American woman (doll, laborer, assistant, hero)

Author: Gail Collins (USA), translated by Bao Yongning and others
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Gail Collins' American Women has changed the face of American history and gender. The author discusses women from the colonial era to those fighting for suffrage in the modern era, and also explores contemporary feminist equality advocates. It is rare to encounter such a comprehensive, weighty, and engaging book. — Wendy Waserman This book is refreshing and eye-opening. Like all sons, husbands, and fathers, I once thought I understood women. After reading it, I realized I didn’t. Every page made me see this, and I wish I had discovered it sooner. — Richard Reeves Whether it’s a history of American women or a story about them, we now have the perfect account. Gail Collins follows Eleanor Dare’s journey to Virginia and traces it to Betty Friedan’s march on Fifth Avenue in New York, occasionally pausing to discuss suffrage, fashion, contraception, and corsets. It’s truly a great book. — Ellen Goodman Gail Collins’ book is the best account of American women’s history to date. It is rich, engaging, humorous, profound, and full of historical insight. — Christine Stansbury American Women tells a story spanning four hundred years. It features a series of powerful figures—from the women anxiously gazing out from the deck of the Mayflower to the women who boldly challenged beauty pageants and the male-dominated market in the 1960s and 70s. Their actions were sometimes brave, sometimes foolish, sometimes funny, and sometimes tragic. But it is these women who shaped modern America and shaped the ideas of contemporary American women. Gail Collins, a former op-ed editor at The New York Times, selects the most compelling figures from a wealth of historical records of ordinary American women and pioneering female leaders, depicting the lives, ambitions, marriage views, gender dynamics, and career goals of American women. The book begins with the wild Roanoke Island, where women came to the American South to marry, only to face astonishingly high mortality rates that sometimes led to multiple marriages. It then tells the stories and struggles of women: the Revolutionary War, westward expansion, the fight for suffrage, surviving the Great Depression, becoming "Rosie the Riveter," participating in the civil rights movement, and the rebellious spirit of the 1970s. American Women also chronicles the changes in American women’s lives brought about by fashion, medical advances, health standards, sexology theories, and social norms, as well as the evolution of their education, career, and political attitudes. While maintaining a broad perspective, Gail Collins has not forgotten the significance of things like 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 have certainly resisted male oppression, their greater struggle has been to correct the long-standing, chaotic, and almost universally held views about women’s roles—held by both men and women." The book contains several engaging stories, arranged chronologically to form a comprehensive picture of the experiences of American women. American Women is highly readable and also stands as a representative work of historical scholarship.