I was certainly aware of Jeanette Rankin prior to reading Lorissa Rinehart's "Winning the Earthquake: How Jeanette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress."

However, it's hard to imagine a more complete and comprehensive exploration of Rankin - a groundbreaking suffragist, activist, and the first American woman to hold federal office.

"Winning the Earthquake" is the first major biography of Rankin, born on a Montana ranch in 1880 a woman whose Montana ways taught her how to talk to people and unite them around a common vision. It was Rankin who put forth the legislation that would become the Nineteenth Amendment.

Rankin would be elected twice to federal office - first in 1917 and then in 1941. She supported peace through disarmament, a controversial position and, if you've noticed, she was elected during the periods of both world wars. She was known as Congress's most passionate pacifist - a position that would prove unpopular during both of her times. She held fast to her belief that "you can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

While I was certainly aware of Rankin, as I read "Winning the Earthquake" I found myself repeatedly surprised by what I didn't know about the Republican's championing of democratic reforms, peace, and workers' rights. Rinehart dives deeply into Rinehart's willingness to confront a national boys' club of oligarchic capitalists and career politicians. While Rankin's challenges are remarkable, they also feel incredibly timely and relevant even today.

While history has kept in the forefront many names of women who've changed the national political landscape in the United States, I'm not sure Rankin has ever gotten her due for her role in advancing the rights of women, workers, and many others along with her fierce advocacy for pacifism. This is a remarkable story brought vividly to life by Lorissa Rinehart with painstaking detail and comfortable, matter-of-fact storytelling that feels much like Rankin herself.

It's hard to imagine a human being in America who shouldn't read "Winning the Earthquake."

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic