Lives of Their Own: Rhetorical Dimensions in the Autobiographies of Women Activists

Lives of Their Own explores how five exceptional turn-of-the-century women crafted autobiographies that became compelling, persuasive models for the women of their generation. Although Frances Willard, Anna Howard Shaw, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Emma Goldman, and Mary Church Terrell were not among the first women to cut a path into the mainstream of American life or the only women of their era to lead movements for social change, they were among the first to publish narratives of their lives. Martha Watson provides glimpses not only of the women themselves but also of the autobiographical genre as a dimension of public rhetorical discourse.