false 137675 6 Well researched and well written, <I>America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines</I> is a powerful and important book. Starting with Pocahontas and Eleanor Dare (the first female colonist), this lively and fascinating history records the changes in American women's lives and the transformations in American society from the 1580s through the 2000s.<p> A history of the oft-marginalized sex must often draw from diaries and journals, which were disproportionally written by whites; as a result, African-American and Native American women are not as well represented as white in the earlier chapters of <I>America's Women</I>. However, Gail Collins writes about women of many races and ethnicities, and in fact provides more information about Native Americans, African-Americans, and Chinese, Jewish, and Italian immigrants than some general U.S. history books. She writes about rich and poor, young and old, urban and rural, slave and slave-owner, athlete and aviatrix, president's wife and presidential candidate--and, of course, men and women. And some of these women--from the justly famous, like Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman, to the undeservedly obscure, like Elizabeth Eckford and Senator Margaret Chase Smith--will not only make any woman proud to be a woman, they will make any American proud to be American.<p> An editor at the <I>New York Times</I>, Gail Collins has also written <I>Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity, and American Politics</I> and, with Dan Collins, <I>The Millennium Book</I>. <I>--Cynthia Ward</I> 90652 2003 America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines (P.S.) total:385|5:136|4:175|3:64|2:8|1:2| 385 1590 751 108 4 3 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 09 07:54:25 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 00:15:43 -0700 2007 5 3 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jan 30 11:53:57 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 12:12:20 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Dec 11 23:49:27 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 23:49:27 -0800 2008
I appreciated that the author included women of all races, backgrounds, education levels, etc. She talks about the accomplished women of history but als...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 15:35:28 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 15:36:20 -0700 2009
The description makes it sound like a history book, or some dry text book you have to read for a class...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Oct 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 28 12:25:36 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 21 19:03:24 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Apr 24 19:59:51 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 24 20:04:32 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 25 09:08:16 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 25 09:59:50 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 16:03:10 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 07:01:13 -0700 2009 "Women were making rapid inroads into library work, where they were praised at the 1876 American Library Association meeting for being 'the best of listeners.' In 1891, the Library Journal published the first general discussion of women's place in library...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Oct 13 11:48:25 -0700 2007 Tue Jan 01 07:45:53 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Wed Sep 16 16:55:36 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 17:09:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 25 16:29:39 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 16:29:39 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 15 17:28:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 21:59:34 -0700 2009 Fri May 15 17:28:00 -0700 2009 In the intro, Collins claims that "the history of American women is all about leaving the home... the yearning to create a home and the urge to get out of it." And, it is about "the fight for freedom, but ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Dec 21 14:51:09 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 17 17:01:57 -0700 2009
The book teaches about the history of women. From the very first recorded woman t...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jul 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 05:53:44 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 07:04:47 -0700 2008
As a woman trying to dig deeper into the great history of those who have labored before me, I had a hard time finding a concise and readable account in one location before this book. Collins has laid out the foundations of ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 23 20:42:36 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 12:23:16 -0700 2008
I especially liked the story the author tells of Marie Prisland, a Slovenian immigrant arriving at Ellis Island. The author writes:

"She and about 100 countrymen and wom...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 10:52:51 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 10:54:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jan 27 22:39:50 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 05 21:16:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 01:20:33 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 14:00:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Dec 21 08:18:34 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 08:48:00 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 11 20:19:55 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 20:22:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6086212