Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-203) and index.

In this book Jean Matthews chronicles the changing fortunes and transformations of the organized suffrage movement, from its period of declining numbers and campaign failures to its final victory in the Nineteenth Amendment that brought women the vote. She recaptures the personalities and ideas that characterized the movement in these years, drawing portraits and analyzing the intellectual currents--in politics, the economy, sexuality, and social thought--that competed for women's commitment. And she shows how new leadership and new strategies at last brought success in the long struggle that had seen many feminist leaders grow old. The rise of the new woman emphasizes the historical contexts, including progressivism, in which the women's movement operated; the disputes and tensions within the movement itself; and the perennial question of who was to be included and excluded in the quest for women's rights. It also considers the aftereffects of the 1920 constitutional victory, when women found themselves wondering what to do next.

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