Book Review–“Something Worth Doing” by Jane Kirkpatrick
A Novel of An Early Suffragist
Jane Kirkpatrick did an excellent job writing this book about Abigail Scott Duniway. It is filled with facts yet is written more like the telling of a story instead of a documentary.
She leads the reader through the life of Abigail from the time she is a child up until 1912 which was three years before Abigail’s death. Abigail did live to cast her vote in Oregon’s 1914 election, which was the first year women were allowed to vote in Oregon. Abigail did not live to see the 19th Amendment to the Constitution passed in 1919 though as she passed away in 1915.
Abigail was a women to be admired for her tenacity and hard work. Though her life was full of tragedies and hardships she never gave up on her dreams and always found a way to keep moving forward.
She accomplished so much good in her 81 years of life.
We women of today can thank Abigail Scott Duniway and many other early women who worked and fought so hard to win us the right to vote, and we women of today would all do well to read this book of Abigail’s life to see all she and the others in the Suffragist Movement went through to give us in the USA the freedoms we have today.
This book was also even more interesting to me as I live in Oregon, a mere 5.5 miles from Lafayette, Oregon where Abigail lived for many years and taught school. Currently the town has recently built a memorial park dedicated to her and of course, she is remembered and memorialized in Portland and Oregon City as well, so this book just brought history close to home for me.
I recommend all women to read this book. It is entertaining as well as educational.
I was given a copy of this book free by Revell Books in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own.
–Leona J. Atkinson