Women in American Politics
History and Milestones
Women in American Politics is organized in a framework both logical and useful to readers and researchers. Original material offers students, scholars, teachers, and other professionals a guide to understanding the complex struggle in women's progress toward achieving political parity with men in the United States.
Each chapter is structured in three parts:
- part one features graphic information-tables, lists, charts, or maps-detailing the historical record with data not compiled anywhere else, on women officeholders.
- part two offers insightful narrative analysis describing how women achieved what they did, examines the complex and sometimes contradictory trends behind the facts of women's political milestones, and explores how social and economic contexts affected the progress of their accomplishments.
- part three presents biographical entries describing in more personal terms women's struggle for political equality.
Sidebars in each chapter illuminate the drama of political life and consider the evolving female electorate, exploring how women voters have impacted particular issues, specific elections, or other key turning points, and the tradition of appointing widows to open seats.
The final chapter uniquely looks at women's political history and differences in achievement from a state and regional perspective. Entries on each state (as well as on District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) highlight milestones and provide insight into the unique aspects of each state.
"The references and further reading lists after each chapter offer an excellent starting point for anyone researching the political history of women in the United States, and the inclusion of name and subject indexes makes the information in this volume easy to find. Recommended as a solid addition to school, academic, and public libraries' reference collections."
