Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century

by Rosalind Rosenberg

Winner of the 1983 Fredrick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians.

American women have made great strides in the last century to win personal autonomy, sexual freedom, economic independence, and legal rights. Yet the vast majority of them still assume the domestic burdens that leave men free to play their traditional public roles. Examining women's lives in the larger context of U.S. social and political history, Rosenburg shows how American traditions of federalism, racial and ethnic diversity, geographic mobility, and relative abundance have both aided and hindered women's strides toward equality.This lively and informed analysis of the leaders, goals, and setbacks of the women's stride towards equality. This informed analysis of the leaders, goals, and setbacks of the women's movement is a landmark study.

Genres: Nonfiction, American History, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Rosalind Rosenberg is Professor of History Emerita at Barnard College, Columbia University. She is the author of Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century, Changing the Subject: How the Women of Columbia Shaped the Way We Think About Sex and Politics, and Beyond Separate Spheres: Intellectual Roots of Modern Feminism.

Reviews

[David Wen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hideously outdated book (published in 1992) extolling tired ideals. Good for getting a brief history lesson on women's rights from 1900-1990 from a biased source but that's about it.