Audiobook6 hours
Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites who Fought for Women's Right to Vote
Written by Johanna Neuman
Narrated by C.S.E. Cooney
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In the early twentieth century over two hundred of New York's most glamorous socialites joined the suffrage movement. Their names-Astor, Belmont, Rockefeller, Tiffany, Vanderbilt, Whitney, and the like-carried enormous public value. These women were the media darlings of their day because of the extravagance of their costume balls and the opulence of the French couture clothes, and they leveraged their social celebrity for political power, turning women's right to vote into a fashionable cause.
Although they were dismissed by critics as bored socialites "trying on suffrage as they might the latest couture designs from Paris," these gilded suffragists were at the epicenter of the great reforms known collectively as the Progressive Era. From championing education for women, to pursuing careers, and advocating for the end of marriage, these women were engaged with the swirl of change that swept through the streets of New York City.
Johanna Neuman restores these women to their rightful place in the story of women's suffrage. Understanding the need for popular approval for any social change, these socialites used their wealth, power, social connections and style to excite mainstream interest and to diffuse resistance to the cause.
Although they were dismissed by critics as bored socialites "trying on suffrage as they might the latest couture designs from Paris," these gilded suffragists were at the epicenter of the great reforms known collectively as the Progressive Era. From championing education for women, to pursuing careers, and advocating for the end of marriage, these women were engaged with the swirl of change that swept through the streets of New York City.
Johanna Neuman restores these women to their rightful place in the story of women's suffrage. Understanding the need for popular approval for any social change, these socialites used their wealth, power, social connections and style to excite mainstream interest and to diffuse resistance to the cause.
Related to Gilded Suffragists
Related audiobooks
Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There She Was: The Secret History of Miss America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flappers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen Bess: An Unauthorized Biography of Bess Myerson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Season: A Social History of the Debutante Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Ladies: The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vote Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strong Passions: A Scandalous Divorce in Old New York Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America's Original Ruling Class Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEleanor in the Village Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Society's Queen: The Life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grandmama of Europe: The Crowned Descendants of Queen Victoria Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Astor Orphan: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Marry an English Lord Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Woman of Influence: The Spectacular Rise of Alice Spencer in Tudor England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead End Gene Pool: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hitler's Girl: The British Aristocracy and the Third Reich on the Eve of WWII Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Margot at War: Love and Betrayal in Downing Street, 1912-1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLouisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Malice in Wonderland: My Adventures in the World of Cecil Beaton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America's First Celebrity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Gilded Suffragists
Rating: 3.666666733333333 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
12 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I need to be honest... this book is not generally something that I would read. I tend to find that a lot of history/non-fiction type books can get a bit tedious and boring. That said, this was not the case with Gilded Suffragists. I found the detail to be incredibly fascinating. I am sure Johanna Neuman's delivery has everything to do with that.
That said, Johanna Neuman has definitely done her homework in Gilded Suffragists. The incredible amount of historical detail really places the reader back into the early twentieth century alongside these courageous - and exceedingly extravagant - women. You really learn to appreciate the commitment of these early socialites who took their celebrity and power to make lasting changes in their communities, even when faced with dismissal and ridicule. You also realize that social status was resourcefully used as a tool to drive these positive changes. From helping immigrants and the poor, improving education, and all the way to voting rights of women, these ladies brought together in their elite clubs fought against their stereotypes to make a real difference.
This title is incredibly relevant today's politics. I've heard so many people criticize that celebrities have no place in politics and social issues. Gilded Suffragists demonstrates exactly why people who have social power not only have the right to speak up but further validates our necessity for today's celebrities to use their voices. We need them. They can be louder than the rest of us. They have access to far more resources.
I can easily see Gilded Suffragists becoming part of curriculum, so we (students) may have a better - broader - understanding of the history of women's rights to vote. It is much to easy too gloss over the topic as is and subsequently take the women's right to vote for granted. To be frank, I can't recall learning much if anything about the fight for women to be able to vote. Perhaps, too, the notoriety and familiarity of these women, even if just by surname, may connect with young people today. Better yet, maybe more celebrities could be driven to find inspiration in Tiffany, Astor, Whitney, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and the many others who proved what social status can drive.
I am giving Gilded Suffragists, 4 courageous stars!
Thank you NetGalley and NYU Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Although not the most well known of the suffragist movement, they are nonetheless critical to the history of women's rights. Although it feels strange to be touting a book about the social elite's place in history given the current massive divide in social classes, their contribution deserves to be acknowledged. Well written and researched, an important part of history is put in the spotlight.