This passionate and inspiring book by the New York Times bestselling author of The Hello Girls shows us that the quest for women’s rights is deeply entwined with the founding story of the United States.

American women have been fighting for their rights ever since the Revolution. Sometimes, their fiercest battles were at home. Drawing on stories of women rich and poor, famous and obscure, religious and progressive, and from all backgrounds and regions of the country, Fearless Women shows that the women’s movement has never been an exclusive club.

When America became a nation, a woman had no legal existence beyond her husband. If he abused her, she couldn’t leave without abandoning her children. Abigail Adams tried to change this, reminding her husband, John, to remember the ladies when he wrote the Constitution. The first hard-won right was to education. Later, impassioned teachers and abolitionists, like Angelica Grimke and Susan B. Anthony, fired by their faith, campaigned for the right to speak in public, petition the government, and own property.

Some devoted their lives to the cause, but millions more pressed their demands far from the spotlight, insisting on their right to sit on a jury, vote, control the timing of their pregnancies, and make a living. They faced fierce opposition. Elizabeth Cobbs gives voice to fearless women on both sides of the debate, some of whom thought of themselves as patriots, while others believed that campaigns for equality spelled ruin.

Fearless Women tells the story of women who dared to take their destiny into their own hands-feminists and antifeminists, activists and homemakers, victims of abuse and pathbreaking professionals-and carried the country with them.