Excerpt, from New York Times book review:
During the last 15 years, there have been at least a dozen sitcoms starring physically unattractive, infantile, selfish, dimwitted husbands (ugly babies, really), unconditionally loved by their beautiful, clever, kindhearted and competent wives. It is hard to think of a single show in which this premise was reversed. Did feminism fail? Less than 3 percent of stay-at-home parents are men. Did feminism fail? This year, the radio host and comedian Steve Harvey wrote in “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” that “men want women to act like ladies at all times.” The book has been on the best-seller list for months. Did feminism fail?
Gail Collins’s smart, thorough, often droll and extremely readable account of women’s recent history in America not only answers this question brilliantly, but also poses new ones about the past and the present, as she explicates moments that were widely recorded and illuminates scenes that were barely remarked upon at the time.
Collins, a columnist for the New York Times Op-Ed page, begins “When Everything Changed” with the best summary of American women’s social and political history that I’ve read.
Link to New York Times Book review, here.
Link to buy the book, here.
