American woman/doll, Laborer, Assistant, Hero

Author: Gail Collins (USA) Bao Yongning
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: American Women tells a story spanning over four hundred years. The narrative weaves together a series of powerful anding figures—from women anxiously gazing out from the deck of the Mayflower to the who fiercely resisted beauty pageants and the new wave market in their youth. Their actions were sometimes brave, sometimes foolish, sometimes humorous, and sometimes pitiful. Yet, it is these women who shaped modern America and forged the perspectives of contemporary American women. Gail Collins, a former editorial editor at The New York Times, draws from a wealth of historical records of ordinary American women and female elites, selecting the most compelling figures to depict the life journeys, goals, marriage concepts, gender relationships, and work aspirations of American women.
At the beginning of the book is the wild Roanoke Island, where women came to the Southern United States to marry, only to face astonishingly high mortality rates that sometimes led to remarriage after two or three previous unions—so-called "tobacco brides." The book then narrates the experiences and efforts of women: from the Revolutionary War to settling the frontier, fighting for suffrage, enduring the Great Depression, becoming "Rosie the Riveter," participating in the civil rights movement, and the rebellious spirit of the 1970s. American Women also explores how fashion, medical advancements, health standards, sexology theories, and social norms transformed the lives of American women, as well as the evolution of their educational, professional, and political attitudes.
While maintaining a broad perspective, Gail Collins has not forgotten the seemingly insignificant details of women's corsets and uncomfortable shoes. In the introduction to the book, Gail Collins writes: "The history of American women is a history of the fight for freedom. While American women certainly resisted the oppression and bullying of men, what they fought for more earnestly was to correct the long-standing, chaotic, and almost universally held—by both men and women—perceptions of women's roles."
The book contains several engaging stories, arranged chronologically to form a comprehensive picture of the experiences of American women. American Women is highly readable while also serving as a representative work of history.