Women Books - Page 14

On Women Turning 50: Celebrating Mid-Life Discoveries

Cathleen Rountree

List Price: $22.00 By: Harpercollins Amazon Marketplace: 71 new & used starting at $0.01

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

women speak out about their experience of turning 50 4 out of 5 stars.
43 of 43 people found this review helpful.

This is a collection of interviews of famous and not-so-famous women who have navigated their fiftieth birthdays. The women as individuals may be described as admirable, fascinating, witty, and even awesome (check out Dolores Huerta who has spent most of her adult life as a full-time human rights activist, living in poverty or near-poverty, while giving birth to 11 children--most of whom are now college graduates--and periodically catering to the demands of one of her three husbands). A more interesting aspect of this collection is what these women have in common. They each find this time in their lives more free, more focused on making a contribution to society, less focused on physical appearance and pleasing others, and less concerned (if not unconcerned) with having men in their lives. Tabra Tunoa, a jewelry designer and manufacturer, said, "You waste a lot of time in your thirties trying to look twenty and in your forties trying to look thirty"--one comment from among several in the interviews which imply that the forties are for clearning up the vestiges of denial of age, and the fifties are for embracing its gifts. Said Gloria Steinem, "I learned that to be defiant about age may be better than despair--it's energizing--but it is not progress." Rountree has done a fine job of asking the right questions, eliciting illuminating answers, and photographing 18 women who are worth hearing from.

Editorial Review:

Betty Friedan provides the foreword to a celebration of women over fifty that includes the thoughts of prominent women--Isabel Allende, Ellen Burstyn, Gloria Steinem, and others--as well as a single-parent teacher, a breast cancer survivor, and a photographer. 20,000 first printing.

The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior

List Price: $50.00 By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $32.67

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Editorial Review:

For nearly three decades, feminists have examined how the female body and ideas about the female body affect womens lives. The Politics of Women's Bodies: Appearance, Sexuality, and Behavior is the first anthology to bring together recent critical writings in this growing and important field, covering such diverse topics as the impact of homophobia on ideas about women athletes, the sources of violence against women, and the consequences of the fetal rights movement.

Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism

Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $5.00

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the authors of Manifesta, an activism handbook that illustrates how to truly make the personal political.

Grassroots is an activism handbook for social justice. Aimed at everyone from students to professionals, stay-at-home moms to artists, Grassroots answers the perennial question: What can I do? Whether you are concerned about the environment, human rights violations in Tibet, campus sexual assault policies, sweatshop labor, gay marriage, or the ongoing repercussions from 9-11, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards believe that we all have something to offer in the fight against injustice. Based on the authors' own experiences, and the stories of both the large number of activists they work with as well as the countless everyday people they have encountered over the years, Grassroots encourages people to move beyond the "generic three" (check writing, calling congresspeople, and volunteering) and make a difference with clear guidelines and models for activism. The authors draw heavily on individual stories as examples, inspiring readers to recognize the tools right in front of them--be it the office copier or the family living room--in order to make change. Activism is accessible to all, and Grassroots shows how anyone, no matter how much or little time they have to offer, can create a world that more clearly reflects their values.

Everybody into the Pool: True Tales

Beth Lisick

Amazon Price: $11.96 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Paperbacks Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $4.50

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Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Beth Lisick started out as a homecoming princess with a Crisco-aided tan and a bad perm. And then everything changed. Plunging headlong into America's deepest subcultures, while keeping both feet firmly planted in her parents' Leave It to Beaver values, Lisick makes her adult home on the fringe of mainstream culture and finds it rich with paradox and humor. On the one hand, she lives in "Brokeley" with drug dealers and street gangs; on the other, she drives a station wagon with a baby seat in the back, makes her own chicken stock, and attends ladies' luncheons. How exactly did this suburban girl-next-door end up as one of San Francisco's foremost chroniclers of alternative culture? Lisick explains it all in her hilarious, irreverent, bestselling memoir, Everybody into the Pool.

Fans of David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell will relish Lisick's scathingly funny, smart, very real take on the effluvia of daily living. No matter what community she's exposing to the light, Lisick always hits the right chord.

Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics

Jennifer Baumgardner

Amazon Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $8.01

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“A necessary read for those looking to expand their understanding of both bisexuality and the contributions of Third Wave feminism.”—Rebecca Walker, Bookforum
 
“Revealing, smart, titillating . . . Look Both Ways [cuts] straight to the heart of many young women’s fraught relationship to both feminism and their own femininity.” —Jessica Clark, In These Times

“Baumgardner's voice remains as compelling as ever, not only because she writes with the candor of your closest friend, but because she herself appears to be learning and questioning along with the reader.” —Fiorella Valdesolo, Nylon
 
“Baumgardner is generally thoughtful and honest, with a refreshing sense of humor about herself and her politics. . . . Baumgardner's prose, at its best, is warm, unpretentious and funny . . . And as a memoirist, she is impressively willing to make herself vulnerable. . . . Her arguments for sexual complexity and openness are compelling, as are her claims that bisexual experiences can supply a kind of stereoscopic vision.”— Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Salon

The subjection of women (Gerritsen women's history)

John Stuart Mill

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Mill's Best Work 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

The Subjection of Women is an often overlooked classic by one of history's greatest minds. Published at the end of Mill's life, The Subjection brings together all of Mill's most important views on liberty, utility, human nature, and society. It paints a far more accessable ethic than more famous works, such as On Liberty. Mill uses his philosophical views to reach conclusions that were long ahead of his time, and in many ways continue to outpace our understanding of gender and society. This work is arguably the best feminist writing ever, and the best commentary on morality and social evolution.

Today, Mill's work continues to provide us with a framework for understanding social movements such as the gay rights and animal rights movements. Mill shows us how just institutions are vital to the happiness of both society and the individual, as these institutions are central to the formation of our characters. He shows us how both the oppressor and the oppressed are harmed by unjust institutional arrangements, such as gender inequalities in the family. In sum, Mill's The Subjection of Women is perhaps the finest piece of social and political philosophy produced in the modern era, and should be read by all interested in social justice, feminism, or ethics.

Editorial Review:

In this essay Mill assails a system of inequality that supports and encourages the subjection of one individual by another and raises questions about the nature and relation of power and liberty.

A Taste of Power - A Black Woman's Story (Black Panthers)

Elaine Brown

List Price: $25.00 By: Pantheon Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $0.49

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Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

exciting, passionate, shocking, truthful..... 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

While reading this book I experienced a wide range of feelings because Elaine Brown basically bared her soul when writing this book. She also has a great sense of humor. I give her the highest respect for the soul searching she did while penning her autobiography.

The book gives a clear look into the BPP and its members and the changes the party went through. I found the information of Huey P Newton, Eldrige Cleaver, and George Jackson especially eye opening and helpful-it answered some of the questions I had been seeking answers for.

The book also gives a clear look of what it was like to be a woman, a black women, in the 60s and 70s operating in a male dominated party and society as a whole

I noticed there are a lot of negative reviews on this book and wonder if the people who left them, wrote them because they really disliked how Elaine presented her story or are using the media's interpretation her legacy and the historical legacy of the BPP to fuel their comments. The story in the context of times and situation of the party and Elaine along with the political and social changes the party was trying to achieve.
Anyway I high recommend.

Editorial Review:

The one-time leader of the Black Panther Party describes her firsthand experience with racism, the sexism that would ultimately destroy the Black Panther Party, her love-hate relationship with Huey Newton, and more. 25,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Economics of Men and Women at Work

Francine D. Blau, Marrianne A. Ferber

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Gender Equity as Mainstream Economists See it 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This book can be read at many levels -- used for a course or read as needed. You can answer questions like: How is unfair discrimination measured? Why do jobs that employ women pay less than those that employ men even if the requirements are similar. Go beyond romantic love to answer questions about whether marriage makes sense. Does welfare make peole work less? These two academics represent mainstream, what is called "institutional labor econmics." Anyone interested in the labor market, gender equity, international comparisons on how women are doing will find this book accessible. You do not have to have formal education in economics.

Economic theory of work and gender 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is an overview of how gender and race play into neo-classical economic theory. The authors discuss both macro- and micro-economic models, and how differences in gender and race can be explained using the models. Topics covered include: gender roles and economic development (in the US), division of labor within the family, allocation of time between the household and the labor market, consequences of women's employment for the family, differences in occupations and earnings, joblessness, and sex differences in other countries. The discussion is confined primarily to the US economy, although the theoretical aspects should be applicable elsewhere, and there is a brief section at the end of the book examining a few economic aspects of gender in developing countries, the U.S.S.R, and Sweden. Although the text generally focuses on gender differences, racial differences are also discussed with almost every topic. For the most part, the book examines only the economics of married heterosexual women, and women who are single or partners in same-sex unions fall outside the scope of the discussion. More in-depth explorations of theoretical issues are provided in appendices which follow several of the chapters. Each chapter includes a brief list of suggested readings. End material consists of an author index and a subject index.

The authors strongly advocate for women engaging in the labor market rather than restricting their work to household activities. They argue that this will likely maximize household income both in the short run and the long term, and provide a much better chance of financial viability for a woman and her children in case her marriage dissolves through divorce or widowhood. They also point out national policies, such as limited subsidies for childcare, that tend to make working in the labor market less attractive for American women. They point out that the families of women who take part in the labor market do not suffer adversely, and that the benefits for the family outweigh the costs.

Rather than simply reporting the facts about gender differences relating to economics, the authors seek to explain motivations and behaviors through economic theory. The book is filled with charts of supply-and-demand-type "indifference curves", designed to show how a typical person feels about participating in the labor market, and at what point he or she will join or leave the market according to possible financial returns. These charts are used both to explain labor market statistics, and to argue the authors' point that women should participate in the labor market. I found the explanatory approach interesting in its attempts to provide a theoretical basis for observed gender differences. However, I'm not entirely convinced that the assumptions that the theory is based on are correct. For example, the authors assume that couples will strive to maximize their income, but is this the real goal that couples are working towards? What about couples who seek to maximize their satisfaction in their family relationships, or their children's development, or those whose financial goal is only to earn "enough" and not to spend a single superfluous minute in the labor market? And what about those who participate in the labor market solely for the joy of it, and not for the financial returns? The possibility that some individuals might have different goals that would affect their participation in the labor market would probably complicate the models found here so much as to make them unworkable. The models must be made simple in order to work, but since the real world is more complex, it's not clear how relevant the simple models are for the real world. In general, the authors tend to overlook or downplay cultural factors that may have stronger effects on economic behavior than the theoretical economic factors that they discuss. Nevertheless, the book provides an interesting starting point for analyzing gender differences in economic behavior, and it also provides an excellent overview of research on women's labor market participation in the US through the 1980s.

The Power of Praying®--Graduate Edition: For the Young Woman Starting a New Journey in Life (Omartian, Stormie)

Stormie Omartian

List Price: $12.99 By: Harvest House Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $0.01

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I graduated from highschool in 2004 and recieved this book from a good friend. Ever since i read it, it is my standard graduation gift for all the young women in my life. It was just so encouraging and uplifting for me as entered college. I would recommend it as a graduation gift for highschool and college women!

Editorial Review:

Bestselling author Stormie Omartian’s guidance for a godly, prayer–infused life is gathered in this attractive book created for women graduates. Selections from her titles Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On and The Power of a Praying® Woman are woven together to provide readers with a meaningful resource of encouragement, inspiration, and prayer. More than 120 devotions lead graduates to communicate with God about:

• moving into the future with hope
• relying on His strength for challenges ahead
• defining success God’s way
• trusting His will when experience uncertainty
• seeking an abundant, godly life

Graduates of any age will be blessed by this exploration of God’s promises that will lead them into tomorrow with confidence.

Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Major Influence In My Life 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book is an introduction to the wealth of perspective of Black Feminists. Using whole essays by Black women in the US, this anthology highlights some of the best in Black Political Theory. One of the things that becomes extremely apparent is that Black Feminists are experts in the issue of differences between people. In one of the essays, Audre Lorde says that the future of the planet depends on women redefining difference. In this vein Audre Lorde has been one of the most influential people on the issue of intersectionality and positionality, meaning that people are diverse in a multitude of ways and that they occupy many different spaces in the human universe. Get this book, it will change the way you see everything.

Editorial Review:

"In this groundbreaking collection of articles, Dr. Guy-Sheftall has taken us from the early 1830s to contemporary times. Only since the seventies have black women used the term 'feminism.' And, yet, it is that concept that she uses to bring into the same frame the ideas and analyses of Maria Stewart, Sojourner Truth, and Frances Harper of the early nineteenth century, and the work of women such as Audre Lourde, Barbara Smith, and bell hooks, who stand on the threshold of the twenty-first century.--from the epilogue by Johnnetta B. Cole, President, Spelman College