Of Fritz's other works, the book that most closely parallels You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? is Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers. In this biography, Fritz traces the life of another woman whose independence of spirit began when she tried to be the boy her father wanted. Where Lizzie took to feats of physical courage such as horse jumping, Harriet tried to please her father with her skillful writings and her ability to write a good sermon. In both You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? and Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers, the father just declares that he wished his daughter had been a boy. In each life, the daughter was circumspect about her father's response to her work, although in You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?

Fritz says Judge Cady strongly disapproved of his daughter's efforts to alter the...