Framing a Life: A Family Memoir

I read this book because I was interested in learning more about Geraldine Ferraro. Ms. Ferraro remains a hero to many women with a personal understanding of the magnitude of her accomplishment as the first female U.S. Vice Presidential candidate. The book was superbly written and is equally interesting whether it focuses on Ms. Ferraro, her mother or her grandmother. It gave me an increased understanding of the reasons for my own search for my grandmother's and great-grandmother's history. The book provides a wonderfully humanizing portrayal of the evolution of a politician. The book should be included on high school and college reading lists. Young women need successful role models willing to share their personal experiences in balancing career building, raising families, and developing an adult female identity. Ms. Ferraro is an extraordinary example for young women learning to make thoughtful decisions about their lives and her story is an 'excellent read'.

Doris Weatherford's book is a rare find eclipsing other histories of the first wave of the Women's Movement in it's precise details and meticulous data search. By simply stating the wealth of information kept in record by the Seneca Falls group, Weatherford points out the inconsistencies between the lack of modern day Feminist Movement dialogue. Indeed, I found myself wishing the Second and Third Wave Feminists had captured the insight to keep as meticulous a record on their struggles and activism. If you're looking for Who-What-Why and How in the Women's Movement or for data on the Suffrage struggle and the hundred year battle to win women the vote, this is THE book. As in her other books on women's history, Doris Weatherford is the consummate researcher. The biblio alone is worth gold. Weatherford writes in an easy style that both engages and interests the reader as she breathes life into Elizabeth Cady-Stanton, Victoria Woodhull and Susan B. Anthony and the tremendous stuggle of American Women's Suffrage.