America's Women : Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS SO FAR GOOD, I READ THE FIRST EIGHT CHAPTERS
Review: THIS BOOK IS SO FAR GOOD, I READ THE FIRST EIGHT CHAPTERS
This book is filled with tons surpises so far and can't wait to finish it. I can't wait to see what pictures where in there. I personally think men should read this as well. Its like American Girls books and Penny Colman's Girls. Plus, other women in other countries should write about history of women in their country and be available all over the world. I really like Miss Collins writing, I reach I could read her collums in the NY Times, my family gets it everyday. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Facinating
Review: This is a facinating book that covers the struggles and the courage of women past and present. What an excellent book.
I would like to draw attention to two other Female Authors with courage-
Nightmares Echo (Katlyn Stewart)
Secret Life Of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)

Rating:
Summary: Gripping from beginning to end
Review: This is a fascinating, absorbing and thoroughly entertaining history of American women, starting with a mention of the Viking women Gudrun and Freydis, and working through to the present.

Some of the information in this book I was already familiar with, but most of it was new to me, and all of it was interesting. I learnt some surprising things, I had no idea, for instance, that the first black people in America were free settlers, not slaves.

some parts of the book are painful to read, you need a strong stomach to get through the chapter on women slaves, which is incredibly harrowing. And there are some appalling details about domestic life, the horrors of medical treatment, , and the terible difficulties involved in keeping clean
in the pre-Civil War era. It's a wonder women had the energy left to do anything at all apart from coping with the complications of domestic life.

In this book you will meet famous women like Pocahontas, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Annie Oakley, Lillian Russell, and many other lesser-known women. You can admire their efforts to forge lives for themselves in the wilderness, to raise families, follow careers,and have their own adventures.It's thrilling to read the stories of the women who fought and spied in the revolutionary and civil wars, and the heroines of the Wild West. You can read of the struggle for political recognition,sometimes against almost insurmountable odds, especially in the case of black women, who were fighting racial as well as sexual prejudice in their efforts to gain legal right for themselves. The story of Rosa Parks and how she started the Civil Rights movement simply by refusing to give up her seat on a bus is moving and thrilling.

Gail Collins tells the fascinating story of American womanhood in a lively, witty style that carries you easily through the book and leaves you wishing it were twice as long.

Rating:
Summary: captivating
Review: This is an incredible book with tons of interesting facts and personal stories. It is impossible to come away from this book without becoming inspired.

Rating:
Summary: witty and interesting
Review: This is an incredible book,and an amazingly easy read. Not only does it deal with the "important women of history", it also gives equal time to the ordinary jane. I particularly liked the parts which described the day to day lives of the women, the early settlers, the women on the frontiers and the immigrants in the 1900's. A wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: All sides of American Women
Review: To put it simply, I loved this book. It gives an almost-complete review of the history of women and the women's movement in America. It is thorough, interesting, and amusing to read the ironic circles in which American society places women. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes giving enough information to make one despair for the whole of humanity, sometimes enough to encourage one to shout for joy. The author shines a true light on the American woman's history without sending a one-sided cliched message for or against feminism. A brilliant read for all women (it wouldn't hurt for men to read it, either!)

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Summary: Finally an interesting history of women
Review: WOW! I love this book. It is enjoyable to read -- not all dry like so many history books. It is interesting and informative. I am using excerpts from the book in my Psychology of Women course. I've recommended this book to my friends and requested the library order it. Great read and I'm learning a lot.