Sunday, April 22, 2007

An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920







Price: $29.95




An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920
Carol Cornwall Madsen

In her fifty years as a public figure, Emmeline B. Wells edited the Woman's Exponent, represented Latter-day Saint women in national women's organizations, courageously defended her religion in the halls of Congress, and helped mitigate anti-Mormon sentiments, all before becoming Relief Society General President in 1910 at age eighty-two.

Her mediating efforts won friends inside and outside LDS circles and earned her a sculpted bust placed in a niche in the Utah state Capitol. The simple inscription speaks volumes: "A Fine Soul Who Served Us."

"Emmeline Wells left indelible footprints not only in Utah—where she had a close working relationship with five church presidents—but on the national stage, including interviews with four U.S. Presidents, one in her own home. . . . Madsen broadens and deepens what she began in her award-winning dissertation [on Wells's life and work] to provide the full, engaging story of this woman who both chronicled and made history. Wells encouraged and inspired the women of her day. With Madsen's eloquent retelling, Emmeline's accomplishments may now inspire those of our own age, too."

   

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