More than Petticoats: Remarkable New Jersey Women (More than Petticoats Series) [Paperback]

Lynn Wenzel (Author), Carol J. Binkowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003 | Series: More than Petticoats Series

More than Petticoats: Remarkable New Jersey Women features 12 exceptional women born prior to 1900. Portraits include Alice Huyler Ramsey, the first woman to drive across America; Hannah Silverman, a labor activist during the Paterson silk strikes who fought fearlessly for better working conditions; Abigail Goodwin, a gentle Quaker who bravely conducted many slaves to freedom from her home on the Underground Railroad; and Clara Maass, a nurse who gave her life to stop the scourge of yellow fever. Each woman in this book made lasting contributions to society and embodied a fierce determination and independent spirit that is as inspiring now as it was then.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

More than Petticoats: Remarkable New Jersey Women examines the lives of twelve strong and determined women, all of whom broke through social, cultural, and political barriers to advance women's roles in the arts, on the battlefield, and in the pulpit. These pioneers fought against social norms and prejudices, making contributions to society that still have an impact today.
Meet Molly Pitcher, who stepped in during the heat of battle to replace her fallen husband in the Battle of Monmouth; Antoinette Brown Blackwell, America's first ordained woman minister and campaigner for women's rights; Jessie Redmon Fauset, who nurtured the Harlem Renaissance movement as a writer, editor of The Crisis, and supporter of African-American literature; and Alice Stokes Paul, who devoted herself to the fight for women's rights and wrote the Equal Rights Amendment.
Each of these women embodied a remarkable determination and an independent spirit that is as inspiring now as it was then. Read about their exciting lives in this collection of brief and absorbing biographies.

About the Author

Lynn Wenzel's articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, Newsday, and Ms. She was a contributing writer to the anthology Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women and is a nationally syndicated feature writer on antiques and collectibles. For many years, she was managing editor of New Directions for Women, an international feminist news magazine. She lives in the historic Gold Rush town of Nevada City, California, with her husband, Jeff.

Carol J. Binkowski is the author of Musical New York: An Informal Guide to Its History and Legends and a Walking Tour of Its Sites and Landmarks and articles that have appeared in Clavier, New York Daily News, The Optimist, The Instrumentalist, and other publications. She is a reviewer for Library Journal. A pianist and as a staff organist at the Church Center for the United Nations, she has performed and lectured throughout the New Jersey Public Library System, as well as at such historic landmarks as South Street Seaport in New York City. Carol lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey, with her husband, Richard, and daughter, Daria.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: TwoDot; 1st edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762712724
• ISBN-13: 978-0762712724
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,831,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspired Reader, October 20, 2003

By 

Joan Lester "Author" (Berkeley, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More than Petticoats: Remarkable New Jersey Women (More than Petticoats Series) (Paperback)

This fine collection of New Jersey biographries reminds me once again of what women can do--and have done. From a young striker who is repeatedly jailed for her insistence on workers' rights, to a freed former slave who's burned out of her business but keeps returning, to a talented writer with a disappearing husband and a bunch of kids--these women all have one characteristic in common: persistence. They just keep at it. And eventually, they succeed. Or at least, endure.

The writing is beautiful throughout. I've been a fan of Lynn Wenzel's since she was editor of the now-defunct newspaper that came out of New Jersey: New Directions for Women. She always wrote marvelously. In this collection her writing is, if anything, even sharper. Each story is vividly told, and accompanied by an unusual photograph. I found myself returning to the photo over and over again while I read each story. The incredible, determined gaze of Sylvia Dubois, the former slave (and the haunted look on the face of her daughter) especially captured me. I was also surprised by the beauty of Alice Paul, one of the few women in the book I was already familiar with. She was the originator of the Equal Rights Amendment, and a leading suffragist in the early 20th century. Noticing my own surprise at how she looked, I realized how, unconsciously, I'd bought into the stereotype of the "battle-axe suffragette," the image I first encountered in childhood. Even though I've been a feminist for decades since then, obviously I retained that image of our foremothers--for I was shocked by the face of this youngish, lovely woman. THAT'S Alice Paul? I thought.

Her story is one of the most important here, simply because the impact of her work was so far-reaching. (Her pressure in 1964, for instance, was part of the reason we have gender added to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act--and this is the significant clause which has mandated equality for girls in public school sports, etc.) I am grateful that these exceptional photographs accompanied each story.

A big Thank You to Lynn Wenzel and Carol Binkowski for rescuing these twelve women from the obscurity in which most of them have rested, and for shedding more light on those whom we already knew of. We could use Volume 2 and 3 of Remarkable New Jersey Women. The authors do say in their introduction that it was hard to make the selection, since they found so many qualified candidates for inclusion. So let's hear it for an expansion of the series.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book Every Woman Should Read, September 27, 2003

By 

J. Bailin (Wellington, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More than Petticoats: Remarkable New Jersey Women (More than Petticoats Series) (Paperback)

The remarkable women in this book came to life and reminded this reader of how much they sacrificed for the sake of women then, now, and of the future. To have researched all the details of these women's lives was a monumental task in itself. To have taken this research and written about each woman as if we were there witnessing the events, is an art.

Bravo to Lynn Wenzel and Carol J. Binkowski for writing a book that is not only a history lesson, but makes readers care about all these women who overcame adversity and prejudice. Their stories are all inspiring, and I recommend this book to women (AND MEN!) of all ages.