This latest book in the American Profiles series features short biographies of ten women who fought for the right to vote. Among those included are Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Mary Church Terrell, Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt, Victoria Woodhull, and Jeannette Pickering Rankin. Helmer succinctly outlines each woman’s life in 10—12 pages and describes how that woman came to the suffrage movement. Each vignette includes a chronology and a further reading list. The last entry, Jeannette Pickering Rankin, appropriately sets forth the results of enfranchisement: “She was the first woman ever elected to the United States Congress and the first woman elected to any national government in the world.” While there is some disjointedness and repetition in the stories, the book will provide researchers with an overview of the suffrage movement, and solid background on some of its leading lights. (b&w photos, index, not seen, chronologies, further reading) (Biography. 10-14)
