While it's not as punchy as her newspaper columns, Gail Collins's book When Everything Changed is a fantastically lively and readable account of the women's movement from the 1960's to today. The success of the movement makes it possible for people my age to take its achievements literally for granted; reading this history not only makes you appreciate the conviction and initiative of these women, but makes it seem possible to do much more.

The story is told through anecdotes from women of different ages, backgrounds, and opinions. Many are not famous; some were plaintiffs in famous court cases; others are familiar names like Gloria Steinem. Collins also draws on portrayals of women in popular culture. The book is organized in short, thematic sections that make it easy to read on the train, but they don't come off as inconsequential. Instead, each crystallizes the essential things to understand about an event or attitude. I especially liked the way the book pulled together events that seem historical to me--like the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Rigg--and those that I remember personally--like the hoopla over the NYT story on Ivy League women dropping out of the workforce to be stay-at-home moms.

Most of all, this book celebrates the achievements of women while acknowledging that we're not all going to agree. Its response to the issue of young women not wanting to call themselves feminists is to make almost no demands of ideological purity on the reader. Collins shows that feminism is for everyone by showing how everyone benefited from feminism.