Johanna Neuman, “Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women’s Right to Vote” (NYU Press, 2017)

New Books in Law · Aug 29, 2017 · 49m

In the late 19th century New York socialites enjoyed a newfound celebrity status thanks to their conspicuous wealth and the attention of the rapidly expanding newspaper industry. Many of these women sought to use their status to promote causes important to them, most notably the suffrage movement. Johanna Neuman‘s Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women’s Right to Vote (New York University Press, 2017) describes the role they played in the suffrage campaigns in fin-de-siecle America, one that saw social rank exploited to advance a radical cause. As Neuman explains…