The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America: Revised and Updated with a NewE Pilogue"Some revolutions are hard to recognize: no cataclysms mark their beginnings or ends, no casualties are left lying in pools of blood. Though people may suffer, their pain is hidden from public view. Such was the case with the modern women's movement. In her extraordinary new work Ruth Rosen takes us on an unforgettable journey through the last half of the twentieth century, charting the accomplishments and failures of a movement that transformed our politics, our culture, and our lives. The World Split Open evokes a "you are there" sense of the past. Suddenly, the years roll back, and we experience the stigma faced by early pioneers, the heady nights of sexual adventure, the angry days of protest, the early euphoria of sisterhood, the bitter pain of betrayal. Here are the famous and unknown women whose collective outrage, indignant protests, zany humor, and gritty determination forced Americans to rethink what kind of society we would want--if women really mattered. The World Split Open debunks media-generated myths and surprises us with stories from a freshly excavated past. Feminists never burned their bras but were haunted by aprons; African-American women supported the movement more than their white counterparts; the FBI hired hundreds of women to infiltrate the women's movement; and, despite the media's repeated announcement of the death of the women's movement, feminism actually proliferated and burrowed deeply into American culture. Weaving together ten years of archival research and interviews, Rosen turns the complicated history of the women's movement into a compelling and coherent narrative. Writing with vigor and grace, she has created the balanced, meticulously documented, and evocative history that we expect from a distinguished scholar and activist. With uncompromising integrity, The World Split Open challenges us to understand how the women's movement has forever altered our lives and why the revolution is far from over. This extraordinary achievement and long-awaited history will attract men and women, entice educators and students, beguile movement veterans. and captivate those who came of age in the wake of this revolution."--Jacket. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 83
Page 28
... activists made unioniza- tion , the fight against poverty , and Fascism their highest priorities . In the early forties , activists organized radical industrial unions , joined the anti - Fascist Left , enlisted in the burgeoning civil ...
... activists made unioniza- tion , the fight against poverty , and Fascism their highest priorities . In the early forties , activists organized radical industrial unions , joined the anti - Fascist Left , enlisted in the burgeoning civil ...
Page 33
... activists or suburban Re- publicans , was to keep her family together . " There weren't that many women in the leadership , ” she recalled , " so the people most in danger of being indicted were men . Besides , someone needed to stay ...
... activists or suburban Re- publicans , was to keep her family together . " There weren't that many women in the leadership , ” she recalled , " so the people most in danger of being indicted were men . Besides , someone needed to stay ...
Page 100
... activists ' cars or shot up the " freedom houses " in which organizers lived . The real possibility of vaginal searches and jail rapes during imprisonments tested their commitment and en- durance in the face of state - sanctioned ...
... activists ' cars or shot up the " freedom houses " in which organizers lived . The real possibility of vaginal searches and jail rapes during imprisonments tested their commitment and en- durance in the face of state - sanctioned ...
Contents
Dawn of Discontent | 3 |
Female Generation Gap | 37 |
Limits of Liberalism 63 323 | 63 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America Ruth Rosen Limited preview - 2013 |
The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America ... Ruth Rosen Limited preview - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
abortion activists African-American Alix Kates Shulman American women Anne antiwar Author's interview backlash Barbara Barbara Ehrenreich became began Berkeley Betty Friedan black women Boston California Casey Hayden Charlotte Bunch Chicago Chicana child civil rights conference Congress created culture daughters decade discrimination equality fear felt female femi Feminine Mystique feminism fifties Files Freedom gender Gerda Lerner girls Gloria Steinem husband labor later leaders Left lesbians lives magazine male March Marilyn Webb marriage married ment mothers Naomi Weisstein National never organization orgasm percent political Pornography prostitutes protest radical rape Redstockings Robin Morgan role Sagaris San Francisco sexual revolution Sisterhood SNCC social society story Susan Griffin tion Union University Press violence wanted Washington white women woman Women's Health Women's History women's liberation movement women's movement women's rights workers wrote young women