455 ratings | 31 reviews | avg rating:4.64

Wendy L. Rouse’s Followers (37)

Wendy’s Bookshelves

to-read (41)
currently-reading (2)
read (470)
did-not-finish (0)
anti-racist-teaching (2)
asian-american-history (55)
childhood-history (61)
fair-act-books (5)
feminism (57)
gender-history (90)
See all bookshelves »

Wendy’s Friends (48)

Jae Jae

476 books | 552 friends

Patricia

693 books | 12 friends

Patti

611 books | 119 friends

Fifana Lem

56 books | 345 friends

Leslynn

3,218 books | 403 friends

Maria Skidmore

571 books | 27 friends

Jessie

438 books | 168 friends

Dani

634 books | 146 friends

More friends…

Wendy L. Rouse

Goodreads Author

Twitter

WendyLRouse

Genre

History, Gay and Lesbian, Nonfiction

Member Since

August 2017

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/wrouse

edit data

Wendy L. Rouse is a historian with research interests focus on the history of women and children during the Progressive Era. Her most recent book, Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Suffrage Movement by NYU Press, was published in 2022. Rouse has also written, Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women's Self-Defense Movement by NYU Press. This book examines the emergence of women's self-defense alongside the first-wave of feminism during the Progressive Era. Her first book, Children of Chinatown: Growing up Chinese American in San Francisco by UNC Press, explores the lives of Chinese American children during the era of Chinese exclusion.

Rouse teaches United States history and social science teacher preparation at San Jose State ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Wendy L. Rouse questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Wendy L. Rouse’s books

Average rating: 3.89 · 157 ratings · 42 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement 3.81 avg rating — 107 ratings — published 2022 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women's Self-Defense Movement 4.11 avg rating — 38 ratings — published 2017 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco, 1850-1920 3.93 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2009 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors by Sue Fawn Chung (Contributor), Terry Abraham (Contributor), Paul G. Chace (Contributor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

1 post
Wendy L. Rouse's Blog

Now in Paperback!

Excited to announce that Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement (NYU Press) is now available in paperback. Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 17, 2024 18:10 • Tags: history, lgbtq, womens

Wendy is Currently Reading

Wendy Rouse is currently reading

Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America

by Andrew C. McKevitt

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 27, 2023 12:56PM

Wendy Rouse is currently reading

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

by Sonia Purnell

bookshelves: currently-reading, women-s-history, world-war-ii

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 27, 2023 12:54PM

Quotes by Wendy L. Rouse (?)

“Some women chose to embody this new form of physical empowerment & transformed their words into actions. Exhibition boxer Minnie Rosenblatt Besser had spent years training in the manly art of boxing. She promised to meet any willing opponent, male or female, in the ring. Besser specifically called out several famous male boxers but insisted that she was most anxious to meet Brooklyn boxer Eddie Avery, who had been arrested for wife-beating. Besser explained, 'Any man who will strike a helpless woman I believe to be a coward. Should Avery pluck up enough courage to meet me I think I will prove the truth of this proposition to the world at large.”
― Wendy L. Rouse

tags: battering, boxing, domestic-abuse, domestic-violence, progressive-era, self-defense

0 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The History Book ...: WOMEN'S HISTORY	27	251	Jan 24, 2019 09:28AM
A Million More Pages: Pooja's Mystery Thrifting Challenge {COMPLETED}	45	15	May 29, 2024 01:44AM

recent posts
Wendy’s Groups

Goodreads Librarians Group — 320586 members — last activity 2 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more

Our Shared Shelf — 222862 members — last activity 23 hours, 14 min ago
OUR SHARED SHELF IS CURRENTLY DORMANT AND NOT MANAGED BY EMMA AND HER TEAM. Dear Readers, As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading ...more

The F-word — 5763 members — last activity Jan 16, 2026 02:23PM
This is our reading group for anybody who loves to read and identifies as a feminist. We'll be reading a variety of books that may fall into one of th ...more

The History Book Club — 26075 members — last activity 1 minute ago
"Interested in history - then you have found the right group". The History Book Club is the largest history and nonfiction group on Goodread ...more

Lesbian Book Club — 5013 members — last activity Apr 16, 2026 02:40PM
Come and read with us. Here there are classics, non-fiction, fiction, and many more in LGBTQA+ literature. Find authors that you would have never read ...more

Feminist Fight Club — 41 members — last activity Mar 30, 2020 11:00PM
Imagine the things we could achieve if feminism was always at the forefront of our minds. This group will read books that help us explore feminism a ...more

History Chicks Fans — 121 members — last activity Mar 11, 2018 05:31PM
This is an unofficial group for fans of The History Chicks, a podcast about historical women. Use the shelves to find books recommended on the podcast ...more

Children's LGBT Books — 131 members — last activity Aug 07, 2025 01:38PM
For families, educators, friends, and librarians or anyone who shares an interest in children's literature with lbgt and lgbt-related topic. We're a f ...more

The Official History Chicks Podcast Book Club — 974 members — last activity Dec 24, 2020 10:11AM
The Official History Chicks Book Club is a place for everyone to gather together to discuss, debate and participate in a book club surrounding the rec ...more

Read Women — 5861 members — last activity 5 minutes ago
A group for readers of all genders to discover and share their passion for books by women authors. We enjoy monthly book discussions, challenges, budd ...more

More of Wendy’s groups…

Wendy’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.