by Ruth Rosen
Some very special friends have helped sharpen my understanding of American political culture by teaching me about their own. I am especially grateful to my friend and colleague Professor Jirina Siklova of the Czech Republic, my friend and former student Dr. Wang Zheng of China, and Professor Ida Bloom of Norway.
Only now do I realize how much this book grew out of my undergraduate lectures at the University of California, Davis, and my op-ed pieces for the Los Angeles Times. I thank several generations of students for teaching me what I needed to learn. I am forever indebted to Bob Berger, op-ed editor of the Los Angeles Times, who, in his characteristically brilliant and blunt manner, taught me to write a convincing argument in 750 words.
As obvious as it may seem, I had to survive in order to write this book. I am profoundly grateful to Michael Lerner, intellectual and spiritual leader of Commonweal in Bolinas, California, for tutoring me in the art of healing and to doctors Paul Smith, Jan Kirsch, Lisa Bailey, and Paul Walton, for knowing that physicians must heal a patient’s mind, body, and soul. And they did.
I also want to thank Jae-Jung McClure for her healing touch and Julie Cummings for maintaining domestic order, and Louise Bernikow, who early publicized Muriel Rukeyser’s powerful words.
And then there is the next generation. Scott and Brian Rosen, my nephews, have been a great source of love. By word and by deed, Kevin Brunner has assured me that a new generation of boys has grown up to be strong men with soft hearts. Through her intellect, passion, and friendship, Kira Brunner has reassured me that the future of feminism is in sturdy hands. I am delighted to report that, while I wrote this book, my husband, Wendel Brunner, never gave up his own career as Director of Public Health, never quit struggling for a healthier and more just society, and never stopped sailing or backpacking. And, for the love and laughter he brought into my life, for his patience and generosity, for his irreverent humor and honest criticism, for his sublime sense of wonder, for his steady encouragement and loving presence, for all this, and more, I feel blessed and filled with gratitude.
Ruth Rosen
Berkeley, California, 2000
INTERVIEWS NOT CITED IN NOTES
Alta, 5/97, Berkeley, California
Bettina Aptheker (with Mark Kitchell), n.d., Berkeley, California
Elaine Baker, 6/19/89, Denver, Colorado (telephone)
Jill Benderly, 6/8/91, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
Kira Brunner, 10/98, Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Charlotte Bunch, 4/13/87, New York City
Rennie Davis, 1988 SDS Reunion
Bernadine Dohrn, 1988 SDS Reunion
Hester Eisenstein, 6/5/95, New York City
Dan Ellsberg, 10/98, Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Judy Ezekiel, 6/2/87, Paris, France
Anne Ferrar, 7/15/86, San Francisco, California
Dick Flacks, 1988 SDS Reunion
Mickey Flacks, 1/2/83, Santa Barbara, California
Ann Forer, 4/6/86, New York City
Betty Garman, 1988 SDS Reunion and by telephone 6/89
Helen Garvey, 1988 SDS Reunion
Sandra Gilbert, 4/93, Berkeley, California
Rachel Ginsberg, 7/24/91, Berkeley, California
Todd Gitlin, 1988 SDS Reunion
Vivian Gornick, 4/6/87, New York City
Tom Hayden, 2/93, Berkeley, California
Carolyn Heilbrun, 4/18/86, New York City
Nanci Hollander, 6/23/89, Austin, Texas (telephone)
Sharon Jeffrey, 6/24/89, California (telephone) at 1988 SDS Reunion
Flo Kennedy, 4/14/86, New York City
Amy Kessleman, 6/95, North Carolina
Pat Kovner, 4/15/86, Berkeley, California
Joan Levinson, 10/3/92, Berkeley, California
Kristin Luker, 5/6/97, Berkeley, California
Norman Mailer, 10/98, Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Erica Marcus, 2/5/86, Buffalo, New York
Isabel Marcus, 1/3/95, Buffalo, New York
Bob Martin, 10/98, Berkeley, California
Wendy Martin, 3/85, Berkeley, California
Valerie Miner, 5/17/86, Berkeley, California
Karen Paget, 10/5/98, Berkeley, California
Gail Pheterson, 6/92, Paris, France
Annie Popkin, 5/16/86, Berkeley, California
Vivian Rothstein, 6/24/89, 7/98, Los Angeles, California (telephone)
Vicki Ruiz, 10/98, Tempe, Arizona (e-mail)
Raquel Scherr, 7/96, Berkeley, California
Kitty Sklar, 5/97, Berkeley, California
Sala Steinbach, 1988 SDS Reunion
Mary Waters, 6/7/96, Seattle, Washington
Jean Weininger, 7/98, Berkeley, California
Leni Wildflower, 1988 SDS Reunion
Cathy Wilkerson, 1988 SDS Reunion
Honey Williams, 1988 SDS Reunion
Barbara Winslow, 6/95, North Carolina
Laura X, 8/28/97, Berkeley, California
ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley (BL)
Social Protest Collection
Special Collections Library, Duke University (DU)
Women’s Liberation Movement On-Line Archival Collection
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, Harvard University (SL)
Susan Bolotin Papers
Charlotte Bunch Papers
Betty Friedan Papers
Ms. Letters Collection
Pauli Murray Papers
Nancy Gray Osterud Papers
Marlene Sanders Collection
Women’s Liberation Files
Women’s Liberation Movement FBI Files
NOW Papers
Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS)
Kay Clarenbach Papers
Oral Histories of Women Leaders of the Midwest
Pamphlet Collection, Women’s History Archives, from Laura X’s Women’s History Library
New York University Tamiment Library (TL)
Women’s Liberation Collection
New Left Collection
Women and Labor Collection
Social Movement Collection
University of Wyoming (UWA)
Protest Files
Media Protest Files from Women’s History Health/Mental Health, Women and Law archives of Laura X’s Women’s
History Library Herstory Collection in Hard Copy
Northwestern University (NU)
The International Women’s History Periodical Archives. The microfilm of this archive is called Herstory. Web site: http://ncmdr.org
This collection was begun in 1969 by Laura Murra (later Laura X), who created the major international archive of the modern women’s movement.
Individual Collections
Todd Gitlin Personal Archives (TGPA)
Jo Freeman Personal Archives (JFPA)
Vivian Rothstein Personal Archives (VRPA)
Mary Waters Personal Archives (MWPA)
Author’s Personal Archives (APA)
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FURTHER READING AND RESEARCH
These works have helped inform my ideas and offer further suggestions for reading and research for those interested in specific subjects. This is by no means a comprehensive bibliography of the works I have consulted, and does not include the many archival sources and articles on which this book is based. It is arranged by the chapters as they appear in the book.
GENERAL WORKS
Some of the most influential and earliest histories of the women’s movement were Judith Hole and Ellen Levine, Rebirth of Feminism (New York: Quadrangle, 1971); Jo Freeman, The Women’s Liberation Movement: Its Aims, Structures, and Ideas (Pittsburgh: Know, 1971); Jo Freeman, The Politics of Women’s Liberation (New York: McKay, 1975); Maren Garden, The New Feminist Movement (New York: Russell Sage, 1974); and Leah Fritz, Dreamers and Dealers: An Intimate Appraisal of the Women’s Movement (Boston: Beacon, 1979). General histories that cover parts or all of this period are Winifred Wandersee, On the Move: American Women in the 1970�
�s (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988); William Chafe, The Unfinished Journey (New York: Oxford, 1995), The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic and Political Roles, 1920–1970 (New York: Oxford, 1972), and The Paradox of Change (New York: Oxford, 1991). More recent studies of the women’s movement include Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1968–1975 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988), which focuses on radical feminism; Flora Davis, Moving the Mountain: The Women’s Movement in America Since 1960 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), which includes a broader emphasis on legislation; Sheila Tobias, Faces of Feminism (New York: Westview, 1996), which focuses on sexual politics, the politics of backlash, and includes biographical material; Cassandra Langer, A Feminist Critique (New York: HarperCollins, 1996), which offers analyses of images and popular culture; Susan Brownmiller, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (New York: Dial, 1999); Susan Okin, Is Multicultural Bad For Women? (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999); Jo Freeman, A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000); and Harriot Woods, Stepping Up to Power (New York: Westview Press, 2000). Barbara Ryan, Feminism and the Women’s Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology and Activism (New York: Routledge, 1992), and Beth B. Hess, Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985), both approach the movement from a more sociological perspective, emphasizing social movement theory. Lauri Umansky, Motherhood Reconceived: Feminism and the Legacies of the 1960s (New York: New York University Press, 1996), emphasizes the issue of motherhood; Deborah Rhode, Justice and Gender (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), focuses on the law; Judith Grant, Fundamental Feminism: Contesting the Core Concepts of Feminist Theory (New York: Routledge, 1993), questions core concepts in feminism. Important books on political thought and feminism are Zillah Eisenstein, The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism (New York: Longman, 1981), and Susan Okin, Women in Western Political Thought (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979). Both Hester Eisenstein, Contemporary Feminist Thought (Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. 1983), and Linda Kauffman, ed., American Feminist Thought at Century’s End: A Reader (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1993), offer valuable intellectual histories.
Anthologies with primary documents, many of which are out of print, include Leslie Tanner, Voices of Women’s Liberation (New York: New American Library, 1970); Toni Cade, The Black Woman (New York: New American Library, 1970); Alma Garcia, Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings (New York: Routledge, 1997); Anne Koedt, Ellen Levine, and Anita Rapone, Radical Feminism (New York: Quadrangle, 1973); Robin Morgan, Sisterhood Is Powerful (New York: Vintage, 1970); Redstockings, Feminist Revolution (New York: Random House, 1975); Vivian Gornick and Barbara K. Moran, eds., Woman in Sexist Society (New York: Basic Books, 1971); Alice Rossi, ed., The Feminist Papers (New York: Columbia University Press, 1973); New York Radical Women, Notes from the First Year (New York: 1968); Notes from the Second Year (New York: Ace, 1970); Notes from the Third Year (New York: 1971); Evelyn Shapiro and Barry Shapiro, eds., The Women Say, The Men Say: Women’s Liberation and Men’s Consciousness (New York: Delta, 1979); Deborah Babcox and Madeline Belkin, eds., Liberation NOW: Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement (New York: Dell, 1971); Betty Roszak and Theodore Roszak, eds., Masculine/Feminine (New York: Harper and Row, 1969); Mary Lou Thompson, ed., Voices of the New Feminism (Boston: Beacon, 1970); and Miriam Schneir, ed., Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings (New York: Vintage, 1972). Three recent collections are Bonnie Watkins and Nina Tothchild, eds., In the Company of Women: Voices from the Women’s Movement (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997); Rachel Blau DuPlessix and Ann Snitow, eds., The Feminist Memoir Project (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998); and Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, eds., Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women’s Liberation Movement (New York: Basic, 2000).
Classic works of the first years that were widely read and debated include Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971); Jill Johnston, Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution (New York: Bantam, 1973); Kate Millett, Sexual Politics (New York: Doubleday, 1971); Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (New York: Bantam, 1970); Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born (New York: Norton, 1976); Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975); Caroline Bird, Born Female (New York: Bantam Books, 1969); Jessie Bernard, The Future of Marriage (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1968); Eva Figes, Patriarchal Attitudes (London: Faber, 1970); and Ti-Grace Atkinson, Amazon Odyssey (New York: Link, 1974). Celestine Ware’s Woman Power (New York: Tower, 1970) was the earliest book to challenge the new feminist movement to address racism. Norman Mailer’s Prisoner of Sex (New York: Primus, reprinted from 1971 edition) was probably the most important intellectual assault on the women’s movement. Some of the most important early novels were Alix Kates Shulman, Burning Questions (New York: Bantam, 1978); Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen (New York: Knopf, 1972); Sara Davidson, Loose Change (New York: Doubleday, 1977); and Erica Jong, Fear of Flying (New York: Signet, 1973). For other literature, see Lisa Maria Hogeland, Feminism and Its Fictions: The Consciousness-Raising Novel and the Women’s Liberation Movement (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1998).
Important memoirs by women activists offer an insider’s view of the movement. See Betty Friedan, It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women’s Movement (New York: Random House, 1976); Betty Friedan, Life So Far (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000); Daisy Bates, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, A Memoir (New York: McKay, 1962); Phyllis Chesler, Letter to a Young Feminist (New York: Four Walls, Eight Windows, 1997); Elaine Brown, A Taste of Power (New York: Pantheon, 1992); Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York: Dial Press, 1968); Robin Morgan, Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist (New York: Vintage, 1978); Angela Davis, Angela Davis: An Autobiography (New York: Random House, 1974); Assata Shakur, Assata (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1987); Erica Jong, Fear of Fifty (New York: HarperCollins, 1994); Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals (San Francisco: Spinsters, Ink, 1980); Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1983); and Revolution from Within (Boston: Little, Brown, 1992); Shirley Chisholm, Unbought and Unbossed (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1970).
CHAPTER ONE: DAWN OF DISCONTENT
For valuable literature on women’s experiences during World War II, see Susan M. Hartman, The Home Front and Beyond: American Women in the 1940’s (Boston: Twayne, 1982); Leila Rupp, Mobilizing Women for War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976); D’Ann Campbell, Women at War with America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984); Karen Anderson, Wartime Women (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981); Maureen Honey, Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender and Propaganda During World War II (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984); Ruth Milkman, Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex During World War II (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987); John Costello, Virtue Under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991); Jack Goodman, While You Were Gone: A Report on Wartime Life in the U.S. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946); Judy Barrett Litoff and David C. Smith, Since You Went Away: World War II Letters from American Women on the Homefront (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); Richard Lingeman, Don’t You Know There’s a War On? The American Homefront 1941–1946 (New York: Putnam, 1970); Doris Weatherford, American Women and World War II (New York: Facts on File, Oxford, 1990).
For general overviews of the fifties, see David Halberstam, The Fifties (New York: Villard Press, 1993); Douglas Miller and Marion Nowak, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were (New York: Doubleday, 1977); Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier (New York: Oxford, 1985); Eugenia Kaledin, Mothers and More: American Women in the 1950s (Boston: Twayne, 1984). Valuable works on adult women during the fifties include Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound (New York: Basic Books, 198
8); Andrew Cherlin, Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981); Benita Eisler, Private Lives: Men and Women of the Fifties (New York: Franklin Watts, 1986); Brett Harvey, The Fifties: A Women’s Oral History (New York: Harper, 1994); Albert Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (New York: Pocket Books, 1953); Ferdinand Lundberg and Marya Farnham, The Modern Woman: The Lost Sex (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1947); and Stephanie Coontz, The Way We Never Were (New York: Basic Books, 1992). Betty Friedan’s image of The Feminine Mystique (New York: Norton, 1963) is challenged by essays in Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945–1960 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994). Useful works on McCarthyism are David Caute, The Great Fear (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), and Ellen Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998). For women’s political engagement, see Leila Rupp, Surviving in the Doldrums (New York: Oxford, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993) and her pathbreaking essay, “The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War,” in Linda Kerber, Kathryn Sklar, and Alice Kessler-Harris, eds., U.S. History As Women’s History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996). The contributions of the Old Left to the women’s movement of the 1960s can be found in Kate Weigand, Vanguard of Women’s Liberation, dissertation, Ohio State University, 1995; in Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique: The American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999); and in Judith Adler Hennessee, Betty Friedan: Her Life (New York: Random House, 1999).
