Readers Respond to Our April Issue
Your feedback on our coverage of the women’s suffrage movement and a historic Parisian hotel
Readers rose up to support “America’s Second Revolution,” in our April issue, about the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote 100 years ago. “I’m delighted to see women of color as your focus,” Judy Schultheis wrote. “They have been neglected for far too long.” J.R. Colon of Piedmont, California, said the “photographs from all types of women were very helpful and educational.” B. Kent Harrison of Provo, Utah, noted that the story “is a strong reminder that women’s rights have required much struggle in the past, and struggle continues to be needed.” Our interview with Robert Reid, mayor of Middletown, Pennsylvania, at the time of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident (“Meltdown”), provoked a reaction from John Elliott, who grew up there: “We weren’t even taken inside until hours after the event, much less washed down for possible radiation.”
A Toast to History
“Time in a Bottle” had it all: history, science, ingenuity and a passion for whiskey. My only regret is I’ll probably never get to taste Lost Spirits Distillery’s elixir.
— Stephanie Brooks | Tampa, Florida
Votes for Women
Liza Mundy’s overview of the long fight for women’s suffrage (“America’s Second Revolution”) left me wanting more. It is always astounding to think that my grandmother, who was college-educated, was 25 years old before she had the right to vote! We need to protect and exercise such rights.
— Jo Ligget | Terre Haute, Indiana
It’s important for our children and grandchildren to know the struggle and harassment these women of all ethnicities endured to have a voice in this country. It’s equally important to recognize that this right is strongly missing in many other countries and cultures around the world.
— Christy Collins | Goshen, New York
Paris’ Old Haunt
The Lutetia (“Haunted by History”) is the hotel where my husband (51/2 years old at the time), his brother and two cousins arrived from Bergen-Belsen via Buchenwald right after World War II. He has told me of his adventures in the hotel and his later trip to what was then the British mandate of Palestine. In this news photo, my husband is the child front and center. To his left is his brother whose hand he is holding tight; two cousins are behind him. Miraculously they all survived nearly two years in Bergen-Belsen. My husband still has occasional nightmares of those years, but for the most part is very appreciative in general.
— Dina Spira | Brooklyn, New York