cover image Jailed for Freedom (Trade)

Jailed for Freedom (Trade)

Doris Stevens. NewSage Press, $12.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-939165-25-4

American women fought hard, and many paid dearly, to win the right to vote. Stevens saw action in the front lines of the battle and was one of the dozens of women imprisoned for picketing the White House. First published in 1920, this long-out-of-print book offers Stevens's firsthand account of the women who endured the indifference of Congress and President Woodrow Wilson, the abuse by the press and the police, beatings at the hands of mobs and forced feedings in foul workhouses to force passage of the 19th Amendment. Although Jailed for Freedom was conceived as a history of the National Woman's Party (NWP), O'Hare has edited out the ``minute detail of legislative politics, author bias, and verbiage,'' leaving a vivid partisan account that clearly conveys the excitement of both battle and victory. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)