Reviewer: Anonymous Historian/Professional Reviewer for University Press

Such a text will appeal to western enthusiasts and western scholars alike. Adding to the literature of Elliott West and Paula Petrik, this manuscript holds a compelling argument in the importance of the father’s role in the development of daughters. How this plays out in a western setting is intriguing and I enjoyed reading the national connections made throughout the narrative, especially concerning co-education—with Neal always reminding the reader of the significance of the fluid American West in contrast to the perhaps more structural and rigid East. I especially found useful the interesting interplay between suffrage and women’s activities in the West and East.

 Reviewer:  Amanda Trosten-Bloom Golden, Colorado; Co-Author, The Power of Appreciative Inquiry

Evolution Toward Equality tells the important story of how women in the American West surpassed their 19th and early 20th century sisters in community leadership, voting, property rights, and independence. Highlighting the unplanned yet crucial circumstances that enabled new norms for "femininity" to be established, Evolution Toward Equality offers keen insight into the conditions that, if replicated, can breed assertive, independent, freethinking women.

As the mother of a 12 year old girl, I care about my daughter having historical images of female independence and assertiveness to counter the unrealistically glamorous, fantasy images that are so prevalent in today's media. Neal's colorful accounts of such women as Annie ("Oakley") Moses, Ellis Shipp (a prominent physician), Catherine Beecher and Susan Mills (educators) and Jeanette Rankin and Nellie Tayloe Ross (congresswoman and governor) are just that. They illustrate how western women forged a new life for ALL American women. They begin teaching us what it takes to build a strong foundation for true equality across gender, race and ethnicity.

 Comments from a former student of Red Rocks Community College:

...this is an incredible expression of your inner being...I am so very glad that you are sharing this with the world...I’m about 30 pages in; with each and every paragraph I read I have to pause to attempt to comprehend the depth of the struggle [for women]. . . The book is . . . remarkable...the ladies at my school are waiting in line to read this when I’m done. Well, I tell them, you can get your own copy...

 Reviewer: 2^nd Anonymous Historian/Professional Reviewer for University Press

The scholarship is sound. Careful attention has been devoted to understanding the subject material, both primary and secondary sources. Considerable research has been done on patterns and individual lives. The biographical elements provide good examples/evidence for the major arguments introduced. The conclusions provide an important window through which to assess/compare and contrast the lives of women in the West.

Reviewer: Ty D. Piz (ty_piz@hotmail.com), Teacher with special needs children, July 3, 2006, Women raise the level of involvement Evolution Toward Equality is an incredible book that brings insight into a woman's development process and her spirited nature from the early frontier days to modern times. Dr. Neal's intricate research and fabulous way of expressing details in her book Evolution Towards Equality creates a base of clearer understanding for male as well as female readers. This book can open our minds to build more in-depth and meaningful conversations between men and women about women's struggles, and her dreams and their own ideas of the way in which society is developing. Evolution Towards Equality helped me gain knowledge and earn more respect for women, for myself, for my own family heritage, and for the development of men's roles in modern society. Dr. Neal discusses the background and nature of how fathers and other male role models influence the lives of their daughters and other women during their transformation years by the excitement they bring through their own vitality of involvement. She fills in many of the blank areas for me as to why my own wife, my three daughters, my mom and grandmothers have become the people that they are today, with regard to the spcific role models in their lives as to whether a male or female has had the greatest impact for them. I learned about how women's sphere of concern extends from the basic education process of the school system, to protecting our families here at home, to the ecosystem, all the way to a connection to wars overseas. Thanks to Dr. Neal for writing this book and sharing a new perspective to help us understand relationships between men and women.