Regionally distinct yet influenced by national trends, women's progressive         culture in Texas offers a valuable opportunity to analyze the evolution         of women's voluntary associations, their challenges to southern conventions         of race and class, and their quest for social change and political power.       Judith McArthur makes an important and accessible contribution to the         study of women's activism by tracing in detail how general concerns of         national progressive organizations--about pure food, prostitution,         and education reform--shaped programs at state and local levels. Southern         women differed from their Northern counterparts by devising new approaches         to settlement work and taking advantage of World War I to challenge southern         gender and racial norms. McArthur offers a unique analysis of how women         in Texas succeeded in securing partial voting rights before passage of         the Nineteenth Amendment.       Throughout her study, McArthur provides valuable comparisons between         North and South, among various southern states, and between black and         white, male and female progressives. This book will be very useful in         a wide range of courses on southern or women's history.       A volume in the series Women in American History, edited by Anne Firor         Scott, Nancy A. Hewitt, and Stephanie Shaw