American Women: Their Lives in Their Words

by Doreen Rappaport

Excerpts from women's diaries, letters, speeches, and autobiographical writings provide a first-person look at the history of American women.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Historical

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Doreen Rappaport has written many books of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, specializing in thoroughly researched multicultural history, historical fiction, retellings of folktales and myths, and stories of those she calls the "not-yet-celebrated." Among her recent books is Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., illustrated by Bryan Collier, which received a Caldecott Honor Award and a Coretta Scott King Honor Award for illustration. Doreen Rappaport divides her time between New York City and a rural village in upstate New York.

Reviews

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. What I like especially is the author's effort to keep the language frank and accessible to readers of all backgrounds.

[butterflygloss · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are like, SO many problems I have with this book. It's well intentioned, but completely white-washed, made to seem as if equality has already been reached, completely left out the majority of women's issues, and brushed over soooo many things. Barely anything recognizing WOC or our LGBTQ+ sisters, and when they were talked about they were made to seem fine in their positions. This book is opinionated, that's how it's supposed to be, but the author put no opinions on the slave owners she mentions in the book. Very cis-focused and trans-excluding. There were some good parts about good people, but the majority of this book was honestly utter shit.

[Joanie Chevalier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a nice summary of women’s roles in US history. It feels good to see our progress. As long as women unite and lift each other up, we’ll keep moving forward.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little inspirational history is always a good thing

[Sharon Teagarden-king · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting