The Woman's Hour

The Woman’s Hour (2018) is a nonfiction chronicle of the final battle for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, which gave American women the right to vote. The book explores the blood, sweat, and tears required to gain women’s suffrage in this country. Contrary to popular opinion, the process was neither quick nor easy.

The events chronicled in the book take place during July and August of 1920 in Nashville, Tennessee. The author’s uses the third-person to tell parts of the story from the perspectives of the three women most directly involved in the battle over the amendment: Carrie Chapman Catt (head of NAWSA, or the National American Woman Suffrage Association), Sue Shelton White (operative of NWP, or the National Woman’s Party), and Josephine Pearson (leader of the Tennessee Anti movement).

The book follows the major players converging on Nashville in anticipation of the final ratification vote needed to pass the amendment. All the tension related to the struggle for women’s suffrage culminates in a dramatic legislative confrontation in which the enfranchisement of half America’s population ultimately passes by only two votes.