The Women Who Broke All the Rules

March 1, 1999
The subjects of this book, women of the post-World War II baby-boomer generation, broke with more traditional role models to create what we know as "women's liberation," or the feminist movement. Evans and Avis, both social science professors at the University of San Francisco, interviewed 100 middle-class women born between 1945 and 1955 who perceive their lives as being both conventional and unconventional. While women have always worked, those of this generation came of age during the social upheaval of the Vietnam era, trying to resolve the conflict between parental approval of "good girls" and the desire to follow their own dreams. Grouped thematically, their life stories offer insight into gender roles and expectations, and why some women still do not take credit for their own success, attributing it instead to luck rather than to intelligence or hard work. Responding to their dilemmas with humor, these women offer alternative answers to such questions as "So, how come you're not married?" ("I've become the person my mother hoped I'd marry") and statements such as "Old rule: have children while you're young" ("New truth: have children, preferably before menopause"). There's not much new here, but this book is sure to evoke personal comparisons from readers--giving new meaning to old memories--as well as encouragement and inspiration.

November 1, 1999
YA-This breezy, conversational book recounts the stories of 100 women born between 1945 and 1955. While their individual successes were not noteworthy, their collective actions improved conditions and provided opportunities for young women today. Most of the individuals profiled came from traditional, middle-class families that expected their daughters to get an education, get married, and have a family-in that order-certainly by their early 20s. Evans and Avis traced the behavior-changing factors in 1960s and 1970s society-birth control and abortion, women's rights legislation, the escalating divorce rate, and increased career opportunities-that affected these young women. Their stories involve drug use, abuse, and free sex widely practiced at the time. Remarkably, they overcame their difficulties and turned their lives around. The book will provide today's youth with good insight into the conditions of the period, all the more credible in that the stories included were from "ordinary" women. An interesting read that will hold the attention of most teens.-Jean Johnston, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.