by Mona Siegel聽(Fren, IntlAf'90)
(Columbia University Press, 344 pages; 2020)
Peace on Our Terms聽follows dozens of remarkable women from Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Asia as they crossed oceans and continents; commanded meeting halls in Paris, Zurich, and Washington; and marched in the streets of Cairo and Beijing. Mona L. Siegel鈥檚 sweeping global account of international organizing highlights how Egyptian and Chinese nationalists, Western and Japanese labor feminists, white Western suffragists, and African American civil rights advocates worked in tandem to advance women鈥檚 rights. Despite significant resistance, these pathbreaking women left their mark on emerging democratic constitutions and new institutions of global governance. Drawing on a wide range of sources,聽Peace on Our Terms聽is the first book to demonstrate the centrality of women鈥檚 activism to the Paris Peace Conference and the critical diplomatic events of 1919. Siegel tells the timely story of how female activists transformed women鈥檚 rights into a global rallying cry, laying a foundation for generations to come.