Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s and 1950s

by Jeffrey Marks

America in the 1950s was a place of Eisenhower, the Korean Conflict, McCarthy, and Sputnik. Women found themselves trapped into a mold of Donna Reed and June Cleaver, marginalized by the hyper-masculinity of the age. Mystery fiction had become a male bastion as well, promoting hardboiled private eye novels and spy fiction. It would be another three decades before groups to promote equality between the sexes in mystery fiction appeared. Yet during that post-World War II era, seven women carved out a place in the genre. These women became the bestsellers of their time by innovation and experimentation. Margaret Millar, Patricia Highsmith, Leslie Ford, Charlotte Armstrong, Dorothy B. Hughes, Mignon Eberhart, and Phoebe Atwood Taylor are in no way similar to each other in style, theme, or subject matter. However, their writings created an Atomic Renaissance that continues to impact the mystery field today.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mystery

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Carla Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

October 2020
I read some of this again, Margaret Millar and Charlotte Armstrong, both of whom I am a fan of. And the chapter on Mignon G. Eberhardt, who I've now enjoyed two books by.
Looked at this again to see if he talks about Helen Neilsen. He doesn't.

July 2015
The beginning was so cool. I love the idea of focussing on female mystery writers of post WWII America, writers who affected the genre as we know it and are mostly out of print. But then the book becomes biographical stuff and a LOT of synopses. And I do not enjoy reading About books. Even the chapter on Highsmith, by far the only one of the writers where I'd read much or most of her work, I was bored, I mean bored to read synopses of things I'd read before.
However, this is definitely a neat book to have. I see myself consulting it often. And wonderful someone did this!

[Christophe Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book covers seven female crime or suspense writers, all American, who had their prime in the 1940s or 1950s. Each author is covered in a single chapter. A few chapters consist too much of plot synopses, whereas other--the more interesting, in my opinion--provide more biographical details and discuss how the author's personal life seems to have affected their work (esp. Margaret Millar, Phoebe Atwood Taylor, and Dorothy B. Hughes).

Overall, a useful addition to the genre literature. Recommended as a resource for readers seeking to discover currently under-rated classic authors, and for fans of the above-mentioned three authors.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffrey Marks, an expert on the classic hard-boiled mystery novel, recounts the lives and works of seven female mystery writers. With the exception of Patricia Highsmith, I hadn't heard of any of them, let alone read their books. I enjoyed reading the stories of how these women managed to carve out a niche for themselves in a field so dominated by men.

I'm looking forward to reading the books these women wrote so long ago.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like mysteries, consider this a guide book to ones written by women authors of the time period. There are clear and concise descriptions of styles as well as synopsis of several works by each author.

I read a wide variety of material, and this will help me decide which of the cited works would be of interest to me.

Thank you to Jeffrey Marks for such a clear work.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this interesting study of women mystery writers, who while we may not have heard of had a great impact on the mystery genre. As is mentioned a whole book could be written about any one of these writers. But he gives a good review of each of the writers, most of which I hadn't heard of. I can't wait to find some of these authors to read.

[Lollyletsgo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! It was wonderful to get information on these women that - for some- so little is known. Bravo, Mr Marks, job well done!

[Portia · Rating 3 out of 5]

i am a nerd. i know. i didn't read every word, but i would have. SUPER movie suggestions and further reading, of course! i know these will be hard to find...

[Therese]

$0.0