Synopsis
A study of the Women's Liberation Movement and the development of feminism during the latter half of the twentieth century. It is written by the author of AGAINST OUR WILL: MEN, WOMEN AND RAPE.
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Review
Susan Brownmiller was a Gucci-clad, 33-year-old writer grappling privately with the decidedly masculine preserve of feature journalism when she attended her first consciousness-raising session in 1968. Her first impression? Oh, brother! But as other women around the room told their stories, they resonated with something deep in Brownmiller's psyche, and when it was time to tell her own--"I've had three illegal abortions"--the ambitious reporter experienced something akin to a road-to-Damascus conversion.
Brownmiller's 1975 classic, Against Our Will, helped to change our perception of rape and turned her into a feminist icon overnight; In Our Time, though, is less an argument for transformation than an encyclopaedic look at the forces that shaped the social movement of late 20th-century feminism, from occasional clashes of colourful personalities like Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Germaine Greer (who, 30 years later, have a tendency to seem larger than life) to the methodical, often unexciting, day-by-day planning behind the landmark sit-ins, lawsuits, and other headline events. Sisterhood's call to arms was most persuasive when the enemy was economic oppression and the battle cry "equal pay for equal work!" Solidarity was harder to muster, Brownmiller reports, when it came to targeting social injustices, particularly those pertaining to sex. Were Clarence Thomas's raunchy remarks to Anita Hill business as usual or a type of harassment? Was pornography a male counter-reaction intended to degrade newly liberated women or an effort to make sexual pleasure available to fantasists of all persuasions? These arguments persist today--and In Our Time reminds us that they must be viewed in historical context. --Patrizia DiLucchio
Review
Praise for Susan Brownmiller:
Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape "The most rigorous and provocative piece of scholarship that has yet emerged from the feminist movement. . . . May significantly change the terms of the dialogue between and about men and women."--Time magazine "Chilling and monumental. . . . Deserves a place next to those rare books which force us to change the way we feel about what we know."
--The New York Times Book Review "Susan Brownmiller has succeeded in that rarest and most difficult task: She has written a book that not only must be read but also is readable. As a literary experience this book is as excellent as its ideas."
--Chicago Tribune Book World "Against Our Will is a work of stunning originality which goes far beyond the statistics of rape to challenge some of society's most accepted assumptions. . . . A landmark work, one of the most significant books to emerge in this decade."
--Houston Chronicle "A monumental work and a thoroughly chilling eye opener."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch Femininity "Illuminating and informative. Miss Brownmiller has turned a treacherous subject into a lively and compelling book . . . essential reading."
--Carol Gilligan, The New York Times Book Review "She eloquently tells stories many women will identify with."
--The Washington Post Book World "A positive joy to read!"
--Nora Ephron, Chicago Tribune Book World
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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution
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In Our Time : Memoir of a Revolution
Published by
Quarto Publishing Group UK, 2000
ISBN 10: 1854107003
ISBN 13: 9781854107008
Used
Softcover
Seller: Better World Books Ltd, Dunfermline, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 51264214-20
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In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution
Seller: Orbiting Books, Hereford, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
paperback. Condition: Very Good. Bumped edges. Marks to the cover. Peeling to edge of cover. Appears unread, may have minor damage from transit/storage. Next day dispatch from the UK (Mon-Fri). Please contact us with any queries. Seller Inventory # mon0000651238
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In Our Time - Memoir of a Revolution
Seller: Barclay Books, York, WA, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. There once was a time when the concept of equal pay for equal work did not exist, when women of all ages were "girls," when abortion was a back-alley procedure, when there was no such thing as a rape crisis center or a shelter for battered women, when "sexual harassment" had not yet been named and defined. "If conditions are right," Susan Brownmiller says in this stunning memoir, "if the anger of enough people has reached the boiling point, the exploding passion can ignite a societal transformation." In Our Time tells the story of that transformation, as only Brownmiller can. A leading feminist activist and the author of Against Our Will, the book that changed the nation's perception of rape, she now brings the Women's Liberation movement and its passionate history vividly to life. Here is the colorful cast of characters on whose shoulders we stand--the feminist icons Betty Friedan, Kate Millett, Germaine Greer, and Gloria Steinem, and the lesser known women whose contributions to change were equally profound. And here are the landmark events of the era: the consciousness-raising groups that sprung up in people's living rooms, the mimeographed position papers that first articulated the new thinking, the abortion and rape speak-outs, the daring sit-ins, the underground newspaper collectives, and the inventive lawsuits that all played a role in the most wide-reaching revolution of the twentieth century. Here as well are Brownmiller's reflections on the feminist utopian vision, and her dramatic accounts, rendered with honesty and humor, of the movement's painful internal schisms as it struggled to give voice to the aspirarations of all women. Finally, Brownmiller addresses that most relevant question: What is the legacy of feminism today? 2000. A trade paperback copy in fine, unmarked condition. Seller Inventory # 9150641
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In Our Time - Memoir Of A Revolution
Published by
Aurum Press, London, UK, 2000
ISBN 10: 1854107003
ISBN 13: 9781854107008
Used
Soft cover
Seller: In Other Words Books, Plymouth, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Book in excellent, clean condition. Pages lightly tanned around the edges. Card cover in good condition. Title page, with publisher information, has been removed. British edition of this memoir of the Women's Liberation Movement Second Wave in the USA by one of their best-known feminist writers and activists. Author of 'Against Our Will', a radical study of rape, and in the forefront of the societal upheavals brought about between the late 60s and the turn of the century by the WLM. Seller Inventory # 003266
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In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution Brownmiller, Susan
Seller: Hay-on-Wye Booksellers, Hay-on-Wye, HEREF, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Light creases & scratches to softcover. Faint marks & tanning to textblock edge. Content is in very good, clean condition. Seller Inventory # 032006-12-06-2024-LMC