Generations

September 29, 1997
Compiled by a mother-and-daughter team, this gathering of original interviews with women, spanning three generations and representing a wide array of ethnicities, classes, locations and lifestyles, constitutes a vivid oral history of contemporary women in America. The topics addressed in these firsthand accounts range from corsets and bra-burnings to WWII factory jobs, supermom heroics and practically everything else. Vast in scope and inherently overwhelming, the book nevertheless achieves its aim--to "make more nuanced our understanding of the journey women have taken over the century," as Miedzian (Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence) puts it in her introduction. Malinovich is a recent graduate of Brown University. Unfortunately, the book's structure diminishes its impact. The three main sections ("Growing Up," "Family" and "Work") are divided by generation (women born from 1900 to the early 1930s, early 1930s to mid-'50s and mid-'50s to mid-'70s) and then into chapters comprised of interview segments grouped together for reasons that are unclear and with often uninspired titles, such as "It was 1960," "We Split Up" and "I Have Done a Lot of Volunteer Work." As a result, individual accounts are scattered, drastically minimizing the impact and clarity of stories from 150 women.

July 1, 1997
Miedzian (Boys Will Be Boys, LJ 6/1/91) and daughter Malinovich spent five years locating women willing to tell their life stories, editing the interviews, and selecting excerpts for this book. They have divided the work into three sections ("Growing Up," "Family," and "Work") and each section into three "generations": 1900 to the early 1930s, mid-1930s to the early 1950s, and mid-1950s to the present. Except for the introduction, the book consists of one- to two-page excerpts from the interviews without further commentary. Although the authors admit they did not do a scientific sampling, they have well represented a diverse group of American women--single, married, divorced, gay, widowed--from a variety of backgrounds. Superbly edited, the book reads as if the women were talking to you. Highly recommended for all readers.--Linda L. McEwan, Elgin Community Coll., Ill.

September 1, 1997
Miedzian and Malinovich address the question: In what ways have the lives of American women changed during the past century? A fascinating chronicle emerges, with its panoramic overview of recent history and societal change culled from countless interviews with individuals who confided their personal, often colorful, and never uninteresting life stories. From Bernice Stuart's difficult years growing up in a small South Dakota town in the early part of this century to Jessica Tamler's ongoing pursuit of a powerful job in the field of law, Miedzian and Malinovich reveal the dreams and aspirations, successes and disappointments, of women who have had to struggle with poverty and others blessed with a life of privilege. Ultimately, the book's expansive perspective crosses all boundaries between women's lives as it allows the voices of women to be heard and accounted for in fascinating statements of how each woman has followed her own distinctive path. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)