Synopses & Reviews
Review
The stereotypical American woman after suffrage is a white, middle-class woman who goes from the emancipated glory of being a flapper to the staid satisfactions of being a housewife. The image suggests that women themselves rejected feminism and sank into political apathy and unconsciousness. This first-class collection of historical essays revises and rejects this view, pointing out the limitations of the view of suffrage as either solving all women's problems or as a disappointment and failure for the women's movement. The problems and choices facing women in these decades emerge in part from the very diversity of women's experiences and interests portrayed to such effect in the rest of this volume. ... The well-written essays nicely tread the narrow line where technical sophistication meets popular interest. ... By bringing them together here, the editors have done a real favor to nonspecialists. Excellent annotated bibliography. Both academic and public libraries.Choice
Table of Contents
The new woman / Estelle B. Freedman -- The economics of middle-income family life / Winifred D. Wandersee --Chicanas and Mexican immigrant families, 1920-1940 /Rosalinda M. Gonzalez -- Flawed victories / Dolores Janiewski -- The projection of a new womanhood / Mary P. Ryan -- Culture and radical politics / Norma Fain Pratt -- Photographing women / Julie Boddy -- Two washes in the morning and a bridge party at night /Ruth Schwartz Cowan -- All pink sisters / Joan M. Jensen -- International feminism between the wars /Susan Becker -- 'The forgotten woman' / Lois Scharf --Discontented Black feminists / Rosalyn Terborg-Penn --Socialist feminism between the two world wars / Sherna Gluck.