Lois W. Banner is the author of the biography entitled, “Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Rebel for Women’s Rights.” Banner has written other works about women which include a textbook called “Women in Modern America: A Brief History” and a book titled “Clio’s Consciousness Raised: New Perspectives on the History of Women.” She has also written other biographies about Margaret Mean, Ruth Benedict, and Marilyn Monroe (Veteran Feminists of America, n.d.). This biography about Elizabeth Cady Stanton gives us a background to determine the origin of Cady Stanton’s outlook on feminism and the work she did to further the cause. Banner says Cady Stanton was a person who learned to “resolve crisis through action” (Banner 20). This quote not only describes …show more content…
The author writes about the religious influences that Cady Stanton had as a young child, how religion didn’t harmonize well with the way she saw women being treated and the reformist ideas she picked up from her cousin’s side of the family. Cady Stanton would meet her abolitionist husband which would in turn expose her to people who had a passion for the same things she did. From holding a woman’s rights convention in 1948 to a friendship with Susan B. Anthony, Banner gives a gradual timeline of the influences that help shape the radical feminist. This biography also shows that Cady Stanton is far from perfect in her activism and tends to dip her toes into issues at first, rather than diving right in. Cady Stanton gave her first public speech in 1842, but the author isn’t impressed. “Her insecurity was evidenced by the fact that she did no more than mention the inflammatory issue of woman’s rights in the speech” (29). This comes up again when Cady Stanton helped with the Married Women’s Property Act. “Again her efforts were modest” (30). Banner also shines a light on how Cady Stanton’s viewed feminism as being more important than slavery. Cady Stanton was focused on fighting for equality for her specific sex but instead should’ve been more active in acknowledging everyone should be equal. “In 1860 she boldly asserted that “the prejudice against sex is more deeply rooted and more unreasonably maintained than that against color””