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Summary: Best Book I Have Ever Read on the History of America's Women
Review: "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, and Helpmates" is a great read for all of those who want a long, detailed book on American women history. I don't believe Gail Collins failed to mention anything (or at least what has been recorded) important in women's rights, etc. It starts with the women in the Mayflower and also the Colonial times, the early 1800s, the Civil War period, etc, etc. Although I was busy these past 2 and 1/2 days, I managed to finish this book during that time. (I could not put it down!) Highly recommend!
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Summary: My review of America's Women
Review: America's Women is the most comprehensive, informative, and entertaining book about the history of women I have ever read. There are many achievements by female pioneers I never even heard of. Nellie Bly was a newspaper reporter who became a national celebrity when she went around the world in 80 days in 1888. Sarah Josepha Hale became the first female editor of a fashion and advice magazine in 1836. Phillis Wheatley was an extraordinary female slave who learned to speak fluent English in a year and a half. She was the first American writer to achieve international fame with her poetry. She was also credited in persuading George Washington to allow black men to serve in the Continetal Army. I also learned about Ellen Swallow Richards who became the founder of home economics in the early 20th century Girls were able to take chemistry, biology, and geology classes under her theory that it would help them become better homemakers.The causes that women in history have fought for are logical, diverse, and interesting. Women have fought for the right to vote, the prohibition of alcohol, and the sexual purity of men which I found interesting. Women also won the right to schooling during the Revolutionary War which I never knew. There were some people I only recoginized by name in this book. However, after reading about their accomplishments, I had a better understanding of what their influence was. Jane Addams was the founder of a housing settlement called Hull House in Chicago. She provided housing for thousands of poor people and immigrants in the early part of the 20th century. Eleanor Roosevelt was a model for future first ladies. She wanted to give black people equal access to government services. She aimed to improve housing conditions for all people. She seeked for ways to stimulate the economy during the Great Depression and World War 2. America's Women covers every subject related to women with such depth and accuracy. Gail Collins really traces well how the attitudes about education, women in the work place, family, and even sex has evolved over 400 years. Today women are more educated and more self confident about their decisions than ever before. They have made a mark in every field of endeavor. America's Women is an excellent book.
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Summary: Very moving and downright funny!
Review: Heard the taped version of AMERICA'S WOMEN: 400 YEARS OF DOLLS, DRUDGES, HELPMATES, AND HEROINES narrated by Jane Alexander . . . don't put off by the title; it is a fascinating account of the women's movement that wasn't boring in the least . . . in fact, I found parts very moving; others were downright funny.
It made me greater appreciate the role women have played in our country . . . in particular, I was knocked for a loop when I read about all that women had to do in colonial America while also raising families that very often included 10 children or more . . . they not only had to care for the children, but they had to grow the vegetables, cook the meals, make the clothing, and perform so
many other tasks that I'm getting tired even typing this.
I liked learning more about the epic struggle faced by Rosa Parks to help integrate our country, yet found it equally thought-provoking to hear the story of Ann Fowler . . . in 1637 in Virginia, she was sentenced to 20 lashes after she suggested that Adam Throwgood (a country justice) could
"kiss my arse" . . . the states' General Assembly then ruled that husbands would no longer be liable for damages caused by their outspoken wives.
Unlike some other books of this nature, there was no male-bashing;
in fact, Chubby Checker gets praised for helping advance the women's movement . . . it seems "The Twist" was the first time that women could dance without needing a male to lead.
Jane Alexander's excellent narration added to my enjoyment
of AMERICA'S WOMEN.
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Summary: America's women
Review: I am a young women that came across this book on the library shelf. Not sure if I would be interested in reading it since I have never really taken an interest in history...I started to thumb through it and am pleased to say that I took the book home. This book has been a real eye opener for me and I look forward to each story about every remarkable women in this book. I am a new fan of this type of history thanks to this book.
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Summary: Don't need to like history to like this book.
Review: I am not a history buff nor did I take any feminist studies in college, yet I loved reading this book. Gail Collins presents a vivid, albit uneavenly detailed "panorama" of women in America over a 400 year span. Much of the material comes from letters, diaries or oral histories, in addition to newspaper reports, so the reader feels like she's actually part of these women's lives rather than just reading about them.
What stood out to me was how much more independent and courageous America's women have been from the start of this country compared to their couterparts in the "old world." I particularly liked how Collins did not romanticize women or obscure the failings of many of them. Women's impact on American culture is so much more obvious in Collin's account than anything I read in a history class.
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Summary: A Book for all of America's women
Review: I found this book to be highly informative, resounding, and enjoyable to read. Woman are often short changed in history and this book duly affords them the spotlight that has been conspicuously denied them until now. Gail Collins has a witty style that makes this book hard to put down, and it contains interesting ancedotes of women that made their mark throughout the pages of time. I do not only highly recommend this book to history buffs, but also to all book lovers in general.
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Summary: A Real Treat
Review: I just finished this book on the bus to work this morning. What a treat. I'm only mainly annoyed at a friend of mine, who, upon hearing my daily raves, would say, "Hello, didn't you learn about this in high school history?" Yes, I remember many of these women's achievements outlined in sidebars in history books. Gail Collins, meanwhile, devotes entire chapters to them.
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Summary: Molls and Dolls
Review: I started skimming through this book to see if I wanted to read it, and I was hooked. This is a history that skips all the boring parts. You can start anywhere and find one fascinating fact after another. Mae West got her start on stage in a play that she wrote, featuring male transvestites. Sort of the Madonna of her day. When Ignac Paderewski, concert pianist, performed in the 19th century, women rushed the stage to throw corsages at him. Sort of the Tom Jones of his day. American nurses in World War I adapted the absorbent wood pulp bandages used to treat wounds, to create what would become Kotex. The bibliography in America's Women is marvelously extensive; you can use it for research, or just to get ideas for more interesting reading. Brava, Gail Collins, for an outstanding book!
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Summary: America's Women in Bold Face and Plain
Review: In writing the history of America's women Gail Collins tells us that " the pendulum swings wide." In this fascinating book Ms. collins lays out for us 400 years of the history of American women from 1587 to the mid-1970s. The pendulum swings not only through time but it also swings from North to South, from the very poor to the very rich, from the enfranchised to the disenfranchised, from the illiterate to the women of letters, from the vomen desperate to create a home to the women desperate to leave a home. In the book the author presents us with the history of American women, both the obscure and the celebrated. Who, for example, knew that during World War II Maya Angelou's great ambition was to be a street car conductor? To accomplish her goal she had to spply and re-apply because of the great reluctance to hire a black woman as conductor. Free from strident ideology Ms. Collins has written 452 pages of text (and 104 more of notes, bibliography and index) with impeccable even-handedness and tongue-in-cheek humor. As a result, reading the book is a highly enjoyable journey during which one meets our very often hardworking, often brave, sometimes extraordinary foremothers. We meet Hannah Dustan who, in 1697 as a captive of a local tribe, scalped her captors and returned home to a herone's welcome. We meet the visionary Grimke sisters, Southern abolitionists, and we see how they transformed their extraordinary vision, seemingly having arisen from nowhere, into a powerful and far-reaching voice for Emancipation...and we meet many others. We see the pendulum swing of women from Dorothy May Bradford who in 1620 took one look at the wild, uncultivated Plymouth forest and jumped from the ship to Betty Friedan who in 1970 took one look at the thousands of women pouring onto the sidewalks of New York to demonstrate on behalf of themselves. Whereas Dorothy took to the water, Betty took to the street. Indeed, the pendulum has swung wide.
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Summary: Deft and Entertaining as Well as Informative
Review: Last September in Fast Company magazine, there was a brief commentary on this book which caught my eye. It cited a number of historical facts of which I had previously been unaware. For example: 1. In 1637 in Virginia, Ann Fowler was sentenced to 20 lashes after she suggested that Adam Thorowgood (a county justice) could "Kiss my arse." The state's General Assembly then ruled that husbands would no longer be liable for damages caused by their outspoken wives. 2. During the 18th century in Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley, impoverished single women with children were required to wear a P (for pauper) when appearing in public. 3. In the 19th century during Civil War era, about 80% of the reading public was female. 4. "In World War II, 1,000 women pilots flew 60 million miles -- mostly in experimental jets and planes grounded for safety reasons --and often towed targets past lines of inexperienced gunners. Then [they] would get arrested for leaving base wearing slacks after dark." As Collins examines four centuries of historical material, much (most?) of it is probably unfamiliar to most readers. In process, she focuses on various "dolls, drudges, helpmates, and heroines" and their diverse contributions -- both positive and negative -- to the evolution of American history. Although Collins is renowned for her work as a journalist (editorial page editor of the New York Times), she displays in this volume all of the skills of an accomplished historian as well as those of a cultural anthropologist. Also, she's a terrific storyteller. I wholly agree with Ellen Chesler (who reviewed this book in The New York Times) that "vast scholarship on women has dramatically reshaped academic thinking about American history....Curiously little of this scholarship has found its way into popular imagination, however, which is why Gail Collins' book is such a welcome development." My own hope is that America's Women will have substantial influence on the revision of curricula for U.S. history courses, especially those now required in public schools. Presumably Collins and Chesler share that hope. The objective would NOT be instruction driven by gender-specific values from feminist perspectives; rather, what Chesler characterizes as a "deft and entertaining" synthesis of historical materials within "a rich narrative." Who knows? If American history courses properly acknowledge, indeed celebrate the achievements of women such as the Grimke sisters, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams, and Dolores Huerta, perhaps (just perhaps) several of the young women enrolled in those courses will be inspired to make their own contributions at a time when opportunities for America's women are greater than ever before.
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