In the fourth installment in the Making of America series, Susan B.
Anthony, Teri Kanefield examines the life of America's famous
suffragette. Anthony was born into a world in which men ruled women: A
man could beat his wife, take her earnings, have her committed into an
asylum based on his word, and take her children away from her. While the
young nation was ablaze with the radical notion that people could govern
themselves, "people" were understood to be white and male. Women were
expected to stay out of public life and debates. As Anthony saw the
situation, "Women's subsistence is in the hands of men, and most
arbitrarily and unjustly does he exercise his consequent power." She
began her public career as a radical abolitionist, and after the Civil
War, she became an international figurehead of the women's suffrage
movement. The book includes selections of Anthony's writing, endnotes, a
bibliography, and an index.