A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics (Hardcover)

by Jo Freeman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
You've come a long way baby--or so say the cigarette ads. In reality, the journey from 1920, when women won the vote, to Hillary Rodham Clinton's overt influence on her husband's presidency in the 1990s, and from conservative reform movements like the Women Christian Temperance Union of the early 1900s to today's Concerned Women for America, is far longer and more twisted than popular history accounts for. Dispelling such commonly held myths as that women engaged in more political activism before suffrage and that there is a secure "bloc" of women voters, Freeman (The Politics of Women's Liberation) focuses on how women's political groups enabled them to move into mainstream party politics by many routes. While the WCTU and YWCA promoted "social purity" ideals, providing the opportunity for some women to gain the political know-how to engage in the electoral side of the game, hard-line political and social reformers like Florence Kelley and Molly Dewson, working closely with Eleanor Roosevelt, brought average women into the Democratic party and into the New Deal and national politics. Freeman deftly weaves together the many intricate political, moral and social complications in her story--such as that the highly influential General Federation of Women's Clubs essentially banned the participation of African-American women--to fashion an insightful, fascinating portrait of the ongoing fight for women to partake fully in U.S. political life. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Freeman deftly weaves together the many intricate political, moral and social complications in her story ... to fashion an insightful, fascinating, portrait of the ongoing fight for women to parktake fully in U.S. political life. -- Publisher's Weekley, Jan. 24, 2000

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (February 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847698041
• ISBN-13: 978-0847698042
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,605,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Room at a Time, March 26, 2000

By	Shryl (Texas,USA) - See all my reviews

This book is an excellent source for those who wish to read about Women in Politics. Freeman has completed extensive research for this project. A Room at a Time is an easy to read book, with wonderful information on the Womens' Suffrage Movement, and women in the powerful place of politics. I highly recommend this one!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncovering Hidden History, May 30, 2004

By	Bob Simpson (Oak Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a young boy I was always fascinated with the tales of intrepid archaeologists, Schliemann at Troy or Carter in Egypt. I imagined myself accompanying them as they dramatically uncovered humanity's hidden history.

Many years later as an adult I volunteered for an archaeological survey. I followed a trail of Anasazi flint chips to the top of a hill and discovered an 13th century American tool factory with a great view of the Utah high desert. Not exactly the walls of Troy or the treasures of Tutankhamen, but a source of joy and wonder nevertheless

Accompanying Jo Freeman as she uncovers the hidden history of how women entered into the political parties gave me a similar sense of wonder and discovery. Her book begins with a section called "Myth As History". Freeman meticulously demolishes the convenient myth that the Suffrage Movement "failed" because women did not storm the barricades of American politics and vote as a revolutionary bloc.

As a political activist as well as a scholar, Freeman understands that political change is a complex process with many fits and starts. She explains that women political activists were a diverse group ranging from radical feminists to stalwart big city machine bosses. Sometimes these divergent groups worked in tandem when their interests coincided. More often they worked separately or even at cross-purposes.

Yet, as more women slowly entered politics "a room at a time", politics became more democratic. Voting moved from the saloon to the local grade school polling place. Issues like child labor and public health came to the forefront. Is it a coincidence that most of the significant social legslation in America came about after women entered politics as activists and voters?

Freeman dug deep into the sources to bring this hidden history to the surface. While doing so she uncovered a political tragedy worthy of a Sophocles or a Shakespeare-- the moral decline of the Republican Party.

It may surprise today's readers to learn that for most of its history, the Republican Party was the party of feminism and women's rights. The GOP began its life as party of radical reform, attracting feminists, abolitionists, free soilers and even socialists to its ranks. Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells or Jane Addams would not recognize today's Republican Party with its deep disdain for gender equality and its opposition to all progressive social legislation.

Jo Freeman's book is a wonderful tool for uncovering the complex relationship that American women have had with our major political parties. Buy a copy and dig in.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must for younger women, November 12, 2001

By	Kathleen M. Knight "kathl" (New York NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an exceptionally detailed and well written history of women's slow inclusion in the traditional parties.