A 50th-anniversary edition of the trailblazing book that changed women’s lives; with a new introduction by Gail Collins. Landmark; groundbreaking; classic―these adjectives barely do justice to the pioneering vision and lasting impact of The Feminine Mystique. Published in 1963; it gave a pitch-perfect description of “the problem that has no nameâ€: the insidious beliefs and institutions that undermined women’s confidence in their intellectual capabilities and kept them in the home. Writing in a time when the average woman first married in her teens and 60 percent of women students dropped out of college to marry; Betty Friedan captured the frustrations and thwarted ambitions of a generation and showed women how they could reclaim their lives. Part social chronicle; part manifesto; The Feminine Mystique is filled with fascinating anecdotes and interviews as well as insights that continue to inspire. This 50th–anniversary edition features an afterword by best-selling author Anna Quindlen as well as a new introduction by Gail Collins.
#2056241 in Books 2001-05Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.20 x 6.46 x 9.55l; #File Name: 0393020134296 pages
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Slouching Towards BirminghamBy A CustomerCarol Polsgrove has written an insightful and provocative commentary on the caution and reserve with which most of the nation's leading liberal intellectuals responded to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling that institutionalized racial segregation was unconstitutional. She shows how the atmosphere of suspicion and fear of communist subversion generated by the McCarthy Era was used by those opposed to racial equality to smear the academics and intellectuals; both black and white; who spoke publicly in favor of desegregation; ruining their careers and diminishing their influence in the movement for civil rights. A series of personal stories involving public figures as diverse as William Faulkner; Ralph Ellison; Richard Wright; and Lorraine Hansberry keep the narrative constantly changing scene. But the central story involves the emergence of James Baldwin as the unlikely intellectual soul of the movement who gave voice to the rising anger and impatience among blacks for true social change. The author weaves a compelling; behind the scenes account of the first dozen years of the civil rights movement that adds deeper meaning to the hateful images of police dogs; fire hosings of marchers; National Guard troops separating black school children from angry white mobs and others that are seared into the collective consciousness. The author concludes with a pointed indictment of academic intellectuals who forsook the risk of invoking moral leadership in outage against the most enduring evil in American society in favor of the comfort and security of ivory tower discourses. Polsgrove has made an important contribution to illuminating what is surely one of the least inspiring eras of American intellectual history.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Slouching Towards BirminghamBy A CustomerCarol Polsgrove's excellent work is a compelling account that has the feel of a behind-the-scenes report of how the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling began a slow evolution of political and intellectual thought that initially was muted and cautious in support of the emerging civil rights movement. Well-researched and thoughtfully written; the book fills in around many edges of the mental collage of hateful images that anyone growing up in America in the late 1950s and 1960s carries around with them today. Southern literary fans should particularly find the book illuminating. Anyone that did not grow up during the 1960s will find the book an essential reference. I highly recommend it.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Incisive commentary on key period in American historyBy A CustomerThis book recounts recent history with the excitement of today's news. Participating in the civil rights movement required courage-- some intellectuals had it; and some didn't. The portrait of James Baldwin is particularly interesting; as is the discussion of novelist William Faulkner's off-again on-again public support of what he really knew to be right.
