I've been reading Gail Collin's latest, When Everything Changed : The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, and it is pretty great. It's not often that non-fiction title grips me like this one has. It's funny, smart, and packed with information. All delivered without an agenda. There are foolish men...and women in these pages. It's not a bitter diatribe, it's a hopeful history. Very well done. In fact, the other night I was reading it on the bus home, and found myself with tears in my eyes at one particularly stirring moment.The book has also sent me on tangential, fact-finding missions. Like the search for Robin Morgan's article, Goodbye to All That, about the rampant machismo and sexism in the New Left radical movement of the 1970s.
Reading this has also heightened my admittedly acute feminist's eye. For example, while watching Saturday Night Live last night, I noticed that there is only one full-time female cast member. And while unpacking a box of books at work the other day, I came across this book...
What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women, by Dr. James Dobson. Great, just what we need, a book telling men what women want them to know...written by a man. But don't worry ladies, he's a doctor. This is a bit of a low blow on my part seeing as it was written in the 70s. Although I have to say it's good for a laugh.