Lives of Their Own

"To my knowledge, there is no other book quite like this. It cuts new ground in advancing 'activist autobiography' as a rhetorical genre as documents that need to be studied in the history of the women's movement. Lives of Their Own will contribute to scholarship in the history/criticism of American public address, feminist literature, and the rhetoric of historical/social movements. It also promises to add to genre theory in literary and rhetorical criticism."—Walter R. Fisher, University of Southern California

"The examination of these turn-of-the-century autobiographies as a rhetorical genre breaks new ground for the complexities it reveals about women's works. Recommended for libraries serving undergraduates and graduate students in many disciplines."—Choice

"Martha Watson has put together a masterful study using a mixture of rhetorical and literary theories to argue that women's personal historical narratives can be persuasive."—Journal of Communication Studies

"Lives of Their Own is a persuasive work of rhetorical criticism that presents the autobiographies of five activist as forms of public discourse shaped by particular historical moments and rhetorical situations."—Biography