Bienvenue à la Bibliothèque Alo de l'Université Shalom de Bunia
Ajouter au panier
| Titre : | A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s |
| Auteurs : | Stephanie Coontz |
| Type de document : | document électronique |
| Editeur : | [S.l.] : Basic Books, 2011 |
| ISBN/ISSN/EAN : | 978-0-465-00200-9 |
| Index. décimale : | 305.4 (Femmes : r├┤le social de femmes, y compris mouvements f├®ministes. Occupations f├®minines. Travail f├®minin) |
| Résumé : |
### From Nearly 50 years after Betty Friedan transformed the lives of American housewives, Coontz (Marriage, a History, 2005) offers a biography of FriedanÔÇÖs seminal book, The Feminine Mystique (1963). Coupling meticulous research with first-person interviews, Coontz challenges a number of FriedanÔÇÖs assumptions and exaggerations while also revisiting the climate in which the work appeared and giving voice to women for whom The Feminine Mystique was nothing short of a lifesaver. Though critical of the work on a number of fronts, including its omission of working-class and minority women, Coontz lauds other aspects of The Feminine Mystique, such as its condemnation of mainstream psychiatry, which promoted the notion that women had no need to search for meaning in their lives beyond their roles as wives and mothers. As women continue to struggle with the effort to balance life and work, Coontz argues that The Feminine Mystique remains as relevant today as it when it first appeared. In tracing the roots of current discontents, which Coontz dubs the ÔÇ£Supermom Mystique,ÔÇØ her book is no less required reading than FriedanÔÇÖs trailblazer. --Patty Wetli ### Review **Kirkus Reviews **ÔÇ£A sharp revisiting of the generation that was floored by Betty FriedanÔÇÖs *The Feminine Mystique* (1963), and how the book is still relevant todayÔǪ. A valuable education for women *and* men.ÔÇØ **Daniel Horowitz, author of┬á_Betty Friedan and the Making of The Feminine Mystique_** ÔÇ£_It Changed My Life _was the title of the book Betty Friedan wrote after her transformative 1963 *The Feminine Mystique*. And change she did the lives of American women. Now in her biography of a classic, Stephanie Coontz imaginatively explores the impact of FriedanÔÇÖs book. Weaving a rich fabric from what women said in letters and interviews, from articles in popular magazines, current scholarship, and her own astute reading of the 1963 work, Coontz compellingly reveals how generations of womenÔÇöfrom the flappers of the 1920s to the bloggers and helicopter moms of todayÔÇöhave responded to the challenges modern women face.ÔÇØ **Christie Hefner, former chairman and chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises and longest serving female C.E.O. of a U.S. public company** ÔÇ£As was written about *The* *Feminine Mystique*, *A Strange Stirring* is ÔÇÿa journalistic tour de force, combining scholarship, investigative reporting and a compelling personal voice.ÔÇÖ Stephanie Coontz has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the most transformative movement of our lifetimes. Much of what Coontz reports regarding the prevailing ethos of the 1950s as a time of conformity, cultural conservatism and social repressiveness will be fascinating and eye-opening for younger readers. This book is a must read for men as well as for women. And the transformational desire for a work/family balance in life is now reflected not just by gender, but by generation, as both men and women ÔÇÿneed to grow and fulfill their potentialities as human beings,ÔÇÖ as Friedan wrote almost a half a century ago.ÔÇØ **Elizabeth Gilbert, author of┬á_Eat, Pray, Love_**┬á ÔÇ£Stephanie Coontz is not just one of the most important historians in America, she is also a personal hero of mine and a brilliant writer. This bookÔÇölike all her books before itÔÇöhas been a marvel and education for me to behold. I am awed by the scope of this research, of this thinking, and I am struck once more by how much there is learned (and taught) about the slow, stubborn advancement of women in America over the last one hundred years. I will keep *A Strange Stirring* in the forefront of my bookshelf forever.ÔÇØ **Library Journal** ÔÇ£Coontz recaptures the impact of Betty FriedanÔÇÖs *The Feminine Mystique* when it was published in 1963. Although Friedan claimed credit for initiating the modern feminist movement, Coontz places the book more dispassionately in its historical context as one of many factors working against entrenched gender roles. Still, Coontz demonstrates persuasively that women readers from many backgrounds found reliefÔÇösome called it life-savingÔÇöin knowing that they were not crazy and not alone in their need to find some work independent of their family roles.ÔÇØ _ _ **Donna L. Franklin, author of┬á_Ensuring Inequality: The Structural Transformation of the African-American Family_** ÔÇ£This book offers a nuanced perspective on the womenÔÇÖs movement by ending the invisibility of African-American women.ÔÇØ **Nancy F. Cott, Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard University** ÔÇ£Stephanie CoontzÔÇÖs new book takes you on an engrossing and enlightening tour of the past, with wisdom and meaning for the future.ÔÇØ **John Bradshaw, author of┬á_Reclaiming Virtue_┬áand the #1┬á_New York Times_┬ábestsellers,┬á_Homecoming_┬áand┬á_Creating Love_** ÔÇ£Stephanie Coontz continues to amaze me. In her new book, *A Strange Stirring*, she chronicles the untold story of some of AmericaÔÇÖs greatest pioneers. This is a must read for all who care about our countryÔÇÖs growth and maturity. We owe the women described here the same gratitude and respect given to Lewis and Clark and the others who carved out this great nation.ÔÇØ ***Bitch Magazine***_ _ÔÇ£As the author of several books that challenge the accepted historical narrative of ÔÇÿtraditionalÔÇÖ families and institutionsÔǪCoontz soberly checks facts, corrects misinformation, and fills in holes in the record. Most important, she shows how assumptions and misinformation about the past are used not only to paint a distorted picture of how things used to be, but to justify insidious policies and legislation like the Defense of Marriage Act. In her latest workÔǪCoontz focuses on a book weÔÇÖve come to take for granted, arguing that it deserves a closer lookÔǪ. [S]he not only explores the actual content of *The Feminine Mystique* (going well beyond the usual proclamations about its controversiality and importance), but insists that readers (and, presumably, feminists) figure out how to reconcile our idealized version of history with information that complicates it.ÔÇØ ***Publishers Weekly***_ _ÔÇ£This perceptive [and] engrossingÔǪbook provides welcome context and background to a still controversial bestseller that changed how women viewed themselves.ÔÇØ _ _ ***Booklist***_ _ÔÇ£Coupling meticulous research with first-person interviews, Coontz challenges a number of FriedanÔÇÖs assumptions and exaggerations while also revisiting the climate in which the work appeared and giving voice to women for whom *The Feminine Mystique* was nothing short of a lifesaverÔǪ. As women continue to struggle with the effort to balance life and work, Coontz argues that *The Feminine Mystique* remains as relevant today as when it first appeared. In tracing the roots of current discontents, which Coontz dubs the ÔÇÿSupermom Mystique,ÔÇÖ her book is no less required reading than FriedanÔÇÖs trailblazer.ÔÇØ ***The Daily Beast*, ÔÇ£This WeekÔÇÖs Hot ReadsÔÇØ **ÔÇ£A thoughtful reappraisal of Betty FriedanÔÇÖs 1960s classic ÔÇô and a meditation on the ever-evolving role of women in American society.ÔÇØ _ _ **Christine Whelan,┬á_HuffingtonPost_**_ _ÔÇ£[An] excellent new social history of the impact of Betty FriedanÔÇÖs landmark book on American womenÔǪ. Coontz is the rare social historian who knows how to weave meticulous research into a compelling narrative of our not-too-distant pastÔǪ. *A Strange Stirring* is, in many ways, better than the original. Today the problem has been named, and *A Strange Stirring* offers poignant personal reactions, accessible history and present-day comparisons to give voice to the modern quest for gender equality.ÔÇØ _ _ ***BUST***_ _ÔÇ£[E]xcellent, eminently readableÔǪ. CoontzÔÇÖs ÔÇÿdemystifyingÔÇÖ of both the era and Friedan is an erudite, even-handed look at the explosive feminist undercurrents of the era.ÔÇØ _ _ **Louis Menand,┬á_The New Yorker_**_ _ÔÇ£[A] useful revisiting of FriedanÔÇÖs book.ÔÇØ _ _ ***New York Times Book Review***_ _ÔÇ£[A] timely contribution to the conversation about what constitutes progress for women (and for which women) in these days of mommy wars and mama grizzliesÔǪ. By considering *The Feminine Mystique* as one sturdy strand in the complex arguments weÔÇÖre engaged in to this day, Coontz does Friedan the tremendous favor of pulling her down from heaven and up from hellÔǪ. [I]tÔÇÖs a relief to have the level-headed Coontz providing perspective and taking FriedanÔÇÖs work and legacy for what it was: stirring, strange, complicated and crucial.ÔÇØ _ _ ***Salon.com***_ *ÔÇ£*A Strange Stirring_ gives voice to women whose lives were transformed by FriedanÔÇÖs book, but most compellingly, it sets the historical record straight as far as its impact on families.ÔÇØ _ _ ***Wall Street Journal*** ÔÇ£[S]ocial historian Stephanie CoontzÔǪtakes a fresh look at *The Feminine Mystique* by examining its effect on the bookÔÇÖs original readersÔǪ. Ms. Coontz usefully debunks some of the myths that have grown up around *The Feminine Mystique *and FriedanÔǪ. [A]n illuminating analysis of the book that helped launch the movement that freed women to participate more fully in American society.ÔÇØ _ _ ***Bookforum.com***_ _ÔÇ£Coontz reconciles FriedanÔÇÖs flawed text with its seemingly outsized influence, and deftly depicts the social context for the dramatic testimonials uncovered in CoontzÔÇÖs research, the revelatory proto-feminist experiences shared by women of her motherÔÇÖs generationÔǪ. [CoontzÔÇÖs] clear-eyed review of the social data and cultural contradictions of the timeÔǪcomprise a fascinating and important study. *A Strang |
