"Smithsonian" magazine's 10 best history books of 2017

One of Smithsonian magazine's ten best history books of 2017:

Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics by Marjorie J. Spruill.

Thirty years ago, long before the Women’s Marches of 2017, women like Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King and Coretta Scott King tried to put feminist issues on the national agenda. Ms. Magazine famous dubbed the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston “Four Days That Changed the World,” but the changes were complicated, as Spruill describes over the course of her book. “Women’s libbers” sparked a countermovement led by Phyllis Schlafly, which held a “Pro-Life, Pro-Family Rally” in Houston at the same time as the conference. Spruill is a professor of women’s, Southern and recent American history at the University of South Carolina, and she brings her unique academic perspective to explain why feminist initiatives like the Equal Rights Amendment never saw the light of day.

Learn about another entry on the list.

The Page 99 Test: Divided We Stand.

--Marshal Zeringue