Product Description

The most concise and comprehensive one-volume history of American women--from the indigenous women of the 16th-century wilderness to the dual-role career women and mothers of contemporary times--this book brings American womanhood to center stage, exploring the lives of pioneers and slaves, immigrants and factory workers, executives and homemakers. of photos.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147027 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
It is the view of Evans, director of the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota and author of Personal Politics , that "to understand the force of women's experience . . . we must adjust our vision so that we can see the world not only through the major male figures in the foreground but also through the eyes of female figures--a Puritan good wife, an African slave, an Iroquois matron, a westering woman, a female immigrant, a settlement house worker, a secretary." She advances to this end by melding the stories of representative, sometimes well-known, women into the larger sphere of American politics and public life. Richly diverse accounts exemplify the challenge and struggle that have defined and continue to alter the roles of women in our nation's development. In this respect Evans's useful exploration of the participatory nature of women's history in the United States differs from the majority of feminist literature.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- A fascinating, readable volume that discusses the continual reshaping of the role of women in America from the 17th century to the 1980s. Evans' chapters roughly coincide with standard textbook organization of history (early settlers, Revolutionary era, 1845-1865, etc.), which makes the book useful to students of American history searching for another viewpoint. Unlike earlier histories, which only discuss women in the home, Evans shows the impact husbands, brothers, and sons had on the women's lives and thinking, and the effect of women's actions on men's politics. Although women's place in society remains unchanged in many basic ways, the intervening 300 years have seen great changes in the acceptance of women in public and political spheres. Evans makes these changes understandable to lay readers who may not yet have a sense of the totality of American history. No library should be without this title that offers such unique insight into women's roles and history from early settlers and native Americans to modern CEOs. --Dorcas Hand, Episcopal High School, Bellaire, TX
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this synthesis, Evans reviews the evolution of work and family life with sensitivity to the fissures of class, national origin, region, occupation, marital status, sexual preference, and, especially, race. As in her earlier work, Evans spotlights the "public spaces"--reform, religious and educational organizations--that women created in order to achieve political and social objectives. Enriched by the fruitful scholarship of the last decade, this densely written book is a worthy execution of a difficult task. There are only a few comparable works: Glenda Riley's Inventing the American Woman (Harlan Davidson, 1986); Nancy Woloch's Women and the American Experience (Knopf, 1984); and Mary P. Ryan's most recent edition of Womanhood in America from Colonial Times to the Present ( Watts, 1979; 1983). Recommended.
- Cynthia Harrison, Federal Judicial Ctr . , Washington, D . C .
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Solid rediting of first edition
This edition of the text is an improvement on the first edition in its movement away from the east-coast view of women's history and a move towards a more inclusive analysis. As to the lack of definition of such terms as "oppression", as alluded to in another critique of the text, one is tempted to answer "I know it when I see it...," postmodernism just being the latest form of academic "oppression." Clearly Sara Evans is an outstanding practioner of history and one whom understands the skill of an historian's work. How easy it is to criticize that which you know so very little about.

Wonderful look at Women's History
I enjoyed reading Evans look a the history of Women in the U.S. From it's beginnings in the colonial times, through the suffrage movement up to the 80's. It's a wonderful look at part of our history that is ignored in most texts. Highly recommend for any student of women's history!

PRESUMTIOUS PRECEPT
Its title claims a broad accomplishment, an "all your answers are here" assertion. Although it presents hundreds of historical figures, it is quickly evident that by "History of Women," the author means "The Plight of Women and What Their Heroes Have Done About It." The narrative embraces the concept that from this county's origin to the present, women are victims of misogyny, but that there are several heroes of the struggle. Despite the decline in feminist momentum, there nevertheless seems to be a wealth of "historical" readings recently published by feminists. A critique of feminism's tenants will not be attempted with this review, but it seems pressing to take issue with the didactic narratives of "historical" texts such as Born for Liberty. Exempt from their presentations is a clear discussion of three essential components: definitions of the terms "oppression" and "liberty," and the ideologies that steer their metanarratives in the name of "history." The exemption of these elements does not allow for rhetorical inquiry, which is vital for the veracity of the texts' contents. Feminist history, arguably a genre of its own, credulously seeks to convert its readers on the pretense that there is a universal understanding of what it means to be oppressed and liberated. Once readers naively embrace this pretense, they are prone to also believing the tenants of feminism. Perhaps, then, the narrative of Born for Liberty will successfully promote the feminist agenda, but its converts will have naively succumbed to the same tactics of hierarchical propaganda that it claims to abhor.