Jailed for Freedom

"Jailed for Freedom is one of the great first drafts of history: a riveting contemporary chronicle of the finale of American women's long fight to win the vote. Doris Stevens' in-the-trenches journalistic memoir of the National Women's Party campaign of protest and pressure -- and the government's response of imprisonment and torture -- was published a century ago, but remains fresh and important today. Angela P. Dodson's excellent introduction places the dramatic events into context; it is essential reading for the suffrage centennial -- and especially vital for a new generation of grassroots activists seeking to spur change."

"Jailed for Freedom is at once a compelling drama and a field guide for direct action in the cause of justice, as Doris Steven takes the reader into the inner workings of the militant suffragist push during the final decade of the fight for the vote. From the pageantry of parades to picketing the White House to burning the President in effigy, the escalation spawned by disinterest, then opposition, of the Oval Office follows the logical plan of Alice Paul's Woman's Party. First spurned by the public, the activists gained sympathy, then empathy, and finally support as they were attacked by the police, jailed and force-fed. With Angela P. Dodson's new introduction smartly contextualizing the classic, Jailed for Freedom is required reading for the 2020 suffrage centennial and beyond."

"We welcome this republication of Jailed for Freedom and Angela P. Dodson's introduction; a comprehensive and insightful look at the suffrage story, it details an important chapter in the long struggle to extend democracy to more than half of the American populace."

"Doris Stevens was only in her early thirties when she wrote Jailed for Freedom, but she was already a seasoned veteran of the struggle for the vote. Her chronicle of the passion and commitment of militant suffragists still resonates today. This book belongs in every feminist activist's library."