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Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
They didn't ask to be remembered, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Laurel Ulrich wrote in 1976 about the pious women of colonial New England. And then she added a phrase that has since gained widespread currency: Well-behaved women seldom make history.Today those words appear almost everywhere on T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, plaques, greeting cards, and more. But what do they really mean? In this engrossing volume, Laurel Ulrich goes far beyond the slogan she inadvertently created and explores what it means to make history.
Her volume ranges over centuries and cultures, from the fifteenth-century writer Christine de Pizan, who imagined a world in which women achieved power and influence, to the writings of nineteenth-century suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and twentieth-century novelist Virginia Woolf. Ulrich updates de Pizan's Amazons with stories about women warriors from other times and places. She contrasts Woolf's imagined story about Shakespeare's sister with biographies of actual women who were Shakespeare's contemporaries. She turns Stanton's encounter with a runaway slave upside down, asking how the story would change if the slave rather than the white suffragist were at the center. She uses daybook illustrations to look at women who weren't trying to make history, but did. Throughout, she shows how the feminist wave of the 1970s created a generation of historians who by challenging traditional accounts of both men's and women's histories stimulated more vibrant and better-documented accounts of the past.
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History celebrates a renaissance in history inspired by amateurs, activists, and professional historians. It is a tribute to history and to those who make it.
Her volume ranges over centuries and cultures, from the fifteenth-century writer Christine de Pizan, who imagined a world in which women achieved power and influence, to the writings of nineteenth-century suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and twentieth-century novelist Virginia Woolf. Ulrich updates de Pizan's Amazons with stories about women warriors from other times and places. She contrasts Woolf's imagined story about Shakespeare's sister with biographies of actual women who were Shakespeare's contemporaries. She turns Stanton's encounter with a runaway slave upside down, asking how the story would change if the slave rather than the white suffragist were at the center. She uses daybook illustrations to look at women who weren't trying to make history, but did. Throughout, she shows how the feminist wave of the 1970s created a generation of historians who by challenging traditional accounts of both men's and women's histories stimulated more vibrant and better-documented accounts of the past.
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History celebrates a renaissance in history inspired by amateurs, activists, and professional historians. It is a tribute to history and to those who make it.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
191 people are currently reading
5952 people want to read
About the author
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
18 books334 followersLaurel Thatcher Ulrich is 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She is the author of Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Early New England, 1650-1750 (1982) and A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (1990) which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1991 and became the basis of a PBS documentary. In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Making of an American Myth (2001), she has incorporated museum-based research as well as more traditional archival work. Her most recent book is Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007). Her major fields of interest are early American social history, women's history, and material culture. Professor Ulrich's work is featured on the web at www.dohistory.org and www.randomhouse.com.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~amciv/fac...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 327 reviews
October 23, 2022
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich used the phrase, "Well-behaved women seldom make history" on a scholarly article she published in 1976. That phrase entered pop culture in 1995 when journalist Kay Mills used it in her book, From Pocahontas to Power Suits.
Since then, the famous phrase is found on t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, magnets, tote bags, and other items. I am proudly wearing my t-shirt today with that expression! Singer Kacey Jones sings a song with the lyrics, "Cuz well-behaved women rarely make history."
Ulrich has received emails and inquiries from around the world asking about the phrase as well as receiving personal stories about what the phrase means to those who have seen it. It is a provocation to action, a way of saying that if you want to make a difference in the world, don't worry about what people think.
I recently toured the National Constitution Center and Justice Earl Warren's quote has a similar theme, "Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for."
Ulrich's book explores the lives of three women who wrote classical works of Western feminism: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf. All three were determined to give women a history rather than having women be invisible. The three women are similar in several ways: all had intellectual fathers and were raised to be continual learners and readers. All three married men who supported their intellectual ambitions and all three lived through the death of loved ones and the impact of war.
There was a Harvard Business Review study about 10 years ago that examined factors for women's success and having a father who encouraged daughters to be anything they wanted to be was a critical factor. Mothers and fathers both play an important role in raising strong, independent daughters, but a father who encourages his daughters to dream big and pursue their dreams functions like a booster rocket.
Ulrich's book is a rich academic approach to the history of feminism and women who made history.
Since then, the famous phrase is found on t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, magnets, tote bags, and other items. I am proudly wearing my t-shirt today with that expression! Singer Kacey Jones sings a song with the lyrics, "Cuz well-behaved women rarely make history."
Ulrich has received emails and inquiries from around the world asking about the phrase as well as receiving personal stories about what the phrase means to those who have seen it. It is a provocation to action, a way of saying that if you want to make a difference in the world, don't worry about what people think.
I recently toured the National Constitution Center and Justice Earl Warren's quote has a similar theme, "Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for."
Ulrich's book explores the lives of three women who wrote classical works of Western feminism: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf. All three were determined to give women a history rather than having women be invisible. The three women are similar in several ways: all had intellectual fathers and were raised to be continual learners and readers. All three married men who supported their intellectual ambitions and all three lived through the death of loved ones and the impact of war.
There was a Harvard Business Review study about 10 years ago that examined factors for women's success and having a father who encouraged daughters to be anything they wanted to be was a critical factor. Mothers and fathers both play an important role in raising strong, independent daughters, but a father who encourages his daughters to dream big and pursue their dreams functions like a booster rocket.
Ulrich's book is a rich academic approach to the history of feminism and women who made history.
June 23, 2008
I know that women's studies scholars have reviewed this book and found it simplistic and repetitive. I, however, am not a women's studies scholar. I am a woman who wants to understand how my culture, stretching back for centuries, has formed the experience of women. I was not at all disappointed. I found this book interesting, entertaining, and educational. I did emerge from it rather grumpy and sharp toward my husband and three boys, but now that my husband is eager to read it as well, I think some valuable discussions will emerge!
November 21, 2009
This book is like a teaser or a movie preview - it just cracks opens the door to give you a peek at what's out there so you know that there's a lot more where that comes from. Using her own famous slogan as a launching pad, Ms. Ulrich covers an amazingly broad spectrum of time, class, and geography to give us a taste of the breadth and depth of women's history. For example, she discusses the legends of Amazon warriors, women's suffrage, Mrs. O'Leary's cow, the stories of Judith and Susanna in the Apocrypha, female Renaissance artists, home decoration in Botswana, Native American basket weaving, and second-wave feminism in the 1960s.
The book hangs on an outline provided by books written by three remarkable women: Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan (c. 1400), Eighty Years and More by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (c. 1825), and A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (1928). Ms. Ulrich frequently refers back to these three women and their landmark books throughout her work.
I particularly liked the chapters on women and slavery and on second-wave feminism. In the first, Ms. Ulrich highlighted four "Harriets": Harriet Powell and Harriet Jacobs (both runaway slaves), Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Through these women she tells the story of slavery, drawing parallels with the rights denied women of the time as well. As for the second, I am ashamed to admit how much I didn't know about the last forty years of the women's movement. I've been the beneficiary of so many of its hard-won results, completely ignorant of those who made those benefits possible.
Each of the chapters really could have been expanded into a book of its own; in fact, the major quibble I have with the book is that it wasn't long enough, while the individual chapters felt too long - too much information with not enough breaks to absorb the information. But I still came away wanting more. Ms. Ulrich gathers together compelling stories of fascinating women, but there's so much more to learn. This book is probably best used as a starting point for continuing research into women's history.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
The book hangs on an outline provided by books written by three remarkable women: Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan (c. 1400), Eighty Years and More by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (c. 1825), and A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (1928). Ms. Ulrich frequently refers back to these three women and their landmark books throughout her work.
I particularly liked the chapters on women and slavery and on second-wave feminism. In the first, Ms. Ulrich highlighted four "Harriets": Harriet Powell and Harriet Jacobs (both runaway slaves), Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Through these women she tells the story of slavery, drawing parallels with the rights denied women of the time as well. As for the second, I am ashamed to admit how much I didn't know about the last forty years of the women's movement. I've been the beneficiary of so many of its hard-won results, completely ignorant of those who made those benefits possible.
Each of the chapters really could have been expanded into a book of its own; in fact, the major quibble I have with the book is that it wasn't long enough, while the individual chapters felt too long - too much information with not enough breaks to absorb the information. But I still came away wanting more. Ms. Ulrich gathers together compelling stories of fascinating women, but there's so much more to learn. This book is probably best used as a starting point for continuing research into women's history.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
April 19, 2022
I started reading this for Women's History Month in March. The book has been on my shelves for ages. A reading group friend sent a text on March 1, quoting the title. I decided it was a sign.
In 1976, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, history professor, published a scholarly article with an opening paragraph containing the statement that became a slogan on T-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, etc. "Well-behaved women seldom make history."
Her book tells us how her research into women's untold history brought her to such a conclusion. She centers it around three women who shattered the well-behaved mold and went ahead to make history: 15th century author Christine de Pizan who wrote The Book of the City of Ladies; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, fierce advocate for woman's suffrage and other rights; and Virginia Woolf, who penned A Room of One's Own in 1929.
Ulrich writes in a historical style but with plenty of added verve and dry humor. I learned much I had not known about how women have fared through the centuries as they, often anonymously, got stuff done.
I liked the ways she tied it together. My favorite chapter was the final one, "Waves," as it took the reader through the first and second waves of feminism. The second wave marked the beginning for me of getting a clue. The rest is history!
In 1976, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, history professor, published a scholarly article with an opening paragraph containing the statement that became a slogan on T-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, etc. "Well-behaved women seldom make history."
Her book tells us how her research into women's untold history brought her to such a conclusion. She centers it around three women who shattered the well-behaved mold and went ahead to make history: 15th century author Christine de Pizan who wrote The Book of the City of Ladies; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, fierce advocate for woman's suffrage and other rights; and Virginia Woolf, who penned A Room of One's Own in 1929.
Ulrich writes in a historical style but with plenty of added verve and dry humor. I learned much I had not known about how women have fared through the centuries as they, often anonymously, got stuff done.
I liked the ways she tied it together. My favorite chapter was the final one, "Waves," as it took the reader through the first and second waves of feminism. The second wave marked the beginning for me of getting a clue. The rest is history!
February 5, 2017
Can be read as a summary of some of the 'high points' of a Women's History course at a good university. Fascinating, emphatic, impassioned, and yet not whiny or exaggerated. Ends with a quiet plea to continue the work of civil rights activists, not just for women but also for people of color and those who are LGBTQ+. Index, notes, no bibliography.
March 22, 2019
I loved this book. It was like sitting next to a pool with your feet in the water: not a true deep dive, and you are aware that there could be more fun in the water even if it is more work, but it's a perfectly pleasant activity all on its own. A splash of 1960s activism history here. A sploosh of witch trials there. A sprinkle of great women writers. I'm one to be satisfied with an afternoon of sitting by the side of a pool. It's cooling, you're still participating--- ((this metaphor will break down any moment considering the fact that I can't actually swim so I'll just stop here.))
What I mean is, that for such a small book on such a gigantic subject, it is remarkably cohesive. I'm the kind of writer who has to put any major project through at minimum two full, down-to-the-bones restructurings, so just the sheer organization of this book was astounding me. Built on the spine of this wonderful and chameleonic sentence that can mean so many different things, Ulrich pulls all the question threads out and lays it all on the works and perspectives of Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf. As a reader, we knew where we were based on the signposts of City of Ladies, Room of One's Own, and Eighty Years and More. We stood there while we were thrown example after example of short sketches weaving in and out of each other. Stories that answer some questions and ask even more.
What does 'good behavior' look like? How do the ways it's different for men and women affect things? How do individual women reject being well-behaved? What foundation are they working from? What is history? What does it mean to 'make' history? Shape it? Mold it? Achieve the honor of being mentioned three generations down the road? Affect world events? Is making history the job of the women of the past or the scholars who study them? Is 'making history' really the goal? If well-behaved women don't make history, is it fair to blame that on them? Or should we expand history to respect and allow their stories to matter? Can we ever find our voices now, without a concerted effort to end the silences of the past? Is big, radical, political, effective, intentional change the only history that matters? How do the myths and the incorrect assumptions and rumors tell interesting stories alongside the truth of the matters? If a woman is well-behaved but is rumored to be ill-behaved, what then?
It was fantastic. On its ride through women's history we hit so many of my old favorites: Artemisia Gentileschi, how no one actually burned any bras at that first protest in Atlantic City bc they didn't have a permit, Harriet Tubman, the second wave of feminism rediscovering the works of their foremothers. And so many of my new favorites now: the women who stopped paying property tax and the town tried to take their cows, history of Amazon and women warrior tales, the advent of women's studies as a field, ECS's origin story. And also, constantly, more that I wanted and then didn't show up: my beloved medieval woman mystics and their visions, women touted as celebrity sex symbols who didn't put up with sh!t, progressives in the age of union organizations like Nellie Bly, women in my own religious tradition. Instead of being sad they were 'left out,' I found it electrifying. There's so much to learn about out there! Women have such a fascinating and rich history and this book was only able to scrape the surface.
For such a short book, it packs a ton of information. (I also, much to my shame, only /really/ realized how much I speed/skimread my easy-peasy fiction when suddenly the info-per-sentence was, like, three times what I'm used to. secrets revealed.) And, again, in awe of the organization. I also adore the visual rhetoric of the cover, but that's beside the point and this review is long enough already. Anyway, read this book! It's fun and it's serious, it's big questions and amusing anecdotes, it's a great Women's History Month survey. It's written for a general audience, but I think serves as a really good gateway to more scholarly reading about a lot of the subjects that are brought up. It's also not hopelessly depressing, which is worthy of noting because it could easily have been a big bummer, but instead was fun not only because of the treatment of the more recent/familiar movements and figures, but of the feminist fire spirit that filled women on occasion for centuries back in time. It's history about history! What could be better?
What I mean is, that for such a small book on such a gigantic subject, it is remarkably cohesive. I'm the kind of writer who has to put any major project through at minimum two full, down-to-the-bones restructurings, so just the sheer organization of this book was astounding me. Built on the spine of this wonderful and chameleonic sentence that can mean so many different things, Ulrich pulls all the question threads out and lays it all on the works and perspectives of Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf. As a reader, we knew where we were based on the signposts of City of Ladies, Room of One's Own, and Eighty Years and More. We stood there while we were thrown example after example of short sketches weaving in and out of each other. Stories that answer some questions and ask even more.
What does 'good behavior' look like? How do the ways it's different for men and women affect things? How do individual women reject being well-behaved? What foundation are they working from? What is history? What does it mean to 'make' history? Shape it? Mold it? Achieve the honor of being mentioned three generations down the road? Affect world events? Is making history the job of the women of the past or the scholars who study them? Is 'making history' really the goal? If well-behaved women don't make history, is it fair to blame that on them? Or should we expand history to respect and allow their stories to matter? Can we ever find our voices now, without a concerted effort to end the silences of the past? Is big, radical, political, effective, intentional change the only history that matters? How do the myths and the incorrect assumptions and rumors tell interesting stories alongside the truth of the matters? If a woman is well-behaved but is rumored to be ill-behaved, what then?
It was fantastic. On its ride through women's history we hit so many of my old favorites: Artemisia Gentileschi, how no one actually burned any bras at that first protest in Atlantic City bc they didn't have a permit, Harriet Tubman, the second wave of feminism rediscovering the works of their foremothers. And so many of my new favorites now: the women who stopped paying property tax and the town tried to take their cows, history of Amazon and women warrior tales, the advent of women's studies as a field, ECS's origin story. And also, constantly, more that I wanted and then didn't show up: my beloved medieval woman mystics and their visions, women touted as celebrity sex symbols who didn't put up with sh!t, progressives in the age of union organizations like Nellie Bly, women in my own religious tradition. Instead of being sad they were 'left out,' I found it electrifying. There's so much to learn about out there! Women have such a fascinating and rich history and this book was only able to scrape the surface.
For such a short book, it packs a ton of information. (I also, much to my shame, only /really/ realized how much I speed/skimread my easy-peasy fiction when suddenly the info-per-sentence was, like, three times what I'm used to. secrets revealed.) And, again, in awe of the organization. I also adore the visual rhetoric of the cover, but that's beside the point and this review is long enough already. Anyway, read this book! It's fun and it's serious, it's big questions and amusing anecdotes, it's a great Women's History Month survey. It's written for a general audience, but I think serves as a really good gateway to more scholarly reading about a lot of the subjects that are brought up. It's also not hopelessly depressing, which is worthy of noting because it could easily have been a big bummer, but instead was fun not only because of the treatment of the more recent/familiar movements and figures, but of the feminist fire spirit that filled women on occasion for centuries back in time. It's history about history! What could be better?
October 30, 2010
Oh I really liked this. I judge the awesomeness of a book by how often I stop and read passages outloud to McKay. This gets 5 starts solely because I think I could have read every word outloud to him, except he's trying to read the Chronicles of Narnia right now and didn't have time to listen to me read this whole book to him.
It reads in the same way my brain thinks. Lots of details and it goes everywhere. You start talking about Woolf and end up with the Great Chicago Fire. Now that's the kind of train of thought I can get behind! Of course because it goes everywhere, it's not going to give everything the most depth, but it didn't neglect the details.
It's just fascinating. And amazing to think that before the 60s and 70s when historians started looking at women, none of the stories in this book would have been accessible to us.
"Some people are happy to give feminists credit for things they fear- like abortion rights, contraception for teenagers, or gay liberation- but less willing to acknowledge that feminist activism brought about things they support, like better treatment for breast cancer or the opportunity for young girls to play soccer as well as lead cheers."
Lots of food for thought. My brain is going to chew on this for a while longer.
It reads in the same way my brain thinks. Lots of details and it goes everywhere. You start talking about Woolf and end up with the Great Chicago Fire. Now that's the kind of train of thought I can get behind! Of course because it goes everywhere, it's not going to give everything the most depth, but it didn't neglect the details.
It's just fascinating. And amazing to think that before the 60s and 70s when historians started looking at women, none of the stories in this book would have been accessible to us.
"Some people are happy to give feminists credit for things they fear- like abortion rights, contraception for teenagers, or gay liberation- but less willing to acknowledge that feminist activism brought about things they support, like better treatment for breast cancer or the opportunity for young girls to play soccer as well as lead cheers."
Lots of food for thought. My brain is going to chew on this for a while longer.
November 8, 2015
Interesting look at women in history. I like the use of literature in terms of De Pizan and Woolf.
September 20, 2023
I was a little afraid of this book, I'll be honest. First off, I had no idea that Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is LDS until about 30 pages in. This surprises me because I tried (and failed) to read her other book A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, which I thought was good, but so boring I fell asleep probably about 275 times reading it. It surprises me that I didn't pick up on it, not surprising that she's Mormon. Anyway, I was suspicious of it because I'm generally suspicious of all Feminist literature. I didn't know too much about it going in (it was for book club).
It's a history of women's history, so it's an exploration of the question of how women made history, which I found very interesting. I learned several things about amazons, Wonder Woman, milkmaids, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Rosa Parks, and a lot more. I like history, so if she'd named it something different, I might have read it a long time ago.
Like A Midwife's Tale, I felt the writing was a little redundant as she wanted to make her points extra extra clear by restating them 3 different ways, which was tiresome. But overall, I'd recommend this book, even if you only have a passing interest in women's history.
It's a history of women's history, so it's an exploration of the question of how women made history, which I found very interesting. I learned several things about amazons, Wonder Woman, milkmaids, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Rosa Parks, and a lot more. I like history, so if she'd named it something different, I might have read it a long time ago.
Like A Midwife's Tale, I felt the writing was a little redundant as she wanted to make her points extra extra clear by restating them 3 different ways, which was tiresome. But overall, I'd recommend this book, even if you only have a passing interest in women's history.
February 7, 2008
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History covers far too much ground in few too pages. The text attempts to relates to the thesis--that well-behaved women seldom make history--but it often comes across as seeming annecdotal and trite at times. The reader learns a little about the Amazons, a little about second-wave feminists, and a little about Wonder Woman, among others. It's all fascinating, but it prevents a level of depth that most readers yearn for. I did like, however, how the author framed "minor" characters in history through the research of Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf--women completely and thoroughly known by all feminist historians and most of the public. The author does create fascinating analyses of feminist art, but again, this seems disconnected to the greater theme.
The most interesting and thorough parts of this book are the foreward and the afterword in which the author explores historiography, or, how history is made and transmitted. I think if the author tied the theory and the praxis together a bit more, that this would have been a better read.
The most interesting and thorough parts of this book are the foreward and the afterword in which the author explores historiography, or, how history is made and transmitted. I think if the author tied the theory and the praxis together a bit more, that this would have been a better read.
March 5, 2008
I wanted to like this book - really. As a child, I would go to the biography section in the public library and just pull books at random off the shelves to take home and read. The librarians didn't know what to do with a child who came up with 11 books and wanting to check them all out. I chewed through those books every week.
I don't know what it is about this book, but the lives of the women she talks about were ... well boring. How do you make history boring? I couldn't finish it and it went back to the library very quickly.
I don't know what it is about this book, but the lives of the women she talks about were ... well boring. How do you make history boring? I couldn't finish it and it went back to the library very quickly.
March 12, 2018
This was a joy to read. It would be suitable for a college class, an introduction to women's history.
January 21, 2018
This is a look at women through-out the centuries who have challenged the prevailing stereotypes and roles to which their particular era and culture assigned them and succeeded in "breaking the mold" to live more satisfying lives. (For those who don't know, the author is the woman who coined the phrase that provides the title of this book, never imagining that a line in a scholarly article intended for a select audience would "go viral" to become a well-known and popular slogan.) It's also a history of the modern women's movement, from the first efforts to achieve the vote for women to the present day (though published before the election of our current president and the women's marches taking place the very week-end I write this -- perhaps an updated edition is in order? Regardless, if you are marching, you are making history!)
I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale, but that is likely a personal preference, since I enjoy reading an individual's history and then considering it against the background of the world's wider history. This book cannot go into as much personal detail, since its scope is much broader. Still, I'm glad I read this and would recommend it to anyone interested in history or in expanding the rights of women (which OUGHT to be everyone.)
I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale, but that is likely a personal preference, since I enjoy reading an individual's history and then considering it against the background of the world's wider history. This book cannot go into as much personal detail, since its scope is much broader. Still, I'm glad I read this and would recommend it to anyone interested in history or in expanding the rights of women (which OUGHT to be everyone.)
April 10, 2022
Throughout history, history has often been "his story," written about and by men primarily at the expense of women. But it's not as if women were totally absent from history, of course; as this book demonstrates, women were always there in the story, if anyone cared to examine more closely. Having coined the phrase "well-behaved women seldom make history" in a paper she published in the 1970's, author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich uses that as the title for her book which examines the ways in which women's history has come to be studied and viewed in the wider field of historical research. Using the stories of Christine de Pizan (a rare female writer in the Middle Ages), suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf, Ulrich shows how the story of women throughout time has gone in and out of focus, and why it's important that women's studies continue to evolve (as she says about "second-wave" feminism, waves can bring things to shore, but they also dissipate, and the lessons learned can be easily lost otherwise). A little dry at times, and not always as engaging as it could be, "Well-Behaved Women" nonetheless serves an important function of highlighting the ways in which women have been ignored, and why it's dangerous to do so, when telling of history's greatest moments.
April 21, 2021
Very well-written and fascinating read, my husband even enjoyed when I would read it aloud to him. What started out as a mere sentence in one of her research papers, travelled around the world on t-shirts and coffee mugs and so on and so forth before circling back to the author and leading to a book. I'd heard the quote many times before discovering this book. I love how Ulrich takes three women (Pizan, Stanton, and Woolf) from three different eras and discusses each one throughout the book in addition to so many other things.
I used to think women's studies as a major was lame or that feminism was just crazy weirdos wanting to burn bras and are man haters. And then I grew older and realized two things: 1) how much I frequently search for, enjoy reading, and share about women in history, which is pretty much women's studies, duh; and 2) how much of a feminist I actually am. Perhaps it's time I find the quote on a magnet for my fridge...
"Some people are happy to give feminists credit for things they fear - like abortion rights, contraception for teenagers, or gay liberation - but less willing to acknowledge that feminist activism brought about things they support, like better treatment for breast cancer or the opportunity for young girls to play soccer as well as lead cheers. As Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon observe, "Although the word 'feminist' has become a pejorative term to some American women, most women (and most men as well) support a feminist program: equal education, equal pay, child care, freedom from harassment and violence," and so on."
I used to think women's studies as a major was lame or that feminism was just crazy weirdos wanting to burn bras and are man haters. And then I grew older and realized two things: 1) how much I frequently search for, enjoy reading, and share about women in history, which is pretty much women's studies, duh; and 2) how much of a feminist I actually am. Perhaps it's time I find the quote on a magnet for my fridge...
"Some people are happy to give feminists credit for things they fear - like abortion rights, contraception for teenagers, or gay liberation - but less willing to acknowledge that feminist activism brought about things they support, like better treatment for breast cancer or the opportunity for young girls to play soccer as well as lead cheers. As Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon observe, "Although the word 'feminist' has become a pejorative term to some American women, most women (and most men as well) support a feminist program: equal education, equal pay, child care, freedom from harassment and violence," and so on."
May 28, 2018
Marvelous snippets of the history of women.
Here are some parts that I found intriguing...
(1) "Although the ostensible moral is that God will protect the innocent, the operable theme is that earthly systems often fail." page 79
(2) The description of the traditional family on page 124.
(3) Alice Walker's story on page 207-208.
(4) I loved learning about Harriet Jacobs and more about Harriet Gunman and Harriet Beecher Stowe in the "Slaves in the Attic" chapter.
Here are some parts that I found intriguing...
(1) "Although the ostensible moral is that God will protect the innocent, the operable theme is that earthly systems often fail." page 79
(2) The description of the traditional family on page 124.
(3) Alice Walker's story on page 207-208.
(4) I loved learning about Harriet Jacobs and more about Harriet Gunman and Harriet Beecher Stowe in the "Slaves in the Attic" chapter.
February 21, 2018
It took me a long time to read this book, as I read it in small bites. As is her style, Ulrich packed so much valuable information into every chapter, every paragraph. It was almost overwhelming sometimes, but always educational and enlightening.
February 3, 2020
I was hoping to learn about women I didn't know. I did, a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped. This is really an introduction to lots of women in history, most of whom, if you're interested in women's history, you'll already know.
March 14, 2023
Written by a renowned women's historian, this book takes the reader through the history of women and our rights. It delves into the myths, such as the Amazons, as well as what really happened. Fascinating book that does take some concentration to read, but I came away satisfied and in a more knowledgeable place than before I read it.
August 3, 2024
incredibly well written and insightful!
August 16, 2018
A great intro/summary of women's history.
August 29, 2024
Great topic, pretty dry reading
March 29, 2016
I was intrigued with the title of the book and really enjoyed Ulrich’s preface explaining how the phrase came to be and the amazing groundswell of people who adopted it. The slogan’s popularity was because it could be read so many ways, mostly in terms of justifying bad behavior or in terms of feminism. “The ‘well-behaved women’ quote works because it plays into longstanding stereotypes about the invisibility and the innate decorum of the female sex.” I read it more in terms of realizing that the virtue of being well-behaved (or goodness) is reward enough in itself and that lack of recognition is to be expected. So I was unprepared for the body of the book that looked at women who make history. Ulrich’s writing and insights are marvelous, but I was less interested in the topic of feminist waves and angry women. Ulrich says that “there are many ways of making history. Some people enter contests. Others fill family scrapbooks with snapshots, greeting cards, and locks of hair. A few people devote their lives to bringing about change.” And yet most of this book and female history just look at the “few” women advocating in strident voices for change.
The first chapter compares three feminists from three different generations: Catherine from the Middle Ages, Elizabeth Cady Stanton from the suffrage movement, and Virginia Wolfe just before World War I. Another chapter tells of three Harriets: Harriet Powell a runaway slave who strongly influenced Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Harriet Jacobs, a slave who hid in a cramped space above her grandmother’s shed for seven long years to avoid the sexual advances of her master; and Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad helping slaves escape. I did not really read the whole book, more skimming here and then and stopping to read more fully now and then.
I was most interested by Ulrich’s ideas of what history is found in the opening and closing chapters. “Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental. People make history when they scale a mountain, ignite a bomb, or refuse to move to the back of the bus. But they also make history by keeping diaries, writing letters, or embroidering initials on linen sheets. History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible.” She reminds us that details matter. “Details keep us from falling into the twin snares of ‘victim history’ and ‘hero history.’ Details let us out of boxes created by slogans.”
I should give the book five stars because of its wonderful writing, excellent scholarship and insights, but feminism itself makes me uncomfortable. Ulrich says "if history is to enlarge our understanding of human experience, it must include stories that dismay as well as inspire." Most feminist advocacy dismays me because I find it so adversarial. I dislike ranting and yelling and the feeling that putting down men is the only way to elevate women. I prefer to be "well-behaved." Ha.
The first chapter compares three feminists from three different generations: Catherine from the Middle Ages, Elizabeth Cady Stanton from the suffrage movement, and Virginia Wolfe just before World War I. Another chapter tells of three Harriets: Harriet Powell a runaway slave who strongly influenced Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Harriet Jacobs, a slave who hid in a cramped space above her grandmother’s shed for seven long years to avoid the sexual advances of her master; and Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad helping slaves escape. I did not really read the whole book, more skimming here and then and stopping to read more fully now and then.
I was most interested by Ulrich’s ideas of what history is found in the opening and closing chapters. “Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental. People make history when they scale a mountain, ignite a bomb, or refuse to move to the back of the bus. But they also make history by keeping diaries, writing letters, or embroidering initials on linen sheets. History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible.” She reminds us that details matter. “Details keep us from falling into the twin snares of ‘victim history’ and ‘hero history.’ Details let us out of boxes created by slogans.”
I should give the book five stars because of its wonderful writing, excellent scholarship and insights, but feminism itself makes me uncomfortable. Ulrich says "if history is to enlarge our understanding of human experience, it must include stories that dismay as well as inspire." Most feminist advocacy dismays me because I find it so adversarial. I dislike ranting and yelling and the feeling that putting down men is the only way to elevate women. I prefer to be "well-behaved." Ha.
February 1, 2020
I LOVED this book. The very short version is that it's a great bridge between pop history (the broad sweep of the topic + tendency to jump around from person to person or culture to culture are way more common in that genre) and academic history (Ulrich can interpret/analyze primary sources, uses tons of detail and nuance, and footnotes extensively to show her work), perfect for someone who reads the former and doesn't think they'd enjoy the latter.
"Details provide the contexts in which Wollstonecraft, Stanton, and Friedan mounted their arguments. Details help us understand the precise circumstances that allowed Artemisia Gentileschi to become an artist, or Harriet Jacobs a writer. Details keep us from falling into the twin snares of 'victim history' and 'hero history.' Details let us out of boxes created by slogans."
That last sentence is the key to understanding what Ulrich was doing with this book. The title is of course one of the most famous feminist slogans - and it was written by Ulrich herself decades ago. But she wrote it as part of her dissertation on well-behaved Massachusetts Puritan women (what would eventually become her book Good Wives), and her point was that it was tremendously difficult to reconstruct these women's lives because it's rule-breaking behavior that gets written down in court documents and polemics. And not rule-breaking behavior like "shattering the glass ceiling" or "demanding to learn to read", but "stealing a cow" or "telling everyone your neighbor's a slut". In the introduction, she traces her words' passage into the mainstream, and without complaining or correcting makes the point that the line dramatically shifted in meaning when it was put on a t-shirt. Then, throughout the rest of the text, which runs from Christine de Pizan to the feminist scholars and activists of her own generation, she subtly but continuously makes the point that the women who did make history in that sense cannot be categorized as "well-behaved" or "badly-behaved". The many, many women she refers to and describes in the book often can be construed as both, and "making history" can be defined in many ways, from the aforementioned court cases to literally writing books about history.
"Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental. People make history when they scale a mountain, ignite a bomb, refuse to move to the back of the bus. But they also make history by keeping diaries, writing letters, or embroidering initials on linen sheets. History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible. People make history by passing on gossip, saving old records, and by naming rivers, mountains, and children. Some people leave only their bones, although bones too make history when someone notices."
"Details provide the contexts in which Wollstonecraft, Stanton, and Friedan mounted their arguments. Details help us understand the precise circumstances that allowed Artemisia Gentileschi to become an artist, or Harriet Jacobs a writer. Details keep us from falling into the twin snares of 'victim history' and 'hero history.' Details let us out of boxes created by slogans."
That last sentence is the key to understanding what Ulrich was doing with this book. The title is of course one of the most famous feminist slogans - and it was written by Ulrich herself decades ago. But she wrote it as part of her dissertation on well-behaved Massachusetts Puritan women (what would eventually become her book Good Wives), and her point was that it was tremendously difficult to reconstruct these women's lives because it's rule-breaking behavior that gets written down in court documents and polemics. And not rule-breaking behavior like "shattering the glass ceiling" or "demanding to learn to read", but "stealing a cow" or "telling everyone your neighbor's a slut". In the introduction, she traces her words' passage into the mainstream, and without complaining or correcting makes the point that the line dramatically shifted in meaning when it was put on a t-shirt. Then, throughout the rest of the text, which runs from Christine de Pizan to the feminist scholars and activists of her own generation, she subtly but continuously makes the point that the women who did make history in that sense cannot be categorized as "well-behaved" or "badly-behaved". The many, many women she refers to and describes in the book often can be construed as both, and "making history" can be defined in many ways, from the aforementioned court cases to literally writing books about history.
"Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental. People make history when they scale a mountain, ignite a bomb, refuse to move to the back of the bus. But they also make history by keeping diaries, writing letters, or embroidering initials on linen sheets. History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible. People make history by passing on gossip, saving old records, and by naming rivers, mountains, and children. Some people leave only their bones, although bones too make history when someone notices."
March 1, 2010
Years ago, I saw the title of this book and it grabbed my imagination. The book didn’t exist at the time; this was originally a sentence in an article that she wrote in 1976. The sentence escaped captivity and was used on t-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers- sometimes without either credit or permission. I used the sentence as my sig. line for a couple of years. Here, Ulrich explores what it means to make history.
Years ago, women were pretty much ignored in history books. It took many years of many people digging through old manuscripts to find the women in history. Now days women’s history books and courses are commonplace, but back when Ulrich wrote that sentence, that was just starting. She frames her book using the work of three women writers: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Virginia Woolf. De Pizan- a professional writer who supported her children with her pen in the 1400s- wrote a book about past women who had achieved power and influence, coming up with queens, warriors, poets, saints, inventors and more with which to people a city of ladies. Christine was ahead of her time, bringing up problems women faced, including violence against them. Stanton was a suffragist and abolitionist with a tremendous writing output. Her autobiography, Eighty Years and More, chronicles the making of a rebel. Told by her father upon the death of her last brother that he wished she were a boy, she figures out that to become a boy, one must become educated. She took care of that, besting the boys in school. Virginia Woolf, writing in the first half of the 20th century, satirized women’s legal and social positions in Orlando, and in A Room of One’s Own, writes primarily about women and fiction but also goes into why women are poor compared to men and why there was so little literature produced by women in the past- because of legal and societal restrictions. These three were pioneers of writing about women’s history, who were rediscovered in the latter half of the 20th century, who were the inspirations for women’s history.
The book is not just about women *in* history but about the movement to bring the history of women to everyone’s attention. Well told in a reader friendly format, this book should be required reading for young women who take their rights for granted.
Years ago, women were pretty much ignored in history books. It took many years of many people digging through old manuscripts to find the women in history. Now days women’s history books and courses are commonplace, but back when Ulrich wrote that sentence, that was just starting. She frames her book using the work of three women writers: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Virginia Woolf. De Pizan- a professional writer who supported her children with her pen in the 1400s- wrote a book about past women who had achieved power and influence, coming up with queens, warriors, poets, saints, inventors and more with which to people a city of ladies. Christine was ahead of her time, bringing up problems women faced, including violence against them. Stanton was a suffragist and abolitionist with a tremendous writing output. Her autobiography, Eighty Years and More, chronicles the making of a rebel. Told by her father upon the death of her last brother that he wished she were a boy, she figures out that to become a boy, one must become educated. She took care of that, besting the boys in school. Virginia Woolf, writing in the first half of the 20th century, satirized women’s legal and social positions in Orlando, and in A Room of One’s Own, writes primarily about women and fiction but also goes into why women are poor compared to men and why there was so little literature produced by women in the past- because of legal and societal restrictions. These three were pioneers of writing about women’s history, who were rediscovered in the latter half of the 20th century, who were the inspirations for women’s history.
The book is not just about women *in* history but about the movement to bring the history of women to everyone’s attention. Well told in a reader friendly format, this book should be required reading for young women who take their rights for granted.
May 28, 2016
The forward of this book that relates how the well-known title has everybody and their brother projecting their own meaning on to it, was the most fascinating part for me. Even though I thought like ever so many others, that I knew what it meant, I found that so too did everybody with very different interpretations than my own.
Later-on in the book, we meet the domestic workers that followed Rosa Parks bus boycott and walked to work; are they "well-behaved women"? The author would say that they were, as who could be more compliant than domestic workers. And yet, they were the real strength of history making.
The book had several themes such as the three Harriets, and the three women from three eras whose work epitomized their era of women's rights which other reviewers have already mentioned. However, the book didn't hang together well for me. I found it difficult due to the lack of developing depth in any one theme; it became a bit scattered and confusing for me. Thus the 3 stars. Here's what another reviewer said with which I concurred:"individual chapters felt too long - too much information with not enough breaks to absorb the information."
All in all, I was happy to complete the book. Although I've read a fair amount on women's history, this did have some original contributions to my knowledge base. However, I'd recommend a more current history of women's rights that more parallels my own life history: Gail Collins' "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present" (2010). Now there's a 5 star on women's history, very much more engaging. Even though it's probably a bit unfair to compare, as this is recent history, whereas Ulrich's book is much broader, with one woman author as long ago as the 15th century.
For me, the best story in Ulrich's book was the conversion story of the Beecher sisters visiting the attic of their uncle, where "Harriet the slave" was stowed away, and the different responses of the Beecher sisters. Wow, that was worth the book in and of itself.
Some great moments in the book, but overall I'd still only give it the three stars.
Later-on in the book, we meet the domestic workers that followed Rosa Parks bus boycott and walked to work; are they "well-behaved women"? The author would say that they were, as who could be more compliant than domestic workers. And yet, they were the real strength of history making.
The book had several themes such as the three Harriets, and the three women from three eras whose work epitomized their era of women's rights which other reviewers have already mentioned. However, the book didn't hang together well for me. I found it difficult due to the lack of developing depth in any one theme; it became a bit scattered and confusing for me. Thus the 3 stars. Here's what another reviewer said with which I concurred:"individual chapters felt too long - too much information with not enough breaks to absorb the information."
All in all, I was happy to complete the book. Although I've read a fair amount on women's history, this did have some original contributions to my knowledge base. However, I'd recommend a more current history of women's rights that more parallels my own life history: Gail Collins' "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present" (2010). Now there's a 5 star on women's history, very much more engaging. Even though it's probably a bit unfair to compare, as this is recent history, whereas Ulrich's book is much broader, with one woman author as long ago as the 15th century.
For me, the best story in Ulrich's book was the conversion story of the Beecher sisters visiting the attic of their uncle, where "Harriet the slave" was stowed away, and the different responses of the Beecher sisters. Wow, that was worth the book in and of itself.
Some great moments in the book, but overall I'd still only give it the three stars.
April 14, 2014
My daughter bought me this book, which was an epic thing for her to do, because I was enthralled throughout the whole thing.
First of all, I've been a Mormon all of my life, and have yet to really run across a woman quite like Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (with the exception of my sister). It's such a breath of fresh air to read a historian who is so in tune with women's issues. She made me wake up to the history that hasn't been written about women for centuries, and she made me want to read much, much more. After spending time with this book, I can fan out in all directions with the suggestions of other books I can read to my heart's content.
I was pleased to read about women from the medieval era to the "second-wave" feminists, to know that there have always been strong women ready to go against the flow and stand up for what they believe in. The fact that a Mormon historian has written such an accessible book, without trashing Mormonism [which is a fairly patriarchal society in itself] is a real feat. I'm impressed.
I wish there were more women in the Mormon church like Ulrich. We need a lot more like her. But for now, we can enjoy her book, her leadership, and her example. Ulrich comes from a period in time where feminism was kind of a "scary" element not willingly considered in our church. We do have elements of our church such as the "Ordain Women" movement, but what we really need is women pushing for more equality within the church in everyday functions -- and we need women who are well-educated and down-to-earth to do this work. If the younger generation of Mormon women would read more books like this one, they would have a better basis to work from to achieve more equality in ways that truly matter.
First of all, I've been a Mormon all of my life, and have yet to really run across a woman quite like Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (with the exception of my sister). It's such a breath of fresh air to read a historian who is so in tune with women's issues. She made me wake up to the history that hasn't been written about women for centuries, and she made me want to read much, much more. After spending time with this book, I can fan out in all directions with the suggestions of other books I can read to my heart's content.
I was pleased to read about women from the medieval era to the "second-wave" feminists, to know that there have always been strong women ready to go against the flow and stand up for what they believe in. The fact that a Mormon historian has written such an accessible book, without trashing Mormonism [which is a fairly patriarchal society in itself] is a real feat. I'm impressed.
I wish there were more women in the Mormon church like Ulrich. We need a lot more like her. But for now, we can enjoy her book, her leadership, and her example. Ulrich comes from a period in time where feminism was kind of a "scary" element not willingly considered in our church. We do have elements of our church such as the "Ordain Women" movement, but what we really need is women pushing for more equality within the church in everyday functions -- and we need women who are well-educated and down-to-earth to do this work. If the younger generation of Mormon women would read more books like this one, they would have a better basis to work from to achieve more equality in ways that truly matter.
December 28, 2011
Before Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was a Harvard professor, she inadvertently created a slogan—Well-behaved women seldom make history—while writing a scholarly article on Puritan women. Since then, the slogan has appeared on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and in funeral eulogies. After years of seeing the slogan used and misused, Ulrich decided it was time to write a book to clarify what the slogan means to her. She does this by taking the reader back in history through the eyes of the women that lived it.
Ulrich concludes that well-behaved women seldom made history primarily because of a lack of records (caused by low literacy rates and a lack of interest in women’s documents). The records of women that survived were of those that appeared in court or in the news. However, when women were able to record their history through diaries, autobiographies, etc., they did make history. Today we have access to a plethora of women that did keep records – from Catherine de Piza, a well known scholar and writer born in 1365; from Martha Ballard, a Massachusetts midwife born in 1735 who faithfully kept a diary; from Harriet Jacobs who spent 7 years hiding in an attic from the sexual advances of her master but then escaped North and told her story. Ulrich ends with this thought: “Well-behaved women make history when they do the unexpected, when they create and preserve records, and when later generations care.”
Rated G. This was a fascinating book and I would highly recommend it.
Ulrich concludes that well-behaved women seldom made history primarily because of a lack of records (caused by low literacy rates and a lack of interest in women’s documents). The records of women that survived were of those that appeared in court or in the news. However, when women were able to record their history through diaries, autobiographies, etc., they did make history. Today we have access to a plethora of women that did keep records – from Catherine de Piza, a well known scholar and writer born in 1365; from Martha Ballard, a Massachusetts midwife born in 1735 who faithfully kept a diary; from Harriet Jacobs who spent 7 years hiding in an attic from the sexual advances of her master but then escaped North and told her story. Ulrich ends with this thought: “Well-behaved women make history when they do the unexpected, when they create and preserve records, and when later generations care.”
Rated G. This was a fascinating book and I would highly recommend it.
May 27, 2016
I picked this up while waiting for something and then picked it up again waiting for something else and, like that, until I realized that I was a third of the way into it and that I was reading it for real. By the time I got near the end, I had put the other ten books I am reading aside to concentrate on this one. So, gripping.
In a very general way, the book is about the history of women: women in the past in general, women who "make history," and how history and historiography eventually learned to see the women who were always there. The opposite of dry and academic, Ulrich skips around to the good bits and she isn't trying to make some grand statement, except maybe that there are too many different kinds of women making history to make a grand statement about them. Instead she just kind of showers the reader with fascinating tidbits. Three figures run through the book: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Virginia Woolf, who they were, how they first "opened their eyes" to patriarchy and what questions they asked about women in history. For me, my favorite bits were:
in the chapter about amazons, she retells some folk stories about scary women who live without men.
the entire chapter about slavery and abolition.
near the end when she gets into the 1970s and personal (s)heroes of mine like Gerda Lerner.
Really great, especially if you like women and/or history.
In a very general way, the book is about the history of women: women in the past in general, women who "make history," and how history and historiography eventually learned to see the women who were always there. The opposite of dry and academic, Ulrich skips around to the good bits and she isn't trying to make some grand statement, except maybe that there are too many different kinds of women making history to make a grand statement about them. Instead she just kind of showers the reader with fascinating tidbits. Three figures run through the book: Christine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Virginia Woolf, who they were, how they first "opened their eyes" to patriarchy and what questions they asked about women in history. For me, my favorite bits were:
in the chapter about amazons, she retells some folk stories about scary women who live without men.
the entire chapter about slavery and abolition.
near the end when she gets into the 1970s and personal (s)heroes of mine like Gerda Lerner.
Really great, especially if you like women and/or history.
March 27, 2008
Oh Laurel, you don't disappoint. I really enjoyed this book. Perhaps it's the way I approached it, grabbing it up for a quick ten-minute read here and there during the day. Gave me lots of time to think over what I'd read. Brain food.
Reading this: Like sitting in Ulrich’s Harvard seminar. Made me nostalgic for those lovely English grad school discussions. Came away doubly determined to familiarize my girls with the women who lived through the ages.
Still, this book wasn't what I'd expected. I assumed it'd be a polarizing discussion of why women need to “make” history. But, Ulrich is primarily a historian. She is a top-notch scholar and this work was a thorough and informative outline of the ways women have shaped history (especially, female history) and who those women were, some well-known and some never-known. She covered the major “feminist periods” nicely. As such, the book was fascinating. Loved the depth and range of research, from Amazon women to Christine de Pizan to Harriet Tubman to bra-burners. Realized that I take for granted the abundant access to women’s her-stories that were unknown just thirty years ago.
Final Thoughts: What does “well-behaved women seldom make history” mean to you? Are you reflexively “well-behaved”?
Reading this: Like sitting in Ulrich’s Harvard seminar. Made me nostalgic for those lovely English grad school discussions. Came away doubly determined to familiarize my girls with the women who lived through the ages.
Still, this book wasn't what I'd expected. I assumed it'd be a polarizing discussion of why women need to “make” history. But, Ulrich is primarily a historian. She is a top-notch scholar and this work was a thorough and informative outline of the ways women have shaped history (especially, female history) and who those women were, some well-known and some never-known. She covered the major “feminist periods” nicely. As such, the book was fascinating. Loved the depth and range of research, from Amazon women to Christine de Pizan to Harriet Tubman to bra-burners. Realized that I take for granted the abundant access to women’s her-stories that were unknown just thirty years ago.
Final Thoughts: What does “well-behaved women seldom make history” mean to you? Are you reflexively “well-behaved”?
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