Susan Ware: Speaking Louder Than I Can

While I am proud of the various books I have written, I am even prouder of the number of times that I am mentioned in the acknowledgements of other writers’ books. It is very satisfying to know that I have been helpful to them along the way and to be able to see the finished product.

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit. I love to walk and have adopted the designation “perambulist” for my passion.

It was 1970, and perhaps not surprisingly, my introduction came through three books I read within the space of several months: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, and The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. In retrospect, I am tickled that the combination gave me a powerful introduction to the ideas of modern feminism.

A: I’m going to punt on that question, using a dodge which I suspect other writers have employed: I don’t care which specific book young people read, just that they read books, period. I have been an avid reader since childhood and I honestly can’t imagine my life without books.

A: I marched in my first feminist demonstration on August 26, 1970, the fiftieth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, and the women’s suffrage movement had been part of my research and teaching throughout my career as a women’s historian. When the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 approached, I wanted to be part of the conversation. And for me, the best way to do that is to write a book!

My favorite history books always combine deep research with the ability to tell a really good story. These four books are a good guide to how to do that: The Age of Homespun by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich; All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles; The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 by Richard White; and The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro.

I often reread books – that’s one of the great joys of being a reader. Some of my favorites include Testament of Youth and Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain, and Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers.

I would recommend:

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones; Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper; and The Peabody Sisters by Megan Marshall.

Ann Patchett, both fiction and non-fiction. And she owns a bookstore!

We need a book like Silent Spring by Rachel Carson to address the issue of climate change.

An impossible question to answer, but a book which is influencing my newest project is Writing a Woman’s Life by Carolyn G. Heilbrun.

I am writing a series of essays and portraits on feminist biography which is a fun project. And I am preparing a two-volume edition on Eleanor Roosevelt for the Library of America, which gives me the chance to “keep company” with one of the 20th century’s most influential women.

Lots of books related to biography and feminism.

“Speaking Louder Than I Can,” which is a phrase adapted from the libretto that Gertrude Stein wrote about Susan B. Anthony for the opera “The Mother of Us All.” The full quote is “I speak as loudly as I can said Susan B. I even speak louder I even speak louder than I can.” That is my mantra as a writer and a feminist.