How does We the Women differentiate between the erasure of public figures and the historical obscurity of behind-the-scenes contributors like Emily Warren Roebling?

Analyze the book’s portrayal of moments when the fight for suffrage and the struggle for racial equality were framed as mutually exclusive goals.

How does the book’s structure of biographical vignettes, organized chronologically, shape the presentation of what constitutes historical progress?

How do O’Donnell’s journalistic narration and personal framing influence the book’s tone and its claims to historical authority?

Compare the strategies of Frances Perkins and Mary McLeod Bethune to assess the relative effectiveness of formal institutional power versus informal political influence.

Analyze the changing depiction of women’s military service, from Deborah Sampson’s individual disguise to the institutional roles of the 6888th Battalion.

Research co-author Kate Andersen Brower’s book First Women. How might her expertise have influenced this book’s narrative choices regarding political spouses?

How do the strategies of second-wave feminism align with or contrast those of the first-wave feminists and suffragettes?