Elaine Elinson

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Selected Works

Magazine Articles

In the Library: Women's Voices in California History

Digging in the archives of the California Historical Society, the author found letters and diaries of women who fought for suffrage, abolition and against race discrimination -- whose vibrant voices had been silenced or marginalized in the dominant narrative.

An Election Observer in El Salvador Looks Back

On the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, I am reminded of attempts to threaten voters and thwart democracy in the 1994 Salvadoran elections.

The Link Between Violence and Female Incarceration

The prevalence of physical abuse may be the most open secret behind the growing incarceration of women.

A Prayer for Peace, A History of War

A journey to Viet Nam with Veterans for Peace reveals the lasting legacies of war -- Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance. And a surprise -- the warm friendship between Vietnamese and U.S. veterans who had fought on opposite sides of the war.

Book Reviews

The Secret Sisterhood

Invaluable friendships that nourished women authors in centuries past.

Selected Letters of Langston Hughes

I fell in love with this poet in a high school English class, and was thrilled that decades later I reviewed his work for my (new) hometown newspaper.

Newspaper Articles

San Francisco's Own Rosa Parks

Charlotte Brown defied a color bar on San Francisco street cars while the Civil War was still raging.

"A lesson in American history riding the 14 Mission bus"

What a ride on the city bus can tell you about your fellow passengers – and yourself.

Nonfiction

Wherever There's a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California

Gold Medal, California Book Awards 2010
Bronze Medal in History, Foreword Book Awards 2010

Tenth Anniversary edition published by Heyday, 2019

Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines

Expose of how U.S. investment in the Philippines bolstered the oligarchy and oppressed the poor.

San Francisco's Own Rosa Parks

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/16/ED2N1MOQLR.DTL