing that the Wyoming Territory gave women the right to vote in 1869 and that Utah followed in 1870, I was disappointed that Zimet's narrative jumped from 1869 to 1872 without any mention of those events. It was 36 pages later when we finally received a text box with a short summary of our history, as though we were an afterthought. The information wasn't very illuminating and misrepresented some of our experiences.
Despite that, I highly recommend this book. I'm glad to have it as part of my collection and look forward to letting my daughters read it when they're older.
When I saw this book in the list of giveaways, I was immediately interested in it. I can't speak for every high school and college in the country, but I can say that every US history class I took in school seemed to run out of time before we reached this point in history. After focusing on the birth of our nation, then stalling on the Civil War, we were usually left with a week to sprint through the 20th century. I realized that all I knew about suffrage was that it was led by Susan B. Anthony and that women were finally given the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th amendment. Aside from some things my husband and I have learned about female voters in Utah (more on that later), almost everything in this book was new to me.
The target audience for Roses and Radicals is listed as middle grade, but I found it highly readable even as an adult. The short length of the book and Zimet's style make for a quick read that will appeal to young readers and busy adults alike. The word "epic" in the subtitle is misleading, though, since it's not much more than an overview of the subject. But even as an overview, it contains a wealth of information. I would never have guessed that the women's rights movement wasn't even interested in giving women the right to vote at first. Of the demands women made in the early days, that just wasn't one of them. But even now, it's one of the only demands that was actually met.
My only frustration with the book was its Eastern-heavy perspective. Living in the Western United States, this has been a lifelong challenge. As I mentioned above, my husband and I have been learning a little of the history of female voters in Utah from the book [b:Saints Volume 2: No Unhallowed Hand|51247314|Saints Volume 2 No Unhallowed Hand|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581663723l/51247314._SX50_.jpg|71409920]. Knowing that the Wyoming Territory gave women the right to vote in 1869 and that Utah followed in 1870, I was disappointed that Zimet's narrative jumped from 1869 to 1872 without any mention of those events. It was 36 pages later when we finally received a text box with a short summary of our history, as though we were an afterthought. The information wasn't very illuminating and misrepresented some of our experiences.
Despite that, I highly recommend this book. I'm glad to have it as part of my collection and look forward to letting my daughters read it when they're older.