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amalauna's review
3.0
Evans work is a wonderful overview of America women's history. It's an excellent primer for all readers.
sarahanne8382's review
3.0
Evans sets out with the ambitious aim to cover the breadth of women's history in the United States and generally succeeds.
I am by no means an expert on women's studies, so I consider myself part of the intended audience for this book. As such, I have to say that I learned a lot (especially about women in the earliest years of our country) and also benefited from being able to put important events in women's history in chronological order and understand better how previous movements helped to build later ones.
Evans generally maintains an apolitical tone pointing out both advantages and disadvantages of women's societal position in various stages of our country's history. For example, one of the main dichotomies of the book points out that while women in previous centuries had very little public power, their extensive female networks allowed them a great deal of private power in their own secluded world; while women now have ever increasing public power, they have often lost the close feeling of collaboration and kinship with a greater community of women, making the ability to unite for further equality challenging.
This is clearly a feminist work, but a well-balanced one that tries to incorporate multiple views on this increasingly popular facet of American history.
I am by no means an expert on women's studies, so I consider myself part of the intended audience for this book. As such, I have to say that I learned a lot (especially about women in the earliest years of our country) and also benefited from being able to put important events in women's history in chronological order and understand better how previous movements helped to build later ones.
Evans generally maintains an apolitical tone pointing out both advantages and disadvantages of women's societal position in various stages of our country's history. For example, one of the main dichotomies of the book points out that while women in previous centuries had very little public power, their extensive female networks allowed them a great deal of private power in their own secluded world; while women now have ever increasing public power, they have often lost the close feeling of collaboration and kinship with a greater community of women, making the ability to unite for further equality challenging.
This is clearly a feminist work, but a well-balanced one that tries to incorporate multiple views on this increasingly popular facet of American history.
rach200406's review
3.0
This book was thorough. VERY thorough. For what it set out to accomplish, it was great. The narrative was inclusive of all American women, and made a point to tell the stories of American Indian and African American women from the very conception of the country. However, it was far too dense for me. I learned some interesting things but I slogged through it. A history buff would enjoy it far more, I'll sure
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