A review by erine
History Smashers: Women's Right to Vote by Kate Messner

5.0

I love this series. Kate Messner tackles "traditional, known, established" history and -- just like the series title suggests -- smashes it to pieces. Not by erasing the established story, but by adding context and additional pieces of information. In this case the smashing consisted largely of reminding the reader that the shining white suffragettes who succeeded in getting votes for women did so frequently at the expense of lower class and non-white citizens. Their tireless activism did not change, but instead of a few lone warriors, all of a sudden there are many tireless activists, of many classes and colors and philosophies. Messner also does a good job at conveying how the process to obtain voting rights was not straightforward or all progress. There were setbacks, reversals, in-fighting, and outside challenges.

Messner does a really good job of portraying legendary history heroes in a more human light -- exposing their flaws without diminishing the work they did. These voting rights heroes were indeed amazing, but frequently played upon racist feelings to get what they wanted. And I appreciate this portrayal. Overall this book was inspiring, because I don't have to be perfect in order to be an activist, and I don't have to do it alone. Voting rights came about due to sustained action on the part of hundreds and thousands of people, over the course of many, many years. The diplomats were a necessary part of the process, as were the firebrands.

History is made up of compelling, fascinating stories, and this series (at least the two I've read so far) is smashing at telling these stories.