Customer Reviews

Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My youngest daughter (7 yrs old) needed to do a biography on a famous woman for school and chose Susan B. Anthony. I must admit I didn't know very much about her other than she was the leader of the sufferage movement.

I looked on Amazon and chose this book because of the reviews. The book is specatular. It is a collection of her speeches with connective writing from the writer providing historical perspective.

The combination of Ms. Anthony's own words with the understanding of women's position in society at the time made for a very powerful book. The first chapter made the most impact on my daughter which begins with the facts about women in those days.

I believe this is a book that needs to be in everyone's library.

This is absolutely one of my favorite historical biographies. This book really makes real what an influential person Susan B. Anthony was in her own day, and who she really was. The in-depth direct quoting from writings of the time and the extensive documentation together present a strong case. After reading this book, it's shocking to me that someone this important in our history would need a major struggle to have her statue drug out of the basement into the light of the Capitol Rotunda.

I found the book very inspiring, because Ms Anthony devoted her life to what must have seemed to most people at the time to be a hopeless cause: women's suffrage. She constantly had to pitch her case to those who could grant suffrage; those who one might think would be least sympathetic: men. Her dedication to her cause and her success in making progress is a valuable lesson to anyone faced with a seemingly impossible task.

I cannot thank Ms Sherr enough for this wonderful book, and beg her to continue applying her talents to fill in our women's history gaps

A complete, entertaining, informative, and poignant tribute to one of America's most self-sacrificing and spunky heroines. Full of quotes that make you want to laugh, cry, and stand up on a soapbox. Its best quality is the wide range of appeal: HERstory experts can find in-depth quptes and minute details, both women and men will be inspired by this courageous woman. Sherr does an excellent job of compiling the quote so that they flow almost by themselves, and fills in the gaps when necessary. After reading the book, you will truly believe that "Failure is impossible!"

Excellent book, a rare history book where the author allowed the subject of the book to speak in her own words, and not try to speak for the person. Anthony's letters and other correspondence are found in this book, and it's in reading these where we the reader get a more accurate portrayal of Anthony, then what we would read elsewhere. I used this book as one of my resources for a US History class, and it was very well received.I would recommend this book highly to anyone with an interest in the woman's rights movement, or anyone who needs to do a research paper on this remarkable woman. This is one of the rare history books that will always be interesting, as it was presented fairly and without predjudice from the author, or subsequent history. Modern Day Women take the right to vote for granted, but after reading this book, it's very unlikely that they will continue to do so. I know I had a whole new appriciation for my fore-mothers who sacrificed so much. A must read!

I thought this book was fantastic. I found Lynn Sherr made Susan B. Anthony come real to me. I loved the speeches and correspondence included in the biography...I would have loved to have met this woman...in her lifelong battle for the vote she went from a social oddball to esteemed matriarch of the cause. I really enjoyed the contrast between her a Mrs. Cady-Stanton. My previous knowledge of Ms. Anthony consisted of the 3 lines included in most high school history books....now I have a profound respect for her work and achievement and found her an inspiration.

This book should be required reading for every high school student. To most people it will come as a surprise that if one defines constitutional democracy as a government with universal suffrage, it did not exist on our planet in 1900. If asked when the United States became a true constitutional republican democracy few people know it was in 1920 when women were granted the right to vote and stand for office. (Of course, what is written on paper does is not always reality. Until the voting rights bill of 1964 many African-American citizens were de facto disenfranchised.) In her battle for justice Susan B. Anthony struggled against male chauvinism for five decades. She died before her dream was realized, but her spirit continued to flame the hearts of her sisters until they were given the right to vote. Unfortunately, Susan B. Anthony is barely appreciated for her sacrifice today. Her pronouncement in 1894 was prophetic:

"We shall one day be heeded, and when we have an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, everybody will think that it has always been so, just as all the young people believe that all the privileges, all the freedom, all the enjoyments which woman now possesses always were hers. They have no idea that every inch of ground she stands upon today has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past." This book tells the story of one of the great ladies who won those precious inches of ground. Much needs to be done. But Susan B. Anthony's declaration still stirs the hearts of those who struggle for noble causes: "Failure is impossible." However long delayed, what ought to be must be, it is a cosmic inevitability.

I loved this book,Lynn Sherr extensively researched all the private writings of Susan B. Anthony. Anthony was a prolific writer and Sherr left no part of her research uncovered. I used this book as background information for a character interpretation that I did to my high school class. This book turned out to be a main source for me. I especially enjoyed all the quotes, journal entries, and snippets about all the other people Anthony came into contact with and personal information about Anthony.