When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present |  | Author: Gail Collins
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
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Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 684
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 0316059544
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.4097309045
EAN: 9780316059541
ASIN: 0316059544
Publication Date: October 14, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780316059541 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
Gail Collins, New York Times columnist and bestselling author, recounts the astounding revolution in women's lives over the past 50 years, with her usual "sly wit and unfussy style" (People).
When Everything Changed begins in 1960, when most American women had to get their husbands' permission to apply for a credit card. It ends in 2008 with Hillary Clinton's historic presidential campaign. This was a time of cataclysmic change, when, after four hundred years, expectations about the lives of American women were smashed in just a generation.
A comprehensive mix of oral history and Gail Collins's keen research--covering politics, fashion, popular culture, economics, sex, families, and work--When Everything Changed is the definitive book on five crucial decades of progress. The enormous strides made since 1960 include the advent of the birth control pill, the end of "Help Wanted--Male" and "Help Wanted--Female" ads, and the lifting of quotas for women in admission to medical and law schools. Gail Collins describes what has happened in every realm of women's lives, partly through the testimonies of both those who made history and those who simply made their way.
Picking up where her highly lauded book America's Women left off, When Everything Changed is a dynamic story, told with the down-to-earth, amusing, and agenda-free tone for which this beloved New York Times columnist is known. Older readers, men and women alike, will be startled as they are reminded of what their lives once were--"Father Knows Best" and "My Little Margie" on TV; daily weigh-ins for stewardesses; few female professors; no women in the Boston marathon, in combat zones, or in the police department. Younger readers will see their history in a rich new way. It has been an era packed with drama and dreams--some dashed and others realized beyond anyone's imagining.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 42
 The Perfect Response to "I'm not a feminist, but..." March 7, 2010
Robin N. Uncapher (Bethesda, MD)
So you're not a feminist. And that would be because feminists...took all the fun out of life?
Gail Collins brilliant book shows readers what America was like before women went from being inferiors to equal citizens. If you are a young woman who would just love to go back to the old days, consider what life was like for the "little woman," of the 1950s. By quoting magazines, newspapers and other examples from popular culture Collins shows us how insideous sexism was. If you grew up at a time when a man's voice narrated tv commercials for bras, because only a man's voice was considered authoritative enough to sell anything, you will know what I mean. There was a time when virtually every television commercial and most TV shows portrayed women as helpmates, to husbands, doctors or ace detectives. Sometimes she was a smart, resourceful helpmate but usually she sounded like an idiot.
Collins also explains the legal problems women faced including divorce laws that gave homemakers no rights to property acquired during a marriage, no matter how long as well as employment laws that prohibited women working normal business hours.
And then, within just a few decades, everything changed. Among the many factors that got us out of this mess may have been a highly eductated but under-utilized female population. When the jobs finally became available, there were an astonishing number of women ready to take them.
I recommend this book to everyone, men, women, teens and especially young women, who may think twice before they insult the women who fought for this change by saying "I'm not a feminist, but..."
A Must Read for Women! March 6, 2010
LegalBeagle (Maryland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Can you figure out this answer to this riddle?
"A man and his son were in a car accident. The man died on the way to the hospital, but the boy was rushed into surgery. The surgeon said "I can't operate, for that's my son!" How is this possible?"
When I first heard this riddle as a girl in the `70's I was stumped for the answer. Thanks to the women's movement modern girls are probably (hopefully!) quickly able to discern the answer. This is because everything has changed for women. While the glass ceiling still exits and stereotypes abound, generally, women are free to be, do, and own almost anything that was once reserved for men only.
When Everything Changed by Gail Collins details the historical changes from 1960 to the present, and examines the impact of these events on the lives of ordinary women. As Collins explains, once upon a time, men and women existed in different societal spheres, with men occupying the higher level:
Then, suddenly, everything changed. The cherished convictions about women and what they could do were smashed in the lifetime of many women living today. It happened so fast that the revolution seemed to be over before either side could really find its way to the barricades. And although the transformation was imperfect and incomplete, it was still astonishing.
When Everything Changed is an entertaining, but more importantly, a knowledgeable book of recent history that should be read by women of all ages!
Oh and here is the answer to the riddle: the surgeon is the boy's mother.
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (October 14, 2009), 480 pages
Review Copy Provided Courtesy of the Publisher.
 A necessary perspective February 12, 2010
Jilly (Santa Maria, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are many interesting revelations in this account of the "sexual revolution." I wanted my daughters to understand the changes that I've seen in my lifetime, but was astounded at how much more there was to the big picture. At one point in the book, I felt that the author used too much space on the Civil Rights issues... to the point that I wondered if she'd ever return to women. However, perhaps the weight of that battle was in proportion to the changes necessary to bring women up to the status of the black American male. In some areas, women are still not equal. Some of the anger and frustration I have felt was expressed well and objectively. On the other hand, some of the insults that women endured to come out "fairly" treated on the other side are incredibly demeaning, but true. I'd say this should be required reading for all women, until we really become equal in society and business.
I wasn't paying attention. . . February 12, 2010
Pam (Brookline, MA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I lived through all of this, so I thought I would be familiar with all Collins had to report. I was in error. I may have been alive, but I was not noticing. I remember many of the events, but I did not react at the time to their importance. This book became, then, a necessary lesson in what I lived through and profited by but paid too little attention to.
Most informative to the reader are the author's many personal interviews that portray the details of the daily lives of American women of the era. This is not library research. It is woman to woman sharing of memories, frustrations and small victories that took place as "everything changed".
I asked for this book for Christmas, I have given it several times as presents and when it gets to paperback, I may just stand on a street corner and give it to every woman passing by.
I never thought... February 8, 2010
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I never thought about these things until Collins put it in her book. I always made fun of the domestic houswife in the fifties, but this book made me see that these women were just a product of their time.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 42
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