Public Women, Public Words

Keetley and Pettegrew have produced a thoughtful and thorough reader containing 115 excerpts and texts on feminism in the US from 1960 through 1997. * Reference and Research Book News *
Imaginatively selected and introduced with richly suggestive essays, this collection sets a new standard for documentary collections on the history of U.S. feminism. -- Daniel Horowitz, author of Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique
This third volume of Public Women, Public Words provides an impressive documentary history of feminism in the last four decades of the last century. The editors provide insightful essays highlighting the significant developments in feminist theory, political, and legal actions across numerous stages and voices of the feminist movement. Their judicious choice of documents includes legal briefs, personal stories, and significant theoretical analyses that will resonate in the memories of older women active in the movement, and provide vicarious experiences for younger readers. -- Alice S. Rossi, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
This is a tremendous book, not in its size alone but in the scope of materials it makes available. From Betty Friedan’s 'problem without a name' to punkgrrrls of the late '90s, from widely reprinted classic statements like that of the Combahee River Collective to insightful but rarely available reflections like Ellen DuBois’s on why women’s suffrage seemed such an important and radical struggle to her, the collection offers a rich diversity of possibilities for classroom consideration. Reading feminist writers in their own words provides a lively and indispensable complement to reading about them, and this compendium makes it easy to do. -- Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Recommended. * CHOICE *
An invaluable one-stop shop for original texts that explore the conflict and consensus in the evolving definition of feminism and the practical impact these ideas have had in contemporary society. -- Harriett Woods, former president, National Women's Political Caucus