A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique & American Women At The Dawn Of The 1960s (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I bought this book about a year ago to complete a thrift books order. My local library didn't own it and I wanted to read it. Also I thought I would recommend it to my book group. I am not sure why it took me so long to get to this.I am definitely suggesting it to my book group. Even though we have some issues about feminism, I think we can safely read it and not have a battle about "working" moms. We will see.Coontz does an excellent job of putting The Feminine Mystique in context. I was glad to find out more about where women were when the book came out; what women were most affected by this and how Friedan and her writings fit in with the feminist movement of the 60's and 70's.I also was pleased to read Coontz' perspective on this seminal work. As a feminist scholar, Coontz could talk about the way Friedan influenced many aspects of American life.Because Coontz is a professor, she is able to talk knowledgeably about the negative effects of this feminist book. Somehow it never occurred to me that if you are a scholar in this area, you should be reading the conservative, backlash to this type of materials. Now that I know that, of course it makes sense. Another plus in reading for my own edification, rather than for teaching. I am grateful to read what I want rather than what I need to read.If you have any interest in history, in the changes that have happened since the 1950's or you just want to know more about Betty Friedan, this is the book for you. While this book certainly had interesting things to say, I found its style extremely dry and irritating to plough through. It felt much longer than 250 pages. Many quotes are repeated verbatim over and over again, which is very tedious. I sometimes found myself wondering if I'd accidentally skipped back twenty pages because I seemed to be reading the same thing over and over again. The main benefit I took from this book was a portal into the work of various other feminist writers I had not previously discovered. Coontz does make thought-provoking comparisons between Friedan's writing and that of other writers at the same time, as well as providing details of Friedan's life.
What do You think about A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique & American Women At The Dawn Of The 1960s (2011)?
Nothing I didn't already know, but interesting to read backstory on Feminine Mystique.
—aridk
