You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
A pretty solid and quick read covering the history of Wonder Woman’s creation. Jill Lepore does an excellent job of pulling different historical events together to discuss Wonder Woman’s creation. However, there are many moments that lack a critical discussion of those events which leaves some moments feeling incomplete.
3.5 stars.
I really found interesting and enjoyed the history of the suffrage, feminist, and birth control movements. The history of the author himself was less compelling.
I really found interesting and enjoyed the history of the suffrage, feminist, and birth control movements. The history of the author himself was less compelling.
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
this Marston guy is a really really interesting dude, also, a really interesting glimp into the ethos during the war years.
Although I did learn a lot, especially about the general wackiness that was Marsden, I have complaints.
I enjoyed the way this book acknowledged, and indeed spent much of its time on the context surrounding Wonder Woman's creation. Still, this context was hugely whitewashed. Even in sections of the text where issues of race and class were imperative to the narrative, Lepore seemed to gloss over them. Notable examples of this include her discussion of women's education in the early twentieth century, the suffrage movement, the Fry case, and her ridiculously oversimplified version of race portrayal in early comics. While good for a basic history of the Marsden family, this book does little for the history of Wonder Woman or first wave feminism. In fact, Lepore seems to entirely gloss over the fact that Marsden was a raging misogynist by any modern standard (and arguably by early twentieth century standards) in favor of espousing his "feminist leanings."
In short: entertaining, but incomplete
I enjoyed the way this book acknowledged, and indeed spent much of its time on the context surrounding Wonder Woman's creation. Still, this context was hugely whitewashed. Even in sections of the text where issues of race and class were imperative to the narrative, Lepore seemed to gloss over them. Notable examples of this include her discussion of women's education in the early twentieth century, the suffrage movement, the Fry case, and her ridiculously oversimplified version of race portrayal in early comics. While good for a basic history of the Marsden family, this book does little for the history of Wonder Woman or first wave feminism. In fact, Lepore seems to entirely gloss over the fact that Marsden was a raging misogynist by any modern standard (and arguably by early twentieth century standards) in favor of espousing his "feminist leanings."
In short: entertaining, but incomplete
After all her interviews I wanted to read this book and it was a good read, just wish I hadn't learned about most of the content from her interviews, but still worth the read. Wonder Woman, Margaret Sanger, Polyamory....oh my!
This was fascinating and not at all what I was expecting. and makes me morose about the state of women's rights and parity.
Lepore's Secret History is the family history of the remarkable Marstons: William Moulton Marston, who invented a lie detector based on blood pressure, went to Hollywood as a "consulting psychologist" for the movies, and eventually created Wonder Woman; his highly educated first wife Sadie Holloway, who supported the family for years with her work in publishing; Olive Byrne, a writer, Margaret Sanger's niece and the inspiration for Wonder Woman who raised the family's children; Marjorie Huntley, who also lived with the family on and off; and the four kids between them. If you're wondering why the family life of a supposed proponent of matriarchy looks more like a harem, you're beginning to ask the kinds of questions Lepore raises in her ambivalent microhistory.
The juiciest piece of evidence Lepore produces is a series of tongue-in-cheek articles Byrne wrote for a women's magazine in which she pretends to visit Marston's home to ask his advice on childcare. Lepore's scoop bursts into the narrative in barely-constrained parentheticals: she was living with him! She was raising his kids (her kids) the whole time! In their professional lives Marston, Holloway and Byrne all wrote under pseudonyms at times or even published work under one of the other's names. The theme of playful deception, or truth and half-truth is clearly irresistable to Lepore as a historian, who weaves an incredible story together as artfully as Truman Capote while making clear the line between her sources and speculation.
Lepore's academic background comes through both in the rigor of her research and her detailing of Marston and Co.'s own relationships to academia. She lingers lovingly on the college years of Marston, Holloway, and Bryne, with help from the archives of Harvard, Radcliffe and Mount Holyoke. Marston's rejection from an academic career she portrays as the greatest abiding regret of his life. Lepore's conception of the three major stages of feminism as the 1910s, 1940s and 1970s is memorable and will probably influence my internal timeline of the subject from now on. I was particularly struck by Holloway's experience as a highly educated woman (she earned degrees at Radcliffe and Boston Law and a Master's, almost PhD, in Psychology) who was effectively shut out of academic employment. Lepore writes: "Between 1900 and 1930, the percentage of PhDs awarded to women doubled, and then, for three decades, it fell. The gains made by women in the beginning of the twentieth century were lost, everywhere, as women who had fought their way into colleges and graduate programs found that they were barred from the top ranks of the academy. No structural changes had been made that would have allowed women to pursue a life of the mind while raising children: many quit; many were kicked out; most gave up" (125). According to Lepore, the Marston's polyamorous arrangement meant that Holloway could keep up her career, though it wasn't an academic one.
The book is heavy on the early 20th century and I wish Lepore had said a bit more on the "troubled place of feminism today" (I would read a whole book from her on this subject). There are a few gems of feminist history I learned, though: the story of Ethel Byrne, Margaret Sanger's sister, who almost died in prison during a hunger strike; Lou Rogers, an early suffragist cartoonist who published under a man's name; and Sanger's breakoff with Planned Parenthood (which was apparently de-radicalized and taken over by male execs).
Like all serial heroes, Wonder Woman had many faces. Lepore's reading of Marston's original stories successfully persuades me to take a look at them myself. I admit that, influenced by her later portrayals, I mostly dismissed Wonder Woman as a sexualized feminist icon without much content behind her. But Marston's original stories must be fascinating to study because unlike other superheroes, he had sole creative control over her stories for as long as he was alive, years in which his unique (bizarre?) brand of early feminism was consistently demonstrated. Maybe that's the biggest lesson of Lepore's book, as far as feminist history goes: that it's worth digging through the recessions and revisions of the mid-20th century to the incredible stories and radical ideologies at its roots.
The juiciest piece of evidence Lepore produces is a series of tongue-in-cheek articles Byrne wrote for a women's magazine in which she pretends to visit Marston's home to ask his advice on childcare. Lepore's scoop bursts into the narrative in barely-constrained parentheticals: she was living with him! She was raising his kids (her kids) the whole time! In their professional lives Marston, Holloway and Byrne all wrote under pseudonyms at times or even published work under one of the other's names. The theme of playful deception, or truth and half-truth is clearly irresistable to Lepore as a historian, who weaves an incredible story together as artfully as Truman Capote while making clear the line between her sources and speculation.
Lepore's academic background comes through both in the rigor of her research and her detailing of Marston and Co.'s own relationships to academia. She lingers lovingly on the college years of Marston, Holloway, and Bryne, with help from the archives of Harvard, Radcliffe and Mount Holyoke. Marston's rejection from an academic career she portrays as the greatest abiding regret of his life. Lepore's conception of the three major stages of feminism as the 1910s, 1940s and 1970s is memorable and will probably influence my internal timeline of the subject from now on. I was particularly struck by Holloway's experience as a highly educated woman (she earned degrees at Radcliffe and Boston Law and a Master's, almost PhD, in Psychology) who was effectively shut out of academic employment. Lepore writes: "Between 1900 and 1930, the percentage of PhDs awarded to women doubled, and then, for three decades, it fell. The gains made by women in the beginning of the twentieth century were lost, everywhere, as women who had fought their way into colleges and graduate programs found that they were barred from the top ranks of the academy. No structural changes had been made that would have allowed women to pursue a life of the mind while raising children: many quit; many were kicked out; most gave up" (125). According to Lepore, the Marston's polyamorous arrangement meant that Holloway could keep up her career, though it wasn't an academic one.
The book is heavy on the early 20th century and I wish Lepore had said a bit more on the "troubled place of feminism today" (I would read a whole book from her on this subject). There are a few gems of feminist history I learned, though: the story of Ethel Byrne, Margaret Sanger's sister, who almost died in prison during a hunger strike; Lou Rogers, an early suffragist cartoonist who published under a man's name; and Sanger's breakoff with Planned Parenthood (which was apparently de-radicalized and taken over by male execs).
Like all serial heroes, Wonder Woman had many faces. Lepore's reading of Marston's original stories successfully persuades me to take a look at them myself. I admit that, influenced by her later portrayals, I mostly dismissed Wonder Woman as a sexualized feminist icon without much content behind her. But Marston's original stories must be fascinating to study because unlike other superheroes, he had sole creative control over her stories for as long as he was alive, years in which his unique (bizarre?) brand of early feminism was consistently demonstrated. Maybe that's the biggest lesson of Lepore's book, as far as feminist history goes: that it's worth digging through the recessions and revisions of the mid-20th century to the incredible stories and radical ideologies at its roots.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
good ! v interesting albeit a little too detailed in certain sections