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The Highest Glass Ceiling
Book Review: http://www.arcamax.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/s-1803909This is a tale of soaring female ambition in America, and so it must be as inspiring as it is enraging. For every one brave woman willing to run for president, there are countless men ready to thwart her.
And this is long before America had ever heard of Hillary Clinton.
In "The Highest Glass Ceiling," historian Ellen Fitzpatrick tells the compelling stories of three women who preceded Clinton's quest. Feminist Victoria Woodhull, a rich and beautiful self-declared spiritual medium, ran in 1872, nearly 50 years before women could even vote for her. Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith made a name for herself taking on her boorish, witch-hunting colleague, Joseph McCarthy, before running for president in 1964. Democrat Shirley Chisholm was the first female African-American member of Congress, and as a presidential candidate she made it to the Democratic Convention in 1972. Her success so enraged Richard Nixon that two high-ranking officials in his administration composed a fake press release on stolen Hubert Humphrey stationery alleging that a "hostile and aggressive" Chisholm, dressed "as a transvestite in men's clothing," had spent time in a Virginia mental institution for schizophrenia.
Fitzgerald is a worthy biographer, offering a rich, amply footnoted story of these quick-witted and resilient women. In a world where women were expected to demur, they lived large - and paid the price. One finishes the book believing they wouldn't have had it any other way.
And this is long before America had ever heard of Hillary Clinton.
In "The Highest Glass Ceiling," historian Ellen Fitzpatrick tells the compelling stories of three women who preceded Clinton's quest. Feminist Victoria Woodhull, a rich and beautiful self-declared spiritual medium, ran in 1872, nearly 50 years before women could even vote for her. Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith made a name for herself taking on her boorish, witch-hunting colleague, Joseph McCarthy, before running for president in 1964. Democrat Shirley Chisholm was the first female African-American member of Congress, and as a presidential candidate she made it to the Democratic Convention in 1972. Her success so enraged Richard Nixon that two high-ranking officials in his administration composed a fake press release on stolen Hubert Humphrey stationery alleging that a "hostile and aggressive" Chisholm, dressed "as a transvestite in men's clothing," had spent time in a Virginia mental institution for schizophrenia.
Fitzgerald is a worthy biographer, offering a rich, amply footnoted story of these quick-witted and resilient women. In a world where women were expected to demur, they lived large - and paid the price. One finishes the book believing they wouldn't have had it any other way.
From Harvard University Press: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674088931
In The Highest Glass Ceiling, best-selling historian Ellen Fitzpatrick tells the story of three remarkable women who set their sights on the American presidency. Victoria Woodhull (1872), Margaret Chase Smith (1964), and Shirley Chisholm (1972) each challenged persistent barriers confronted by women presidential candidates. Their quest illuminates today’s political landscape, showing that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign belongs to a much longer, arduous, and dramatic journey.
