A Friendship that Changed the World by Penny Colman - ADVISABLE

Colman, Penny  A Friendship that Changed the World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.  Christy Ottaviano Books, 2011.  236 pages.  $18.99 Content: PG.  

This book describes the lives and friendship of two of the leading women’s suffragist leaders.  Elizabeth Stanton was a married woman who had six children but a very quick intellect and parents who supported her education urged her to fight for the rights of women to have a voice in the government, to be paid equal wages to men and to have legal rights to their property and children.  Susan Anthony was a single woman who had Quaker parents that supported her passion for equal education for all sexes and women’s rights to vote.  Both women were strong advocates for abolition but their time and passion was for women’s rights.  As individuals they were intellectuals who dedicated their lives to helping the status of women, but together they were a force that couldn’t be ignored by women or men.  In a time where most people accepted the voiceless roles of women, Stanton and Anthony fought to be heard.  

This book is a great reminder of the efforts made to give equality to women.  At times the book focuses too much on what they were doing, committee meetings, etc, instead of why they were doing it or what specifically they were saying, but overall it’s a good broad overview of these two women’s contributions to women.  MS-ADVISABLE, HS-OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.