Generations : a century of women speak about their lives / Myriam Miedzian and Alisa Malinovich.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miedzian, Myriam, author.

Malinovich, Alisa, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--United States--Social conditions.

Women.

Women--United States--Biography.

Women--United States--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (517 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, [1997]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

What are the differences in how your grandmother, your mother, and your daughter experience the world? Compare the story of your grandmother's first date with you mother's, your mother's volunteer work with your own career, your great-grandmother's education and expectations with those of a teen today. The women in this landmark work of oral history are from diverse ethnic, geographic, and social backgrounds, and they tell stories about all aspects of their lives, from their professional and romantic experiences to sex discrimination and their own realized or unrealized aspirations. The result is a dynamic and captivating portrait that all women will find themselves in, and a work which will stand as one of the lasting documents of century that very well may be remembered as the Women's Century. In recent decades volumes have been written on women's history and the effects the feminist movement has had on American culture. But something is missing from these accounts: how the reality and day-to-day texture of women's lives--whether or not they ever considered themselves "feminists"--have been transformed over the course of the twentieth century. As in the best oral history, the stories these women candidly tell are vivid and often poignantly detailed. We hear accounts of rural, chore-filled childhoods at the beginning of the century, of contemporary teens without curfews, of dates that began with a chat with father in the parlor, of the sexual liberation of the 1960s, of women who worked in factories during World War II, of those who were pioneers in their professions, and of women who today struggle heroically to balance the demands of marriage or single mothering, work, and children. Sweeping in scope, and yet rooted in the details, emotions, and dilemmas of everyday life, the journey women have traveled over the century here becomes all the

more dramatic, the transformation they have undergone all the more remarkable. Generations is a celebration of this transformation in all its complexity, an embracing and vibrant family scrapbook that belongs to all American women.

Contents:

Cover

Generations

Title Page

Copyright © 1997 by Myriam Miedzian and Alisa Malinovich

Acknowledgment

Dedication

Explanation of Book Layout

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Epigraph

I Never Knew We Were Poor

GROWING UP

Growing Up: The First Generation

Leave the Door Slightly Ajar

We Respected Our Elders

I Never Saw My Parents' Marriage Certificate

I Felt Very Sorry for My Mother

Everything Was So Segregated

How Could I Have Just Accepted It

Mining Towns Were Rough and Ready

The Path of Femininity

My Parents Were Professional Bridge Players

My, How We Danced

Growing Up: The Second Generation

The Jitterbug Was Very Popular

My Mother Was a Housewife

My Mother Would Say Gaman

We Were Very Aware of Being a Minority

It Was Like Going from Darkness to Daylight

Nice Guys and Not-Nice Guys

My Parents Dreamed a Big Dream

It Was 1960

Did You Ever See Panic in Needle Park?

I Was Nineteen, I Was a Hippie

Growing Up: The Third Generation

The Real Live Thing

This American Life

Would the Mother Please Stand

I Remember the Day My Dad Said He Was Leaving

Facades

I Kept Saying No

Dad, I'm a Lesbian, You Probably Knew

I Feel Very Close to Women

My Grandmother Raised Me to Cook and Clean

The Last Virgin on Flatbush Avenue

You Ought to Be My All and All

FAMILY

Family: The First Generation

The Second Marriage Was the Real Marriage, Except We Never Married

I Met My Husband at the LaGuardia Campaign

When The First Blade Of Grass Came Up, We Were Thrilled

A Wonderful Life

Men Always Made the Big Decisions

Women of My Generation Closed Their Eyes

I Always Had a Wild Temper

This Square That My Kids Thought I Was

Family: The Second Generation

You Never Realize How Much Work Is Involved.

My Generation Was Transitional

I Expanded

He Contracted

We Split Up

I Had Sex, Therefore I Must Be in Love

Maybe This Is Really What I Am?

Harder on the Marriage Than on the Children

It Has to Be a Shared Responsibility

It's Called Survival

I Could Not Live in a Traditional Setting

Family: The Third Generation

I Do Things Out of the Norm

I Didn't Know Normal Would Be So Tiring

Our Marriage Is Too Important to Fight over It

Day by Day

He Had to Have Total Control

Slapping Force

His Family Is One Way and Mine Is Another

Not the Kind of Life My Mother Had

How Did Someone Like You Get Elected?

WORK

Work: The First Generation

I Found It Very Difficult to Be Heard

I Have Done a Lot of Volunteer Work

A Hundred and Thirty-One Women and One Toilet

The War Brought Women Out of Their Homes

I Don't Know Why I Wanted to Be a Doctor

What a Rigamarole

Work: The Second Generation

You Are Like a Little Wife at Work

I Never Planned a Career

I Don't Believe in Being a Crutch

I Believe in Assisting

I See Horrible Callousness

I've Never, Never Worn Pants to Teach

My Mother Said You Should Be Equipped to Do Something

They Don't Care about the Little Guy

Why Are You Doing That Kind of Work?

I'm a Fourth-Generation Priest

Second-Class Citizen

Work: The Third Generation

I Run the Paver

I Spread the Blacktop

What's Happening

A Dream Job

The Girls Don't Stand for It

I Always Loved the Hospital

A Matter of Choosing

You Made Law Review

Creative Ways

Back Cover.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

OCLC:

948036841