Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement

By: Sally McMillen

Narrated by: Barbara Goodson

In the quiet town of Seneca Falls, New York, over the course of two days in July 1848, a small group of women and men, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, held a convention that would launch the woman's rights movement and change the course of history. The implications of that remarkable convention would be felt around the world - and indeed are still being felt today.

In Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Woman's Rights Movement, the latest contribution to Oxford's acclaimed Pivotal Moments in American History series, Sally McMillen unpacks, for the first time, the full significance of that revolutionary convention and the enormous changes it produced. The book covers 50 years of women's activism, from 1840 to 1890, focusing on four extraordinary figures: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony.

McMillen tells the stories of their lives, how they came to take up the cause of women's rights, the astonishing advances they made during their lifetimes, and the lasting and transformative effects of the work they did. At the convention, they asserted full equality with men, argued for greater legal rights, greater professional and education opportunities, and the right to vote - ideas considered wildly radical at the time. Indeed, looking back at the convention two years later, Anthony called it "the grandest and greatest reform of all time - and destined to be thus regarded by the future historian."

In this lively and warmly written study, Sally McMillen may well be the future historian Anthony was hoping to find. A vibrant portrait of a major turning point in American women's history, and in human history, this book is essential for anyone wishing to fully understand the origins of the woman's rights movement.

The “Pivotal Moments in American History” series seeks to unite the old and the new history, combining the insights and techniques of recent historiography with the power of traditional narrative. Each title has a strong narrative arc with drama, irony, suspense, and – most importantly – great characters who embody the human dimension of historical events. The general editors of “Pivotal Moments” are not just historians; they are popular writers themselves, and, in two cases, Pulitzer Prize winners: David Hackett Fischer, James M. McPherson, and David Greenberg. We hope you like your American History served up with verve, wit, and an eye for the telling detail!

©2008 Sally G. McMillan (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

"McMillen...presents a fine history of the 1848 Seneca Falls convention...a well-written and cogent synthesis accessible to the general reader while remaining firmly grounded in primary sources." (Publishers Weekly)

Lest we not forget those who fought for our future

As a woman veteran, I am so grateful to the men and women who for over 100 years fought for all to have the right to vote. As time passes, we take for granted that we can vote. Some choose to and some choose not to. Oh what freedom to have that decision. Let us not forget there was a time where no matter what, not everyone we were allowed to vote.
Though there are many things in our nation's history that people swear "Never to forget," then instead of not exclaiming to remember, but to celebrate the rights and freedoms that we do have now. All the wh, keeping in the back of our minds that there were those who fought and suffered and even some died for that right.
Whether you believe in gun rights, right to life or right to choose, the right to divorce the right to marry, the right to equal pay, or even the right to vote or serve in the military. All of these things did not all come naturally to our country, they had to be fought for, thought about, voted on, persuaded, and proven to be the good for all. This book was very well written of course, and the narration gave a voice to what seems a lifetime or actually many lifetimes ago.

A Good Listen

I thought this was a very interesting and educational listen. The narrator did a wonderful job. It really put in perspective for me the importance of the vote for women, and how hard fought the battle to get women there truly was. I would recommend this listen for any one, man or woman, to help understand the importance of the vote!

More History I Didn’t Properly Know.

This well-researched book explains its subject more clearly and thoroughly than versions I had come across before. Listen for yourself. Recommended.