Jailed for Freedom

This book is an amazing first-person account of the fight for a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote. It was so exciting, I felt my heart pounding while I was reading it. Seriously, I had no idea about the hunger strikes, the brutality of the police and the difficulties faced by suffragettes trying to get Woodrow Wilson to support them. While he was championing freedom in Europe during WWI, he was neglecting freedom for women at home. The issue was presented as a "states rights" concern, rather than a national one. Definitely worthwhile!
A note to e-book readers: you can find this book for free at many sites, but, as far as I could tell, only GoogleBooks had scanned the entire book and had the original photographs. show more There are a large number of typos, but it is readable. The version from Amazon (which is not free) has fewer typographical errors, but no photographs. show less

I appreciate the efforts of all the women who suffered and even died for women to have the right to vote in the United States. I am dismayed that younger women take those hard won rights for granted and seem on the verge of letting some of them slip away. To have the history of the movement and the efforts of all involved chronicled is a necessity. However, Doris Stevens' account of these sometimes dramatic events is DRY as a bone. She goes through every step by step action, banner, march, rally and participant in such minute detail that I just wanted to say enough already. I get the picture. It is interesting to note that the tactics of delay and obfuscation employed by Congress and the President to avoid taking an action or to justify show more what they have done, no matter how inane, are still exactly the same after a hundred years. show less