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sam_smith_of_tencendor's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
jo_crescent's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
Loved this! I want everyone in America to read it, especially young men & women who don’t seem to know how recently the legal & cultural status of women have changed.
mzokiegolfer's review against another edition
5.0
As a teenager in the '60's ('65 HS graduate) and one of the early baby boomers, I have experienced almost everything Ms. Collins covers in this wonderful and easily readable book. I loved this book and even living through all the crazy ups and downs of the last 50 years, I still discovered things I didn't pay much attention to during that time. Civil rights issues and political matters were areas I heard about but did not really follow as much as I should have as I was busy being a new wife, mom and then a single working mom in the '70's.
The assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War and the horrific year of 1968 (year I got married) can still bring me to tears when I see or hear references to them. I have worked all these years and faced discrimination in wages, credit (could not get my own credit card and I was the one who made sure our credit rating was A+). Ms. Collins has done an outstanding job touching on all areas that women from all walks of life have faced. All women should read this and make sure their daughters read this as well as their sons to see where we've been, where we are now and hopefully, a brighter future for the next generations.
The assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War and the horrific year of 1968 (year I got married) can still bring me to tears when I see or hear references to them. I have worked all these years and faced discrimination in wages, credit (could not get my own credit card and I was the one who made sure our credit rating was A+). Ms. Collins has done an outstanding job touching on all areas that women from all walks of life have faced. All women should read this and make sure their daughters read this as well as their sons to see where we've been, where we are now and hopefully, a brighter future for the next generations.
moment2shine's review against another edition
5.0
Eye-opening and informative and immensely entertaining
jteddy90's review against another edition
3.0
I like the book as I was able to dive deeper into the history of the American Woman. This book, at times, felt like a textbook. While it was great to learn about the women behind the movement, I'm more interested in the bibliography to find more books.
My favorite chapter: African American Women during the Civil Rights Movement
My favorite chapter: African American Women during the Civil Rights Movement
chgar0l's review against another edition
4.0
Solid book on women's history that I stopped reading after turning in my APUSH project and didn't finish 'til now.
Some notable quotes:
“The reformers [of the women’s liberation movement] did not want to overthrow the existing system—they wanted to open the gates so that women could become part of it.” (181)
“The idea that women were the weaker sex, meant to stay at home and tend to the children while the men took care of the outside world, was as old as Western civilization. The colonists who came over on the Mayflower believed that women were morally as well as intellectually and physically inferior and that they should be married off as early as possible so their husbands could keep them on the straight and narrow.” (4)
“In 1960… although computers were still pretty much the stuff of science fiction, almost all the other things that make modern life feel modern — jet travel, television, nuclear terror — had arrived. But when it came to women, the age-old convictions were still intact” (6-7)
“Since it was perfectly legal to discriminate on the basis of sex, there was no real comeback when employers simply said that no women need apply… The belief that marriage meant an end to women’s work-life provided an all-purpose justification for giving the good opportunities to young men.” (21)
“Harper’s claimed, ‘A girl who gets as far as her junior year in college without having acquired a man is thought to be in grave danger of becoming an old maid.’ That wasn’t much of an exaggeration… Professors watched in frustration as their prize pupils raced from final exams to wedding showers.” (38)
“Housewives who felt trapped were not a new phenomenon, even if nobody had done a poll or requested reader responses on the topic in earlier eras. But personal happiness had not been regarded as an entitlement then. And it surprised the nation—or at least the media—that the women who had acquired better homes and more conveniences than any previous generation should seem to be particularly miserable” (56)
“For most, it was a given that they would marry in their early 20s, start families almost immediately, and dedicate their lives to homemaking. Yet as students, they had taken the same courses the career-bound men had, passed the same tests, and researched the same papers to prepare for a future they never actually intended to have.” (57)
“The greatest irony of the celebration of forty years of suffrage was that it seemed that once women had gotten the right to vote, they never got anything else. There was an endless list of ways they were discriminated against or treated unfairly, from lower salaries to inferior facilities for girls’ sports in public schools to the different—and less generous— way that Social Security benefits were computed on women’s wages. Few people seemed to think all this posed much of a problem. Many of the women who had experienced the most discrimination took it for granted; those who didn’t saw little possibility for major change.” (66)
“The fact that the percentage of married women in the workforce kept quietly going up was really the key to women’s liberation. The nation had to accept the idea that most women would work through their adult lives… But as a sex, they were not going to have standing in the public world unless men saw them as having an important economic role.” (99)
“Black critics said the women’s movement was too focused on the problems of suburbs and college campuses rather than on the issues of poverty and exclusion. ‘Blacks are oppressed… white women are suppressed… and there is a difference,’ said Linda La Rue, a black commentator. And the traditional black press stressed that the important thing was for women to shore up the men, not to compete against them.” (204)
Some notable quotes:
“The reformers [of the women’s liberation movement] did not want to overthrow the existing system—they wanted to open the gates so that women could become part of it.” (181)
“The idea that women were the weaker sex, meant to stay at home and tend to the children while the men took care of the outside world, was as old as Western civilization. The colonists who came over on the Mayflower believed that women were morally as well as intellectually and physically inferior and that they should be married off as early as possible so their husbands could keep them on the straight and narrow.” (4)
“In 1960… although computers were still pretty much the stuff of science fiction, almost all the other things that make modern life feel modern — jet travel, television, nuclear terror — had arrived. But when it came to women, the age-old convictions were still intact” (6-7)
“Since it was perfectly legal to discriminate on the basis of sex, there was no real comeback when employers simply said that no women need apply… The belief that marriage meant an end to women’s work-life provided an all-purpose justification for giving the good opportunities to young men.” (21)
“Harper’s claimed, ‘A girl who gets as far as her junior year in college without having acquired a man is thought to be in grave danger of becoming an old maid.’ That wasn’t much of an exaggeration… Professors watched in frustration as their prize pupils raced from final exams to wedding showers.” (38)
“Housewives who felt trapped were not a new phenomenon, even if nobody had done a poll or requested reader responses on the topic in earlier eras. But personal happiness had not been regarded as an entitlement then. And it surprised the nation—or at least the media—that the women who had acquired better homes and more conveniences than any previous generation should seem to be particularly miserable” (56)
“For most, it was a given that they would marry in their early 20s, start families almost immediately, and dedicate their lives to homemaking. Yet as students, they had taken the same courses the career-bound men had, passed the same tests, and researched the same papers to prepare for a future they never actually intended to have.” (57)
“The greatest irony of the celebration of forty years of suffrage was that it seemed that once women had gotten the right to vote, they never got anything else. There was an endless list of ways they were discriminated against or treated unfairly, from lower salaries to inferior facilities for girls’ sports in public schools to the different—and less generous— way that Social Security benefits were computed on women’s wages. Few people seemed to think all this posed much of a problem. Many of the women who had experienced the most discrimination took it for granted; those who didn’t saw little possibility for major change.” (66)
“The fact that the percentage of married women in the workforce kept quietly going up was really the key to women’s liberation. The nation had to accept the idea that most women would work through their adult lives… But as a sex, they were not going to have standing in the public world unless men saw them as having an important economic role.” (99)
“Black critics said the women’s movement was too focused on the problems of suburbs and college campuses rather than on the issues of poverty and exclusion. ‘Blacks are oppressed… white women are suppressed… and there is a difference,’ said Linda La Rue, a black commentator. And the traditional black press stressed that the important thing was for women to shore up the men, not to compete against them.” (204)
thompson_dev's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like this was an important book to read. I liked the blend of famous women’s stories covered as well as every day women. Recognizing this is a history book, it did take me quite a while to get through it because there were so many names and details. For a history book, very readable. But rating 3 stars because personally I found it a tad challenging to stay engaged at times.
jackgoss's review against another edition
5.0
When everything changed was exactly want I was looking for. History without getting bogged down in academia or theory.
amibunk's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
I enjoy Gail Collins' writing. She has a knack of combining factual information with personal stories from the time that make the era come completely alive. She writes effortlessly and her book reads more like a novel than a historical work.
This book is the sequel to Collins' book "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines." At first I questioned putting over four hundred years of women's history in one book and only forty years in the second, but after reading about what took place between 1960 and the present, I now completely understand the decision. The past forty years has seen incredible things happening to and by American women.
All in all, this is a fascinating book to read.
I enjoy Gail Collins' writing. She has a knack of combining factual information with personal stories from the time that make the era come completely alive. She writes effortlessly and her book reads more like a novel than a historical work.
This book is the sequel to Collins' book "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines." At first I questioned putting over four hundred years of women's history in one book and only forty years in the second, but after reading about what took place between 1960 and the present, I now completely understand the decision. The past forty years has seen incredible things happening to and by American women.
All in all, this is a fascinating book to read.