5 comments about Who She Was: My Search for My Mother's Life.

1. This is a moving tribute. The author makes the effort to know and understand his mother after she has died, in part because he senses he has been unfair to her while she lived. Freedman writes with understanding and sympathy of a woman who according to her son reached the peak of her emotional life at seventeen in a love forbidden her by her mother. Freedman tells of how his mother had to sacrifice her own wellbeing and desire for an education in order to help support her very poor family. He blames his grandmother for some of the dissatisfaction in his mother's life. At the same time he praises his grandmother for being the strong and ethical member of the family who cared about what was happening to her relatives in Europe during the Holocaust.
   Freedman blames himself for his behavior as college student and teacher in refusing to acknowledge his mother's presence in the class. He does however indicate that there were many times in their life when he tried to do his best for her. For instance he tells of a story where he bought his mother a special kind of plant , and how disheartened he was when after a few weeks it wilted. His mother comforted him in this.
   It would be nice to think that she knows of his devotion to him and looking down from Heaven is filled with pride and happiness for her son's devotion to her in telling her story.



2. Sam's insight to the era of the Bronx shows the underlying warmth and respect he has for his family. I could not put the book down; reading well into the night; hours passing quickly. We can all relate, Jewish or non- Jew. They were tough times, not necessarily blessed with opportunities; and especially so for a bright woman with what could have been an even brighter future had she been born in more contemporary times. Thank you for sharing your Mom's life with us. You did it in a beautiful and literary way.
   I gained insight into Fannie's family; folks I have known, loved, respected and whose friendship I have cherished for almost 50 years.
   Thank you, Sam. Great job.



3. My mother grew up in the Bronx not all that far (in time and place) from Freedman's mother Eleanor, so I found this book both nostalgic and deeply touching. Even if I didn't know first-hand about shopping at Alexander's, going to Loew's Paradise, and commuting to City College, I would find this book engrossing.
   
   By tracing his mother's teenage and early adult years and the shifting relationships with family and friends, he shows how her decisions and attitudes influenced who she became--and why she kept her earlier life a mystery from those closest to her. Insightful, with a powerful yet very personal ending. Highly recommended.



4. I found Freedman's account of his mother to be melacholy and moving. All our parents remain a mystery to us when they live, more so when they die. Freedman's rejection of his mother in life and embrace is death is deeply touching.



5. I could not put this book down....it's fantastic! The author, whose mother died when he was a college student, pieces together her pre-motherhood life to create a wonderful story of a complex young woman...a woman who, to paraphrase his words, peaked at a young age and spent the rest of her life trying to capture that success. I appreciate the emotional and literary efforts Mr Freedman put into this book...it was a joy to read and gave me lots of food for thought. Highly recommend!

3 comments about Alice James: A Biography.

1. I'm fascinated by the women of this period and social sphere and what they made of their various situations, and found this to be a very informative and interesting account of James' life, as well as the childhood and life of her brothers. Although I came away as yet unconvinced of her "brilliance," I am inspired to pursue Alice further.



2. It's interesting that Alice's disabling illness has always been considered as neurotic, perhaps even a sign of envy of her successful brothers. It's occurred to me that Alice may have been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, at that time an undiagnosed illness, as opposed to "brother envy". In any case, the book is beautifully written and is fascinating indeed.



3. I first read this book in 1991 and am still haunted by some of the words and letters of Alice James. Jean Srouse's thorough research and great prose kept me reading. It was Alice, herself, however who really touched me. This book introduced me to a cast of interesting characters who are with me still.

5 comments about Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood.

1. I don't have much to add to the foregoing reviews except to toss my own opinion in the ring. This book was well-written and great fun to read. I found it hard to put the book down at times. I can't say this is the definitive biography of Mary Pickford -- that's beyond my realm of expertise -- but it sure as heck was an enjoyable one. I popped back in on Amazon to see if the author has published any other biographies. She hasn't. Drats.



2. Whitfield's book on Pickford is the definitive biography of this Hollywood legend. Her research is extensive and storytelling touching. It's fascinating to read about the rise and fall of such an intelligent and artistic actress who was one of the first to create the art of film acting. I've also read Scott Eyman's book ("Mary Pickford"), which is also good, but doesn't offer the same depth of research that Whitfield does. A must have for any film buff's library.



3. I think I can say that this book changed my life. I love movies and the people who make them, and for some reason I was not at all familar with the great Mary Pickford. Reading Ms. Whitfield's PICKFORD: THE WOMAN WHO MADE HOLLYWOOD, I laughed, I cried and I was amazed with what this actress accomplished in her life. This is the sort of book for me that as I approached its last pages, I had to put it down because I did not want it to end. Maybe I didn't want Pickford's life to end. Her life, and particulary her relationship with her mother, has all the workings of a great motion picture. I am now searching for all films that feature Mary Pickford. I have seen many recently and through her and her movies the world of Silent Film has come alive for me. This book fills in the blanks I had about the earliest days of U. S. films and has given me a glimpse into the working life of Pickford. For any students of film, this is a book that must be read. I will never forget the beautiful moment in this book when Mary Pickford is sitting next to Douglas Fairbanks, some time after they had divorced. Their brief converstion, as told by Whitfield, still gets me all misty eyed when I think about it. For me, without a doubt, this is the best book I have read all year!



4. I'm not rating the book, but rather some misinformation: in the book's description it says that she did not make the transition to talking pictures. I watched a talking picture this morning on Turner Classic Movies, Coquette(spelling?), released in 1929, which she was nominated for Best Actress. So yes, she DID make the transition to talking pictures; it just may not have been for long.



5. I am looking for a Mary Pickford bio that has lots of information on her personal life. This book is not the one. I found it dull, boring and uninformative in regards to Mary's personal life. I stopped reading it!! I want to know more about Lottie and Jack and their deaths, and this book tells very little, and one paragraph when each of them die. No details, no places, addresses-all the things that make for really interesting and well researched books. Anyone can get information on their movies, filmographies and details of the studios. You could almost just repeat many books like this and just change the person who you're writing about. Everytime I found a tidbit of interest, it referred to Mary's own book "Sunshine and Sadness". Maybe I should read THAT book instead!

2 comments about Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music.

1. There is a lot to relate to in this book. The description of Boulanger's overbearing mother brings back memories in which I thought my parents were overbearing. The description of Boulanger's problems in growing old frightened me, since I am approaching that stage myself.
   
   Like Mr. Shapiro, I wondered why Boulanger couldn't get along with Ravel. That conflict is mentioned for the first time on page 114, phrased in such a way as to imply that the reader already knows about it. I wonder whether the author forgot to explain this, or whether she herself did not know.
   
   I was disappointed that I did not learn more about how Boulanger came to be the composition teacher for most of the outstanding composers of her time. As an aspiring composer, I would like to take those techniques and apply them to myself. But the author does not promise such a discussion, so I can't hold her guilty.



2. This book is a labor of love for author Rosenstiel. It would be impossible to write a better biography. She must have spent much time with Boulanger towards the end of her long life to acquire so much detail. There was so much reverence for her more musically gifted younger sister, Lili, who, tragically, died so young. I started to get bored with names I didn't know or care about but the book was so well written that I hung in there and finished this rather lengthy but meticulously written biography of a most unique and influential pedagogue who had such a profound influence on so many musicians and notable composers including Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. I wonder why she had such a cool relationship with Maurice Ravel who was one of the finest composers of our time. There was no explanation given and I wonder why.

5 comments about Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat.

1. Pocahontas Was a Tobacco Priestess
   When I was a little boy, my grandmother told me that we were descendents of Pocahontas. The idea aroused my fantasies. Having Indian blood was a special blessing. It endowed me with certain spiritual qualities, psychic perceptiveness and magical abilities--in my imagination. Later I was disappointed to learn that it was fashionable among past generations to claim a blood tie to Pocahontas. I suspected my grandmother's story was of this origin. Much later I realized that a fascination with things Native American was a symptom of a certain affinity. I valued the Indian fantasy as a call of the wild from within. It was to be answered, but in my own, indigenous terms, not in terms borrowed from other cultures. I recently read a book that has added great depth to this perspective.
   Pocahontas: Medicine woman, spy, entrepreneur, diplomat (HarperSanFrancisco), by Paula Gunn Allen, Ph.D., tells an entirely different history of this American icon than the one we cherish. This award winning author, retired professor from U.C.L.A., credited with originating Native American literary studies, has taken the usual sources, plus those rarely referred to, and re-interpreted the data within the context of the Native American mythical world view. The result is a fascinating account of the transformation of "Turtle Island" into "America the Beautiful."
   Dr. Gunn Allen begins by explaining the spirit-centered worldview of the Native American at that time. The "manito aki," which pertains to the supernatural, paranormal, spirit inhabited world, was the Native American waking reality, more real to them than the physical world. We might say that they were good "Jungians" at that time, because they respected the experiences of the imagination as real and worthy of attention. The natives at that time also realized that their world was coming to an end. Their calendars and mythologies had prepared them. The coming of the white men was part of the fulfillment of this prophesy. Evidence points to the fact that Pocahontas was a high priestess, initiated into the mysteries of the spirit world and charged with responsibility to these spirits. Based upon her evidence, the author came to the startling conclusion that Pocahontas, rather than falling in love with Captain John Smith, was actually on a pre-planned mission taking advantage of him as an unwitting pawn. Her objective: to insure that the spirit of tobacco would find a home in the new world. Tobacco spirit, the essential shamanic power of the Native American world, needed to find a way to be a part of the coming materialistic world that was being born. This mission was crucial if the spirit of the Native world was to survive destruction of its manifest existence. Pocahontas was the channel by which the transfer of power was achieved. Pocahontas' connection with John Smith was the means by which Native spirituality was preserved, even though it would have to hide for centuries within a plant that would be marketed, traded, consumed, and vilified within a purely materialistic consciousness, until such time as this ancient spirituality could one day be reborn in the awareness of the European mindset, as is beginning to happen today.
   What is this newly emerging mindset? Gunn Allen writes, "...the construction of Pocahontas in American thought, while often historically inaccurate, is an indication that the imagination of America is as connected to the manito aki as it is to the land. The problem that Americans face in harmonizing our modern American consciousness with the ancient psyche of the land we inhabit is the dominance of a paradigm that assumes material, measurable existence to be all there is."
   The lesson for us is to respect the intuitive nature of the imagination." We need to experience and to understand the imagination as a channel of intuitive realities. The mind and its ambassador, the imagination, is quite real although it inhabits a different plane of existence than the world the senses recognizes. It is real because it makes a difference in our lives. It is in this realm of the imagination that we can find our highest ideals, that we intuit our interconnectedness as spiritual beings, that we encounter non-material beings, and discover the patterns in the creative forces that shape our lives. Our fascination with all things Native American is evidence of our connection to this non-material world. Yet this connection is something that sadly we do not recognize within ourselves, but project onto these indigenous peoples. Gunn Allen re-connects us with our heritage. She joins us in gratitude to the people who came before us, who built a spiritual time capsule that would survive the materialistic, destructive stage of our history, preserving for the future our endowment as spirit's children. Pocahontas is truly America's godmother. [...]



2. I don't ordinarily write reviews, but I feel the need to steer people away from spending money on this book! This was a horrible waste of money, and of time spent in reading the first third or so I read before I quit. Patricia Gunn Allen is not simply hooked on Political Correctness (which I could deal with). She substitutes it for decent scholarship and for writing ability. After the pointless detours into the legends of her own New Mexico Native American clan and 21st Century Physics, the attempt to relate the "myth" of Pochahontas to the Legend of one of the Kngihts of the Round Table (I think it was Gawain and the Green Knight, but I'm honestly not sure) did me in. I wanted to know something about Pocahotas -- the Woman! Or, as the title of the book says, the Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepeneur and Diplomat! And that is what I could NOT glean from this book at all.



3. The feeling the book gave me was one of disjointed-ness, I couldn't fully submerge myself into the book because it didn't seem like the writer could decide how she wanted to present the material. It read like conjecture for a lot of it, with "could", "would have" , and it also read like a lecture given by a professor, at the same time, it was too conversational, and in all just poorly written. The material was interesting enough, and her conjectures intriguing, it was just the presentation that was faulty. It would also have been better if she could have given logic for her conjectures, as it is...she would have done better to have written the book as a fiction novel, and it would have carried better.



4. Dr. Gunn Allen opens our eyes to the roots of modern American culture that are too often obscured, whether intentionally or not. A reader who approaches this work "in good faith" will be regaled with the astonishingly open, clear, and unique viewpoint she cultivates and communicates. She chooses to stand between two cultures and knowledgeably observe them interpenetrate--rather than take the customary political or religious stances of taking one "side" or another. Only a woman with a solid grounding in both cultures (and a tremendous ability to write beautifully), as Dr. Allen has, can accomplish in her work what she is also showing her readers historically. A discerning reader who is willing to admit--and agree to suspend--culturally-programmed judgment can come away from this book with a much richer, smarter, more beautiful and especially more genuinely compassionate sense of REAL purpose this country's citizens might choose to see in their ancestors' having come here, as well as in the direction they would really like this country to take NOW. In addition, I find that it is an honor (still and despite the rude and terrible behavior the English showed towards the interesting and knowledgeable people already living here) to be so respectfully invited into sharing indigenous views of this world, this land, and the Western Europeans who came here. On top of all of this, the book is a truly great read for most anyone who has an intellect that enjoys exercise, and a love of exploring and rediscovering the past in new ways.



5. It's true that Gunn Allen's work doesn't fit neatly into any of the normal western categories of biography or history, but then again she's not working within the western tradition to begin with. In order to appreciate what Gunn Allen has accomplished, you first must have a knowledge and appreciation of the Algonquian oral tradition, which embraces a wide range of Indian nations across most of the eastern half of North America, including the state of Virginia, where native communities persist to this day. To begin with the oral tradition, then, is to begin with living communities that still retain the memories of their historical ancestors, such as Pocahontas. From this perspective, as Gunn Allen demonstrates, the story of Pocahontas is less of a romance and more of an adventure, one in which the protagonist is an extension of women's roles and powers in the Powhatan Confederacy. As such, the story of Pocahontas is the story of Native America's fateful encounter with the European powers that would eventually--not annihilate them (though many died, particularly from disease)--but colonize, relocate, and oppress them. In the end, Gunn Allen's eloquent and insightful book is a potent reminder that it is the spirits, the manitou, who ultimately control the world. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Living In Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces.

1. This book is a fascinating look at the reality of growing up female in Iran prior to and after the Islamic Revolution and life during the 8 year war with Iraq. The author's story will shock, sadden and anger you as you learn about the horrible treatment of women not only by the extremely oppressive regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini who, upon gaining power immediately reversed any progress and put the country back in the stone age, but even worse the cruel, abusive treatment of the author by her own family that has left her scarred both mentally and physically. After reading this story you will come away with a much better understanding of just how worthless and burdensome women are viewed under Islam. I found this book easy to read and difficult to put down. My only complaint and reason for not giving 5 stars was that the author, with a lifetime of pain and misery, still defends and justifies Islam as a peaceful and loving religion. I must say that 1400 years of history proves to any open minded person that has studied Islam that it is the worlds most intolerant religion and the Prophet as a ruthless warlord who used war and violence to convert other religions and kept them silent through oppression and threats of death. Overall I recommend this book for anyone wanting more information about life in the Middle East.



2. When I first read and reviewed this book I left only a cryptic notation, "downside of Islam" but I neglected the opportunity to point out that the book also captures the downside of poverty as well as the enormous cultural and emotionial indignities toward women that are sanctioned by Islam and not only practiced in Islamic countries but also exported to Europe and the USA, where women are treated behind closed doors in a manner that would put any normal American behind bars for years.
   
   See also these books that I found helpful:
   Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror
   While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within
   Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power (Religion and Global Politics)
   American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us
   While America Sleeps: How Islam, Immigration and Indoctrination Are Destroying America From Within
   Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
   The Working Poor: Invisible in America
   The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back



3. Ghazal's book offers a rare and insightful look of Iran, a land that is usually viewed via the political prism of its leadership and rarely from the point of view of its people. The author offers a compelling story of a girl and a young woman living in a land that is best described by the name she chooses for her ontology. And indeed, "Hell" is a difficult word for a homeland. But while reading the tale it becomes apparent that "Hell" is not a description given to the beautiful land of Iran but rather, to the political reality that engulfed the country and, with it, the life of a young girl.
   
   
   
   Ghazal begins her story in Abadan, a picturesque city located minutes from the Iraqi border where she grew up as the youngest of eight siblings. As a child, Ghazal experienced the life before the revolution - life of relative freedom in where friendships with Jews were permitted and where reading the bible was not considered an unforgivable sin. These times and her inquisitive personality created a girl that would forfeit her need to reflect upon and question her surroundings) - something that means only trouble in post-revolutionary Iran.
   
   Her story is a personal one of an inquisitive girl who is trying to follow her mind and her heart and that of a country busy with revolution and war that has little room for any form of dissent.
   
   
   The book recounts the life before the revolution and the events that have led to the rise of Kohmeni. It offers an insider's view of the revolution, the US embassy hostage crisis and the war.
   
   Having studied Islam for 17 years and following a struggle wither own faith, the author knows Islamic law. Her studies, documented in the second portion of the book, address many important questions and misconceptions about Islam. Her research affords some insight into why Muslim countries seem to be prone to terrorism and examines the link between poverty, ignorance and terrorism
   
   
   
   Living In Hell is also a book dedicated to the oppression of women. Omid's personal experience s a woman who experienced abuse , is , unfortunately, not unique in countries like Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyz and other Middle East countries where traditional male dominated societies still practice barbaric "honor" killings
   
   
   Ghazal Omid calls herself "A Rebel With A Cause" because her work have became one deeply associated with the cause of freedom in Iran, with human rights and with the life of many Iranian prisoners for whom Ghazal is one of the only voices of hope. "Living in Hell" was written also for these brave men and woman - since it shows that difficult and even impossible journey of struggle can end with freedom and hope.
   
   Nir Boms is the Vice President of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East
   
   



4. Living in Hell is a powerful window into the daily struggles of women in Iran. It is filled with heart wrenching personal accounts of Ghazal's struggle against the oppressive nature of Iran's Islamic government and male dominated society. Anyone who desires to gain insight into the struggles faced by women in Islamic dictatorships should get this book, you wont regret it.



5. If you are a truth seeker, then this book will change your life forever. Ms. Omid has touched the very depths of my soul by her honest account and for sharing her experience, strength, and hope. I urge everyone to read her book! The subject matter is difficult to read if you have a conscience and are concerned about women and men in Iran. She may not be an expert on every act of abuse that happens around the world, but she does know first hand the type of abuse that goes on in the country she grew up in. I can not understand where the feminists and human rights activists are when it comes to the abuse women endure in Iran. Where are they? I can only deduce that those who ridicule such an honest account are the same types of people who thought Hitler was "good" for Germany. They turn their heads and dismiss the reality while unimaginiable atrocieties occur daily, especially if privilege and power are in their favor. Ms. Omid never accepts "status quo" and is not silenced by those who would consider themselves superior because they have different genitals. Her book is a reminder that one empathetic person in one's life can and does make a difference for the better. We can say "NO!" Most amazing is the way in which Ms. Omid puts her literal life on the line daily to speak up for those who have no voice. Her unconditional love for the people of Iran and her beloved country is indescribable. Because of Ms. Omid's book, I am extremely encouraged that the people of Iran can and do have the ability to stand up and stop the madness that their horrific, dispicable, murderous government is thrusting upon them. They need a little help from the rest of the world. Those who truly care are "the rest of the world!" Ms. Omid and her book is a gift to humanity. I recommend this book to everyone!!!! May her valiant spirit touch your heart too!

5 comments about Lifeguarding: A Memoir of Secrets, Swimming, and the South.

1. This book paled in comparison to The Glass Castle [which I could not put down].
   I did not find the individuals very interesting and I did not think they were developed to where they became complex, real characters.
   I found myself skimming through the last chapters waiting for something dramatic to happen.
   And I found the swimming metaphors too constant and annoying.



2. Treading water, deciding whether to sink or swim, Catherine McCall's "Lifeguarding" is a stunning memoir and well worth the read.
   "Lifeguarding" is about a middle class family leading a country club life but what appears to be real is false. Her father, a mediocre insurance salesman, drowns himself in booze and debt. To keep their lives afloat, Catherine's mother gets a job teaching. As she hides their family secrets, Catherine hides one of her own . . .
   She is gay.
   Catherine's struggle to understand her sexuality, her unconventional desires in a conventional time, makes "Lifeguarding" an unusual story. Her feelings and frustrations flow from pen to page. It is beautifully written, poignant and moving. Going into bars to remind her father to come home, or waiting for him to arrive for a day at the state fair, the reader is right there with the writer.
   Catherine McCall takes us back to the agonies of adolescence, when life was supposedly simple. It reminds me of trying to win in the wrong lane. I'm happy to report . . . Catherine McCall is victorious!
   
   Laurie Ames Birnsteel
   Kahala



3. I thought i was burned out with memoirs and along comes "Lifeguarding." Congratuulations to Catherine McCall for an honest, truthful memoir written in a straightforward manner, without the strident, over-the-top, self-proclamation and heavy-handed confessionals that have dominated the genre. This story flows gently but strongly and is a blessed change from the norm in this genre. Read it!



4. I enjoyed reading the author's story and thought the writing was great. It really took me to the time and place. And very clever how she tied so much into water, emotions, etc. Hard to articulate my thought there, but it was brillant in places. Those that have read the book will know what I'm referring to. I will recommend this book to my book club. In reading the back flap about Ms. McCall, it appears she's settled and happy and that's nice to see.



5. This book stands a part from other family stories for me because of the author's ability to discuss her family's strengths AND shortcomings with such honesty and such tenderness. So often authors who share family stories are skilled at detailing either the tremendous adversity of their childhoods or the greatness of the characters they have known. McCall does an excellent job of sharing the simple humanity of her family members, making them real to the reader, not simply characters to admire or villianize. I also appreciated the honesty with which McCall shared her coming out process and the deep understanding she seems to have of the role of her partners and their importance to her life. A tender, meaningful, and enjoyable read.

1 comments about Miss Bertha: Woman of Revival: A Biography.

1. Miss Bertha: Woman of Revival tells the story of one of the most amazing women Baptists have ever produced. Bertha Smith lived 100 years and influenced several generation of missionaries and pastors. Drummond does a good job of focusing mainly on her public life while still giving us a glimpse at her early years. Everyone should read this book!

3 comments about Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (Studies in the History of Sexuality).

1. This is the true story of a mother superior named Sister Benedetta Carlini and another nun from a small village near Florence in 17th century Italy who basically liked to rub bodies together in bed until they reached orgasm. This if course was a big no-no if you're a nun sworn to chastity. People found out and there was a trial in which the private sex life of these two nunnies was exposed. The scandal made them both lose their reputations. This is one of the earliest and most sensationalistic accounts of lesbian love on record. The fact that it was between two nuns makes it just that much more shocking and intriguing.(...)



2. This book is a fabulous depiction of the Italian nun, Benedetta Carlini, whose drive for ambition in the Catholic church drove her to get the help of her lesbian lover to create the illusion of stigmata. Through this, she moves to new heights of power and respect in the church and brings money and fortune to the church...but upon accusations and scrutiny, she's brought down to pay for her ambition. The story is a tenderly told one. It has feminist elements and deals with the desperate desire of spoils, along with a not-so-pretty picture of the Church.



3. If you are interested in Renaissance Italy, gender studies, or the history of the Christian Church, this book is for you. This book presents the story of an ambitious abbess on the road to sainthood a la Catherine of Siena and her fall from grace as she becomes too powerful for the comfort of her male collegues. It is the story of the making and unmaking of a saint. This is one of my favorite books of all time.

2 comments about The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women's Liberation.

1. I bought this book suspecting I should have been born in the 1950's so I could participate in the second wave of feminism. After reading the thoughfull essays in this anthology, I came away even more convinced that I was right.

   As depressing as some of the circumstances seem by todays standards, these women surmounted impossible odds, and for that, I am profoundly gratefull and only wish I could have been there to help out. Having been born in 1979, I cannot imagine how exhillarating this movement was.

   From fighting to legalize abortion and contraceptive information, to the women's health movement to debates over sexuality and equal rights, the modern feminist movement (matched only by the civil rights movement for breadth and impact) has had the most imediate impact on American society.

   The fact that most people (women and men) support these goals and take their victory for granted shows both how successful feminists have been in the battle, and how much we still need to do to preserve our ground while working on new areas.

   Because women's history remains largely unsung in public schools, we need more books like this to educate (and hopefully) inspire the next generation of feminist activists.




2. Though many feel that women in the feminist movement have done their good deed and now they can just go away, I FEEL a book of this caliber is just what we need to remember! Why is it that in school we are forced to drool over war heros, blood and the lifes lost to senseless wars like Vietnam and when it comes to the womens peaceful movement (which could be accountable for the mass shift UP in overall economics, women working is a good thing) we are not allowed to remember! Read this book and discover truth. side note: I grew up in the 70's 80's and feel I may be the only woman of my generation who feels so strongly with such a thirst for these essays. Am I alone out here?