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Alice Paul: Claiming Power
Alice Paul redirected the course of American political history. Raised by Quaker parents in Moorestown, New Jersey, she would become a passionate and outspoken leader of the woman suffrage movement. In 1913, she reinvigorated the American campaign for a constitutional suffrage amendment and, in the next seven years, dominated that campaign and drove it to victory with bold, controversial action-wedding courage with resourcefulness and self-mastery.
This riveting account of Paul's early years and suffrage activism offers fresh insight into her private persona and public image, examining for the first time the sources of Paul's ambition and the growth of her political consciousness. Though many historians regard her Quaker upbringing as the greatest influence in her commitment to women's rights, J. D. Zahniser and Amelia R. Fry explore the ways in which her political zeal developed out of years of education, as well as from her early involvement with British suffragists Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. These two women helped to hone Paul's instincts and skills, which equipped her for later dealings with two important political adversaries, Woodrow Wilson and rival suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt.
Using oral history interviews and the rich trove of Paul's correspondence, Zahniser and Fry substantially revise our understanding Paul's role in the suffrage movement. This compelling biography analyzes Paul's charisma and leadership qualities, sheds new light on her life and work, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the woman suffrage movement, particularly as the American centennial of the women's vote approaches.
This riveting account of Paul's early years and suffrage activism offers fresh insight into her private persona and public image, examining for the first time the sources of Paul's ambition and the growth of her political consciousness. Though many historians regard her Quaker upbringing as the greatest influence in her commitment to women's rights, J. D. Zahniser and Amelia R. Fry explore the ways in which her political zeal developed out of years of education, as well as from her early involvement with British suffragists Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. These two women helped to hone Paul's instincts and skills, which equipped her for later dealings with two important political adversaries, Woodrow Wilson and rival suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt.
Using oral history interviews and the rich trove of Paul's correspondence, Zahniser and Fry substantially revise our understanding Paul's role in the suffrage movement. This compelling biography analyzes Paul's charisma and leadership qualities, sheds new light on her life and work, and is essential reading for anyone interested in the woman suffrage movement, particularly as the American centennial of the women's vote approaches.
410 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2014
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611 people want to read
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June 8, 2014
Alice Paul, my North Star, my gravitational pull.
I began making serious inquiry about Miss Paul in 1980. She was my touchstone for my 37 day fast for the ERA in 1982. It was because of her, we drafted legal papers making certain the state could not force feed us. Her friend, Doris Stevens’ book, Jailed for Freedom was our primary reference. My interest in Miss Paul never waned and, in 2012, I set out to read contiguously everything I had access to - calling it AP immersion. Since that time, I have read 40+ books, 100+ articles and interviewed 10 women who knew her. The most enchanting source was the November, 1972 taped interview by Amelia Fry. I carefully read every word in the 664 page transcript. I bought CDs of the first two hours of the interview just so I could hear her voice and I grieved that Amelia Fry passed on before completing her book on Alice Paul.
One day I got wind that the work was going to be completed by American / Women’s Studies scholar, J.D. Zahniser. I pre-ordered it instantly and waited six months. It was published Tuesday, June 3, 2014. It arrived Wednesday, June 4, 2014. I collected my favorite reading tools; felt tip pens, color tabs, magnifying glass and notebook. The scripted order of my adventure; copyright, index, footnotes, bibliography, acknowledgements, introduction, chapter one. FORCE FIELD - DO NOT INTERRUPT ME.
Page after page, line after line. Sheer perfection. The backstory, the reason, the lineage, the culture. Her letters, her family, her home, her schools. Even her hats! It was all there, explained as no other book came near. Her first friendships that lasted a lifetime; Lavinia Dock, Rheta Dorr, Maud Younger, Elsie Hill. I knew each and every one mentioned but never embraced with this depth. Every question filled in as never before. Miss Paul’s letters lavishly quoted, letting us all inside her thinking. Bicycle through France, study in Germany, first apartment, encountering her icon - Christabel and the portentous meeting of Miss Lucy Burns. From Gandhi to all the Pankhursts. From Alva Belmont to Doris Stevens to Dorothy Day to Rose Winslow to Jeanette Rankin and the squirrely Mr. Wilson. From biology to economics to social work to quintessential leadership – disappearing just when the applause begins. From WSPU to NAWSA to CC to CU to NWP. From Paulsdale to Lafayette Square. And the steadfast architecture of Hicksite Quakers; Forward Into Light.
If you want to know Miss Alice Stokes Paul, the Quaker genius who masterminded the American Suffrage victory, this is the book. Finally you can follow the unfolding of her inspiration, her deep understanding of power and get inside of the political complexity of the “First Wave.” So much here to find for the first time and find familiar. Within it all; Miss Alice one step ahead, widening her domain, examining her motivations but always the Equality of Women.
Of course I have to rate 5 stars. It is the best and I have read them all.
There are three things I wish were different.
1) I wish for 100 more photos. There are a few, some I have never seen, but it is not enough.
2) I wish more was said about Miss Paul or AP (as Miss Paul often signed) believing the vote was one of many steps on the path to full, global equality. Her vision was for all women, for all time.
3) I am bereft that this book ends in 1923. Alice Paul Claiming Power is more than worthy and brilliant which is why I wanted it to cover more than 35 of her 92 years. Her last 57 years is distilled in a four page epilogue. I will always long for such a wonderful book to include Miss Paul going to Geneva, founding the World Women’s Party, her resistance efforts during the war, the maddening journey with the ERA, her closing years with her greedy nephew and her rescue by the Jews she hid 30 years before.
Let there be no mistake, I will always look for that full life biography. Miss Paul did not vaporize with the success of the suffrage campaign. She cannot be reduced to this ten year segment. In fact, to the activist, her longevity with sustained purpose is her greatest legacy. I love Miss Paul. I am so grateful for this book. I have to stop now and read it all over again.
I began making serious inquiry about Miss Paul in 1980. She was my touchstone for my 37 day fast for the ERA in 1982. It was because of her, we drafted legal papers making certain the state could not force feed us. Her friend, Doris Stevens’ book, Jailed for Freedom was our primary reference. My interest in Miss Paul never waned and, in 2012, I set out to read contiguously everything I had access to - calling it AP immersion. Since that time, I have read 40+ books, 100+ articles and interviewed 10 women who knew her. The most enchanting source was the November, 1972 taped interview by Amelia Fry. I carefully read every word in the 664 page transcript. I bought CDs of the first two hours of the interview just so I could hear her voice and I grieved that Amelia Fry passed on before completing her book on Alice Paul.
One day I got wind that the work was going to be completed by American / Women’s Studies scholar, J.D. Zahniser. I pre-ordered it instantly and waited six months. It was published Tuesday, June 3, 2014. It arrived Wednesday, June 4, 2014. I collected my favorite reading tools; felt tip pens, color tabs, magnifying glass and notebook. The scripted order of my adventure; copyright, index, footnotes, bibliography, acknowledgements, introduction, chapter one. FORCE FIELD - DO NOT INTERRUPT ME.
Page after page, line after line. Sheer perfection. The backstory, the reason, the lineage, the culture. Her letters, her family, her home, her schools. Even her hats! It was all there, explained as no other book came near. Her first friendships that lasted a lifetime; Lavinia Dock, Rheta Dorr, Maud Younger, Elsie Hill. I knew each and every one mentioned but never embraced with this depth. Every question filled in as never before. Miss Paul’s letters lavishly quoted, letting us all inside her thinking. Bicycle through France, study in Germany, first apartment, encountering her icon - Christabel and the portentous meeting of Miss Lucy Burns. From Gandhi to all the Pankhursts. From Alva Belmont to Doris Stevens to Dorothy Day to Rose Winslow to Jeanette Rankin and the squirrely Mr. Wilson. From biology to economics to social work to quintessential leadership – disappearing just when the applause begins. From WSPU to NAWSA to CC to CU to NWP. From Paulsdale to Lafayette Square. And the steadfast architecture of Hicksite Quakers; Forward Into Light.
If you want to know Miss Alice Stokes Paul, the Quaker genius who masterminded the American Suffrage victory, this is the book. Finally you can follow the unfolding of her inspiration, her deep understanding of power and get inside of the political complexity of the “First Wave.” So much here to find for the first time and find familiar. Within it all; Miss Alice one step ahead, widening her domain, examining her motivations but always the Equality of Women.
Of course I have to rate 5 stars. It is the best and I have read them all.
There are three things I wish were different.
1) I wish for 100 more photos. There are a few, some I have never seen, but it is not enough.
2) I wish more was said about Miss Paul or AP (as Miss Paul often signed) believing the vote was one of many steps on the path to full, global equality. Her vision was for all women, for all time.
3) I am bereft that this book ends in 1923. Alice Paul Claiming Power is more than worthy and brilliant which is why I wanted it to cover more than 35 of her 92 years. Her last 57 years is distilled in a four page epilogue. I will always long for such a wonderful book to include Miss Paul going to Geneva, founding the World Women’s Party, her resistance efforts during the war, the maddening journey with the ERA, her closing years with her greedy nephew and her rescue by the Jews she hid 30 years before.
Let there be no mistake, I will always look for that full life biography. Miss Paul did not vaporize with the success of the suffrage campaign. She cannot be reduced to this ten year segment. In fact, to the activist, her longevity with sustained purpose is her greatest legacy. I love Miss Paul. I am so grateful for this book. I have to stop now and read it all over again.
November 25, 2020
Embarrassing as it is, I had never heard of Alice Paul before. I read this for the October meeting of The Bookie Babes reading group. It was tough getting through the book but I don't regret the time spent. Now I know that Alice Paul was the key person who got American women the right to vote in every state by pushing until the 19th Amendment was passed, ratified and adopted on August 26, 1920.
Alice Paul was born and raised Quaker in New Jersey. The book covers her entire life, her thirst for knowledge, her struggle for equal rights for women, and the incredibly strong purpose she found within herself.
Due to a dry, scholarly tone, the book was at times dull, but I am forever grateful to my reading group for choosing to read it as well as to J D Zahniser and Amelia R Fry for all their hard work to ensure the full story got told.
I knew about Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It took 80 years for what they and many, many other women started to become Constitutional Law. To paraphrase Ruth Bader Ginsburg, if you change the law you change society. Changing laws is a long hard process. Ask any woman, any person of color, any immigrant.
Still, injustice and inequality can be put right as long as we who see the need for change do not give up, as long as we recognize how slowly that change comes and how many setbacks need to be overcome.
I will never be as focused, as brave, as full of purpose as Alice Paul was, but I have gotten to know another role model and heroine to inspire me and keep me on my own path.
Since finishing the book, I have watched the feature film, Iron Jawed Angels. It was OK but had I not read this book, the movie would have had much less impact. Hilary Swank portrayed Alice Paul as a little too fluffy. The book gives you all sides of her. Like any human being, she had many sides. Her strengths outweighed her weaknesses so definitively that she was able to channel the work of perhaps millions of women who have fought for our rights.
If you can take it, I urge you, whether you are male or female or anywhere on that spectrum to read this book.
Alice Paul was born and raised Quaker in New Jersey. The book covers her entire life, her thirst for knowledge, her struggle for equal rights for women, and the incredibly strong purpose she found within herself.
Due to a dry, scholarly tone, the book was at times dull, but I am forever grateful to my reading group for choosing to read it as well as to J D Zahniser and Amelia R Fry for all their hard work to ensure the full story got told.
I knew about Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It took 80 years for what they and many, many other women started to become Constitutional Law. To paraphrase Ruth Bader Ginsburg, if you change the law you change society. Changing laws is a long hard process. Ask any woman, any person of color, any immigrant.
Still, injustice and inequality can be put right as long as we who see the need for change do not give up, as long as we recognize how slowly that change comes and how many setbacks need to be overcome.
I will never be as focused, as brave, as full of purpose as Alice Paul was, but I have gotten to know another role model and heroine to inspire me and keep me on my own path.
Since finishing the book, I have watched the feature film, Iron Jawed Angels. It was OK but had I not read this book, the movie would have had much less impact. Hilary Swank portrayed Alice Paul as a little too fluffy. The book gives you all sides of her. Like any human being, she had many sides. Her strengths outweighed her weaknesses so definitively that she was able to channel the work of perhaps millions of women who have fought for our rights.
If you can take it, I urge you, whether you are male or female or anywhere on that spectrum to read this book.
June 29, 2019
A riveting book for me and my spouse about Alice Paul’s brilliant campaign to win the vote for women in the USA. We read it aloud and stopped frequently to discuss her tactics — she was a font of creative approaches and ideas for organizing a campaign! It was the source of many MANY conversations. Although academic in style, it was still well told, suspenseful, and very detailed. It’s shocking that Alice Paul’s name is not more recognized. Many other activists from that time seem better known, although the NWP (National Women’s Party) seems to have been the force that carried the ball across the finish line for the woman’s vote. Especially fascinating were some of the early chapters about the relationship of Paul’s Quaker heritage to her activist work, and especially her early years working in the UK with the Pankhursts in the British fight for woman suffrage. The horror of hunger strikes and force-feeding were new information for me. Also, it was shocking how the rights of women to access their attorneys, visitors, etc. were regularly denied them. Recommended!
did-not-finish
November 27, 2019After having been trying to read this since September, I'm finally admitting to myself that I'm not going to finish this. I think Alice Paul is fascinating but I find the writing style too dry and dense to continue. It's obvious a lot of research went into this and I think that's incredible, but I just have so many other exciting books that I could be reading and loving instead.
June 13, 2025
This was an excellent biography about Alice Paul. It was well researched, relying on primary source materials and citing extensive end notes.
March 17, 2020
Alice Paul reshaped the suffrage landscape, changing the course of the American suffrage campaign and subsequent efforts to secure women’s rights. She was the soul and guiding spirit of the final years of the American suffrage movement. Alice Paul, Claiming Power, by J.D. Zahniser and Amelia Fry documents Alice Paul’s legacy as the President of the National Woman’s Party.
Not content to sit idly by and wait for a state-by-state ratification, Alice Paul believed that by holding Woodrow Wilson and his Democratic Party – the party in power – accountable, a constitutional amendment was attainable. Using the tactics of civil disobedience she learned from the controversial and radical Pankhurst sisters, with whom she’d spent time in England, Alice returned to the United States and initially worked with Carrie Chapman Catt under the auspices of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, but frustrated by the organizations demure and polite approach, she formed the National Woman’s Party with Lucy Burns, a colleague who had also experienced the militant defiance of the Pankhursts in their fight to win the vote for women in England.
In March of 1913, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns staged a parade of over 5000 women who marched in a parade preceding the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, sending a clear message to Wilson throughout his presidency, that the NWP would hold the party in power accountable for denying women the right to vote. In 1918, after a remarkable campaign to boycott the Democratic party, the Republican party won control of the house.
Ultimately, under Alice Paul’s direction, the National Woman’s Party used protests and hunger strikes to sway public opinion. They ratcheted up the pressure as the United States entered World War I, arguing that it was hypocritical to defend equal rights abroad when women, who comprised half of the population of the United States, were denied equal rights. They staged daily protests outside of the White House with their self-proclaimed Silent Sentinels carrying banners that read, “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty” and “Mr. President, You say Liberty is the Fundamental Demand of the Human Spirit,” oftentimes being attacked by men who stormed their picket lines, tearing their banners from their hands and ripping them to shreds.
On Bastille Day in 1917, police arrested sixteen sentinels, including six executive committee members of the National Woman’s Party. As the protests continued, more suffragists were arrested and jailed; by September, 23 suffragists were imprisoned. The imprisonment of Alice Paul in late 1917 increased pressure on Wilson exponentially. Following repeated protests, Alice Paul was sentenced to seven months in jail. I am being imprisoned, she told the press, because I pointed out to President Wilson the fact that he is obstructing the progress of democracy and justice at home, while Americans fight for it abroad. The imprisoned suffragists staged hunger strikes and were force fed, and ultimately Alice Paul was subjected to an evaluation of her sanity and isolated in the psychiatric ward – completely unwarranted but to force her to give up her fight. Public opinion began to sway. Woodrow Wilson felt the pressure to recommend a constitutional amendment. Finally, on January 9, 1918, Wilson told visiting Democratic congressmen that the Anthony amendment was “an act of right and justice.” The suffrage amendment passed the House with exactly the two-thirds majority required.
I highly recommend Alice Paul, Claiming Power. 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of woman’s suffrage and what better way to celebrate than to learn about the woman who committed her life to the cause. Alice Paul, Claiming Power is a riveting account of Alice Paul’s life and the National Woman’s Party fight to secure the vote for women.
Join Joan Drury in a book discussion at Grand Marais Public Library soon (watch for notices for the event which has been rescheduled considering the current crisis) and listen to my interview with author J.D. Zahniser on May 28 at 7:00 pm on Superior Reads on WTIP 90.7 Grand Marais or on line at www.wtip.org.
This is Lin Salisbury with Superior Reviews. Read all my reviews and listen to my author interviews at www.superiorreads.blog.
Not content to sit idly by and wait for a state-by-state ratification, Alice Paul believed that by holding Woodrow Wilson and his Democratic Party – the party in power – accountable, a constitutional amendment was attainable. Using the tactics of civil disobedience she learned from the controversial and radical Pankhurst sisters, with whom she’d spent time in England, Alice returned to the United States and initially worked with Carrie Chapman Catt under the auspices of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, but frustrated by the organizations demure and polite approach, she formed the National Woman’s Party with Lucy Burns, a colleague who had also experienced the militant defiance of the Pankhursts in their fight to win the vote for women in England.
In March of 1913, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns staged a parade of over 5000 women who marched in a parade preceding the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, sending a clear message to Wilson throughout his presidency, that the NWP would hold the party in power accountable for denying women the right to vote. In 1918, after a remarkable campaign to boycott the Democratic party, the Republican party won control of the house.
Ultimately, under Alice Paul’s direction, the National Woman’s Party used protests and hunger strikes to sway public opinion. They ratcheted up the pressure as the United States entered World War I, arguing that it was hypocritical to defend equal rights abroad when women, who comprised half of the population of the United States, were denied equal rights. They staged daily protests outside of the White House with their self-proclaimed Silent Sentinels carrying banners that read, “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty” and “Mr. President, You say Liberty is the Fundamental Demand of the Human Spirit,” oftentimes being attacked by men who stormed their picket lines, tearing their banners from their hands and ripping them to shreds.
On Bastille Day in 1917, police arrested sixteen sentinels, including six executive committee members of the National Woman’s Party. As the protests continued, more suffragists were arrested and jailed; by September, 23 suffragists were imprisoned. The imprisonment of Alice Paul in late 1917 increased pressure on Wilson exponentially. Following repeated protests, Alice Paul was sentenced to seven months in jail. I am being imprisoned, she told the press, because I pointed out to President Wilson the fact that he is obstructing the progress of democracy and justice at home, while Americans fight for it abroad. The imprisoned suffragists staged hunger strikes and were force fed, and ultimately Alice Paul was subjected to an evaluation of her sanity and isolated in the psychiatric ward – completely unwarranted but to force her to give up her fight. Public opinion began to sway. Woodrow Wilson felt the pressure to recommend a constitutional amendment. Finally, on January 9, 1918, Wilson told visiting Democratic congressmen that the Anthony amendment was “an act of right and justice.” The suffrage amendment passed the House with exactly the two-thirds majority required.
I highly recommend Alice Paul, Claiming Power. 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of woman’s suffrage and what better way to celebrate than to learn about the woman who committed her life to the cause. Alice Paul, Claiming Power is a riveting account of Alice Paul’s life and the National Woman’s Party fight to secure the vote for women.
Join Joan Drury in a book discussion at Grand Marais Public Library soon (watch for notices for the event which has been rescheduled considering the current crisis) and listen to my interview with author J.D. Zahniser on May 28 at 7:00 pm on Superior Reads on WTIP 90.7 Grand Marais or on line at www.wtip.org.
This is Lin Salisbury with Superior Reviews. Read all my reviews and listen to my author interviews at www.superiorreads.blog.
February 24, 2024
This is such a brilliant, detailed biography of Alice Paul, one of my heroes. There are 2 authors, and the deceased one, Amelia Fry, interviewed Alice Paul (who lived to be 92 in 1977). Alice Paul has such an important part in U. S. history, but I'm not sure I knew about her before seeing the film Iron-Jawed Angels.
This is basically the biography on Alice Paul, one of my favorite suffragists. Sure, there are other books that are about Alice Paul and the suffrage movement, but they’re history books, not biographies.
One of the ways you know the U. S. practices misogyny as an extreme sport is the fact that most Americans have probably never even heard of Alice Paul—especially before the film Iron-Jawed Angels was aired.
As the author points out, Alice Paul was rather secretive about her personal life. I can fantasize about Alice Paul writing detailed diaries, but she just wasn’t someone who did that. While the author doesn’t mention this, I have a theory that she was neurodivergent and maybe on the asexual spectrum. The author’s explanation for Paul not marrying a certain male friend was that it was a time when women had to sacrifice personal life for the cause, for activism, but… we used to read stuff like that about Susan B. Anthony, when now we know she had at least one long-term sapphic relationship. I love that queer history is finally really… coming out of the closet, thanks not only to history books but also to podcasts like History is Gay. But who knows, maybe the author’s assumption that Alice Paul was straight is accurate—I’m conjecturing.
Some sections of the book are dryer than others, and it took me a long time to finish reading the book. But it was well worth it.
Page 304:
It's 1918, so I keep mentally adding the phrase, DURING A PANDEMIC at the end of each sentence. So far no mention of the pandemic. I imagine suffragists donning white masks.
I know: the book was published in 2014, and before the current pandemic people mostly didn't know about or think about the 1918 flu pandemic... which lasted well into 1919, by the way. 1920, according to Wikipedia.
It's striking how people who survived that flu pandemic seem to have blocked it out--not talked about it--because they didn't want to talk or write about it.. or think about it. It seems like they couldn't have processed it with that level of denial.
It's also striking how the current pandemic has made people more interested in the 1918 one.
FYI, the top of page 110 is the only mention of the flu pandemic—because Alice Paul got the flu! But it doesn’t give any details except that it “raged everywhere.” Apparently she didn't have it for long, because she was back to tirelessly working for suffrage in no time.
I think experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly change how historians look at the era from 1918 to 1920. As a fiction writer, I intend to research that pandemic before writing about suffragists from that era.
After... or before... you read this book, I highly recommend The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss... and Lifting As We Climb by Evette Dionne. And and and.... I've read many books about suffragists since 2019 and intend to keep at it.
This is basically the biography on Alice Paul, one of my favorite suffragists. Sure, there are other books that are about Alice Paul and the suffrage movement, but they’re history books, not biographies.
One of the ways you know the U. S. practices misogyny as an extreme sport is the fact that most Americans have probably never even heard of Alice Paul—especially before the film Iron-Jawed Angels was aired.
As the author points out, Alice Paul was rather secretive about her personal life. I can fantasize about Alice Paul writing detailed diaries, but she just wasn’t someone who did that. While the author doesn’t mention this, I have a theory that she was neurodivergent and maybe on the asexual spectrum. The author’s explanation for Paul not marrying a certain male friend was that it was a time when women had to sacrifice personal life for the cause, for activism, but… we used to read stuff like that about Susan B. Anthony, when now we know she had at least one long-term sapphic relationship. I love that queer history is finally really… coming out of the closet, thanks not only to history books but also to podcasts like History is Gay. But who knows, maybe the author’s assumption that Alice Paul was straight is accurate—I’m conjecturing.
Some sections of the book are dryer than others, and it took me a long time to finish reading the book. But it was well worth it.
Page 304:
It's 1918, so I keep mentally adding the phrase, DURING A PANDEMIC at the end of each sentence. So far no mention of the pandemic. I imagine suffragists donning white masks.
I know: the book was published in 2014, and before the current pandemic people mostly didn't know about or think about the 1918 flu pandemic... which lasted well into 1919, by the way. 1920, according to Wikipedia.
It's striking how people who survived that flu pandemic seem to have blocked it out--not talked about it--because they didn't want to talk or write about it.. or think about it. It seems like they couldn't have processed it with that level of denial.
It's also striking how the current pandemic has made people more interested in the 1918 one.
FYI, the top of page 110 is the only mention of the flu pandemic—because Alice Paul got the flu! But it doesn’t give any details except that it “raged everywhere.” Apparently she didn't have it for long, because she was back to tirelessly working for suffrage in no time.
I think experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly change how historians look at the era from 1918 to 1920. As a fiction writer, I intend to research that pandemic before writing about suffragists from that era.
After... or before... you read this book, I highly recommend The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss... and Lifting As We Climb by Evette Dionne. And and and.... I've read many books about suffragists since 2019 and intend to keep at it.
February 28, 2016
Alice Paul remains an elusive figure for biographers, as she intended by carefully hiding her personal life. This detailed biography adds lots and lots of details to the story, but surprisingly few that add anything substantially new to the story. The overwhelming majority of the book focuses on her suffrage years, with the final fifty years of her life dispatching with breathtaking brevity. For all the research they did, I feel like they have just retold the same story and I still feel like I don't really know Paul. What exactly made her so compelling to her followers? Mostly though the thing that made this a hard slog was how dry the writing was. Not sure if this was a lack clarity on the target audience, but for a book I assumed was geared at a general reading audience, they succeeded in making the life story of this dynamic, theatrical woman astonishingly dull to read.
July 6, 2018
YES to this book! I feel that I was ignorant before I read this book. Zahniser describes how Alice Paul fought for women to gain the right to vote in the United States. It really details the legislative process and the grassroots organization by Paul. Although I felt that the book started off slowly, it quickened as I read through it. My thoughts on Alice Paul can be summed up by the words of another suffragist, Lillian Ascough: "It is to her clear vision, her genius... She has been a tireless leader, she has given her life to her work, and she has inspired in all of us not only enthusiasm and loyalty, but deep personal devotion" (242). After reading this book, I am in complete awe of Alice Paul. She is certainly an inspiration to me, and I am forever in gratitude for her complete devotion to the cause of women's suffrage.
July 11, 2017
Earlier this year I watched a multi-part documentary on TV about The Great War, World War I. It offered so much more than just reasons for and a narrative of the war. It revealed for me a great deal about President Woodrow Wilson that I never knew and/or understood, including a racist nature. The documentary also highlighted the lives of a number of women who played critical roles in the women's suffrage movement, including Alice Paul. One of the things I found most fascinating about this book is the strong differences of opinions between women's suffrage groups of the time about how best to achieve the goal of universal suffrage.
March 26, 2019
An educated woman chose to devote her life to women’s suffrage. She was jailed, physically tortured through forced feedings and worked herself to exhaustion. She had an out. Her parents had means and would have rescued her at a moments notice. She chose to sacrifice so that I can vote and I did not know her name. I vow that my daughter and all other women within my sphere of influence will know her name.
October 26, 2015
The story of Alice Paul, an American suffragist and heroine and an important figure in the late suffrage movement. While her role in U.S. history is significant, her story often remains untold; few know the full extent of her influence on American politics. This is a great read and a comprehensive biography of her life.
November 29, 2020
I'm sorry but this book was awful.
The writing was so dry and dull. It read like a science paper instead of a biography about a fascinating woman like Alice Paul.
They even managed to bore me with her time in prison amd being force fed.
Alice Paul deserved more than this biography. I'm so disappointed.
The writing was so dry and dull. It read like a science paper instead of a biography about a fascinating woman like Alice Paul.
They even managed to bore me with her time in prison amd being force fed.
Alice Paul deserved more than this biography. I'm so disappointed.
February 13, 2016
How do we not study Alice Paul more in US history classes? Fascinating description of her work and tactics organizing and leading the women's suffrage movement. Unparalleled in tenacity and creativity in pressing forward into the light.
February 6, 2018
This book is very well written. It is full of facts but still reads like a regular story book. It’s more that just about Alice Paul. You feel like you are right there alongside her and the other women working hard and struggling through the daily obstacles of gaining the Vote for Women!!!
December 15, 2014
Wonderful, well-written view of Alice Paul, with new research and material that humanizes Alice Paul for those of us who have loved her as an historical character.
August 18, 2017
I admit I had not read any Alice Paul biographies, so I chose to read this based on Amazon reviews. For me, her life story did not get interesting until she went to England not long after earning her Bachelors degree. In England she met the Pankhursts and became active in the suffragette movement there. Since Alice Paul would not let the primary author of the book use a tape recorder or any writing materials during the interview she granted, it's hard for any biographer to do justice to her life story. In fact, this book pretty much ends when the 19th amendment is passed. It is a thoroughly researched book. Thankfully Alice Paul understood the historic significance of what she was fighting for - she kept records and her business letters. She was a very private person, so anything of a personal nature she wrote to others was included in the book if those letters survived with the persons who received them. There are quotes from letters she sent her mother, for example.
Since Alice was so private, it's not likely any of us will truly feel we know her. But this book certainly gives us what we really do need to know about her - a detailed accounting of her remarkable intelligence, skill, ability and dogged persistence in fighting for our right to vote.
Since Alice was so private, it's not likely any of us will truly feel we know her. But this book certainly gives us what we really do need to know about her - a detailed accounting of her remarkable intelligence, skill, ability and dogged persistence in fighting for our right to vote.
February 1, 2022
This book was fine, but it didn’t wow me. The author made much of how AP’s Quaker faith influenced her suffrage activism, but she never reveals just how. How did being a Quaker lead AP to her militant choices? The influence of the Pankhursts is clear, but it doesn’t seem like enough to explain her choices. In any event, the author has a wonderful vocabulary that she uses to make her writing both accessible and entertaining.
March 25, 2024
I was unfamiliar with Paul's prison ordeals in Britain in service of the Pankhursts. I was also surpised to learn of the rivalries between NAWSA and CU/NWP. The competing agendas of civil rights and suffrage in the first two decades of the 20th century was also enlightening. Glad I read this book and that I took my AP Gov class class to the Belmont/Paul National Women's Party monument/house in November. It was the first time that I had heard of Inez Milholand's role in the suffrage movement
July 4, 2021
Provides a detailed account of the 19th amendment but could use more on the actual woman.
December 10, 2014
This is a must read for anyone who wants to know more about Alice Paul and the NWP.
May 18, 2015
Very informative. Narrative structure is interesting.
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