Book Description

A Chinese American woman tells of the Chinese myths, family stories and events of her California childhood that have shaped her identity. ... Read more

Reviews (153)

Wonderful Book for Older Readers
Although Maxine Hong Kingston does jump around from chapter to chapter (which seems to confuse most), she does a great job at explaining her life growing up as a Chinese-American. I can really relate to some of the aspects of the books. Kingston recalls constantly being filled with ridiculous stories. These stories, though, become a part of who she is and what she believes. The sub-title of the book, "Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts", explains a lot of what the author has to deal with. She has to deal with hearing that her friends and her are ghosts, because they are American. All of the people that surrounded Kingston's family were ghosts, except for the Chinese people who lived on the Gold Mountain, Chinatown in San Francisco. The children's teachers and coaches were ghosts. Kingston feels like a ghost herself: "...we had been born amonth ghosts, were taught by ghosts, and were ourselves ghost-like. They called us a kind of ghost."

This book is truely a page turner. There's always something to learn or laugh about in each turn. Wonderful book.

HOW TO GAIN PITY
Kingston, with her novel about misplaced and awkward lives in society, uses the first person narrative to make the reader understand the problems and opinions of herself, and the way she sees the world. A story about a Chinese girl lost and confused in a new culture, The Woman Warrior has very strong and savage views. These opinions are only enhanced by the first person, and give a greater impact to the message. Slightly disturbed and greatly angered by unfain treatment, Kingston's book is a rather hateful one. She uses strong words, blunt remarks, and subliminal messages to give the reader a feeling that she is simply lost in a world full of hallow ghosts. Throughout the entire novel she portrays herself as the victim, in an attempt to gain the reader's pity. A sad reflection of her own life, The Woman Warrior is truly a novel about a lost soul in an unfamiliar place.

One would first assume Kingston to be a very bitter person, but her strong opinions are formed by the society she lives in. An old Chinese saying, "Better to raise geese than girls," (pg. 46), angers Kingston as a child. Her entire lifestyle and culture, American and Chinese, revolves around the concept of male dominance. Throughout the book the reader sees the cynical hatred Kingston holds for anyone who who does not sympathize with her race and gender; even by writing this book she asks for the pity of others. Such an example can be found when Brave Orchid (Kingston's mother) and Moon Orchid (Kingston's aunt), set out to avenge the marriage of Moon Orchid's husband and new wife. It is not only the cultural differences which set the awkwardness of the confrontation, but Kingston's mother's rage against the weak, (a trait later found in Kingston), which make this argument concerning divorse troublesome. Moon Orchid is shy and afraid, while Brave Orchid, anger fuled by Moon Orchid's timidness and her own extreamly feminist views, demands that she reclaim her title as wife. By the way Kingston words and retells her mother's expiriances, the reader understands the implied message that it is the husband who divorced who is evil, and the shy female who is right; this makes the first person narrative effective in that the reader sees the very strong emotions felt by Kingston and her mother. THe first person is also used to create bias opinions and exagerated comments, such as with Moon Orchid's "animalistic" children. Seen as lying, rude, vain, and selfish, the harsh words of Kingston try to make the reader think the children really are so selfish and evil, when infact it is only a misunderstood cultural difference. By being in the first person, the reader sees the opinions of Kingston, and must try to formulate what is truth and what is exagerated. Kingston, her own views tainted and twisted by society's treatment, uses the first person point of view very well to try to gain the sympathy of the reader.

Well written and very vague, this book leaves the reader searching for the truth rather than Kingston's bias views. Slightly disturbed, she is able to claim the pity of her readers by displaying herself as a victim of racial and cultural differences, and the rest of the world as mindless and uncaring drones. With the first person narrative, she can turn the reader's opinion to fit her own. She very effectivly gain's the readers pity.

Trailblazer
I'm astonished to read so many virulently negative reviews. I read this book just after it came out, as a high-school student, and loved it for the strength of the writing and the vivid images, also the mix of fantasy and reality.

I do recall being a bit surprised at her anger, but up until then the only stories of Chinese-American girlhood that were available (all one or two of them, I think; this was the mid-70s) portrayed very dutiful, very quiet, very "good" girls. So this was an eye-opener and a stereotype buster, and should be welcomed for that. We have to remember that this was written nearly 30 years ago, when the whole multi-cultural debate was really just getting going; perhaps some things in it would be different now. But the trailblazers in any society often have to be angry to get their messages heard -- and taken seriously. And people like Maxine Hong Kingston laid the foundations that allowed literature by people like Amy Tan to be published. She deserves credit for this.

I can definitely see that aspects of the book could be annoying to Asian-Americans who find people taking this as gospel about Chinese culture, though.

But I'd also like to suggest that some of the negative responses might also come from people uneasy with the idea that non-white people are angry about the racism they've experienced in the United States. It's easy to think this anger is exaggerated if you've never experienced racism.

women warrior
The book by Maxine Kinston is based on five different stories about different Chinese women. The novel is filled with Chinese folktales and culture. This is a story that one as a Chinese or any other culture could relate to because throughout the novel shows ancestry and tales about myths and legends. The novel will take you through stories of deception and haunt that is told through the eyes of Kingston herself. Starting with long lost aunts followed by so-called ghost warriors and ending with stories about her mother's life back in china; this book will keep you reading until the end. I recommend this story to anyone who is interested in story tale and culture of a different sort, that of Chinese. I enjoyed reading the novel myself and it kept me reading in interest on the twist and turns of Kingston's life.

Interesting Chinese-American Read
I enjoyed reading the fictional tale Warrior Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston. I think anyone who likes to see how other cultures live and relate to one another will enjoy this story. Readers who enjoy fantasy type stories will also enjoy this book, because it is rich in both types of story telling. After reading the novel, I can appreciate Chinese culture more, and although I usually shy away from fantasy stories and novels, the sections dealing with fantastic themes drew me in. In the story White Tigers, I was attempted to skip pages until the end of the section, but somehow I kept reading the story and I became more involved in it. When I realized the story was being told to empower Chinese women, it gave the whole fantasy a new meaning to me. Women at the time of the story held little value in Chinese society. Girls grow up, go away, and leave their aged parents, but boys were expected to stay with the parents along with their wives to care for their elderly parents.
The story No Name Woman disturbed me as I read. No name woman was the narrator's aunt. The aunt became No Name Woman after her family disowned her for committing adultery and becoming pregnant. The aunt would never name the father, so he could bear in her shame. What bothered me most about this section is not so much that the father escaped punishment, although that bothered me too, but the total lack of forgiveness from the family. Because of this total lack of family forgiveness, this young woman killed herself and her newborn. How terribly sad!
Although the Chinese society seemed to value family and a tradition, I found it highly curious that they could not speak about sex at all and they went to great lengths to avoid even family intimacy. Kingston describes how family members in China shout into each other's faces and yell at each other across the room. At mealtimes, which is a sort of intimate family time, no one talks.
I found the section At the Western Place intriguing. I am aware that there are many immigrants who come to the United States to make a better life for themselves, many times leaving families behind until they can establish themselves. When I read how Moon Orchid had been waiting for her husband for over 30 years and he never returned, instead establishing a new family in the United States, to say I was taken back, is expressing my reaction mildly. Moon Orchid did not seem to mind the arrangement though. Could it have been because she was well provided for financially without the obligation of carrying out wifely duties? Perhaps she enjoyed the prestige of being a married woman. Whatever her reasons, I felt so sorry for her after her sister Brave Orchid forced a confrontation between the estranged spouses. Moon Orchid was devastated by the encounter and was never the same afterwards. Something intangible and innocent within her was forever altered.
I would recommend that this book be read in a thoughtful and serious manner, although the narrative is by no means heavy or serious, but the characters themselves as interesting as well as being a complex mixture of clashes between their own culture and their assimilation to American culture. There are marked differences between the struggles of the young people and the struggles of the older people and how both groups try to fit into the new society while holding onto parts of traditional Chinese culture. I found The Warrior Woman a good read. ... Read more

Book Description

Allan and Barbara Pease have taken the world by storm with their revealing findings on the battle of the sexes. Their most recent eye-opener, Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps, was snapped up by more than eight million readers around the globe. But the battle still rages on.

Their new book takes up where the first left off, and examines the perplexing problems that keep the sexes from understanding each other. Using new findings on the brain, studies of social changes, evolutionary biology, and psychology, Barbara and Allan Pease highlight the differences in the way men and women think and act, examining topics of perennial interest to both sexes, including:

*Why men avoid commitment
*The differences between women’s nagging and men’s griping
*The top seven things men do that drive women crazy
*Why women resort to emotional blackmail
*The top turn-ons and turn-offs for both sexes

Laced with the Peases’ no-holds-barred humor, Why Men Don’t Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes addresses a host of nitty-gritty battle grounds as well, from channel surfing and toilet seats to shopping and communication. Quizzes for determining who’s racking up more points (a.k.a. contributing more to the relationship) are also included.

Already a #1 bestseller in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Holland, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, France, Czech Republic, India, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, Why Men Don’t Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes is the universal solution to understanding the opposite sex.

Reviews (8)

Great read for teens, singles and couples
WOW this book pulls back the curtains and communicates plainly about the causes of the communication conflicts between men and women. This tells why the troubles happen and how to work around the majority of the pit falls. Teens and singles need to read this book to save them selves much future misunderstanding and hurt. Married couples need to read this book to prevent the same old arguments, hurt each other less and understand the partner better. Love can flow best when those giving and receiving are on the same wave length.

THESE GUYS NEED MORE CLUES AND SHOES!!!
WHY MEN DON'T HAVE A CLUE AND WOMEN ALWAYS NEED MORE SHOES is better than most dating books because writers Barbara and Allan Pease did a lot of research before they wrote it. The best parts of the book are the sections where they post results of their studies about what physical characteristics attract the opposite sex. The only flaw in their list is when they rate faces as being less important than physiques, when scientific research has concluded the opposite. (See Nancy Etcoff's SURVIVAL OF THE PRETTIEST.) Mr. and Mrs. Pease then lose all their remaining credibility when then say people choose personality as being more important than looks, which isn't supported by scientific studies.

This is an entertaining book because of the way its put together, with lots of practical research about how to impress people by improving your appearance and habits.

Chari Krishnan RESEARCHKING

might be OK for total know-nothings
The basic attempt with this book was to use sex differences - which are all the rage these days - to make a relationships self-help book. The self-help stuff requires the usual and worn-to-death case studies of couples, followed by nice/neat explanations showing us just how simple all this really is, while the sex differences material requires a more expository approach, discussing the latest in brain research, etc. The net result is that instead of being coherent, the book comes across as being schizo, like it can't decide which kind of book it really wants to be. Or maybe the two different authors wrote different chapters. In other words, some of the book is good, a lot of it is so-so, and the rest not so great. At times it's even ridiculous.

The sex differences stuff is so watered down and simple-minded as to be virtually ludicrous (not to mention useless). Men are one-track minded hunters and women are caring/nurtering gatherers in this black and white universe. Consequently, they're able to give simple and definite answers to nuanced questions and situations which are, of course, a little more complicated than they'd like to think.

In spite of a page in the intro making one think the authors are sympathetic to men, the net portrayal is of belching, farting, dirty-joke telling louts who won't put the toilet seat down, ask for directions, or let go of the TV remote - just like in any sitcom. There's even a section on "retraining your man". The section on lieing starts out by assuring us men and women lie in equal amounts, but then devolves into illustrating all the ways men lie to women. I suppose we could have guessed from the cover being 70% pink that this book was mostly aimed at a female audience and therefore needs to constantly remind them how superior they are to men. And there's some misleading info on how much men need/want women, for example it's stated without qualification that any/all sex for men is good, though I can assure the authors that most men know very well the difference between good and bad sex, and all the shades between.

I found annoying all the plugs and mentions scatterd thru the text of the authors' previous book. Also annoying were sentences that I'd just read repeated in bold type in between paragraphs, like I'd missed them the first time; though sometimes these bold face bits have quotes or not-too-funny jokes. Altogether this wasn't a very good book. Maybe 2 1/2 stars max.

This book helped me!
I like this book and felt there was a lot of truth in what is written about men and women. This book could have been written about my husband! I fit the profile too, and it made me think about how I come across to others. And now that I have read this book I am can understand why we have had so many hassles in the past. The whole time I was reading the book I was nodding my head in agreement, or laughing at the jokes. Everyone should read this at least once in their lifetime.

Wow. Run don't walk to buy this book...
I read the authors' amazing previous book WHY MEN DON'T LISTEN AND WOEMN CAN'T READ MAPS and that book saved my marriage. I have been eagerly waiting for their next book and it hasn't disappointed...it's just as evocative, insightful and instrumental in revealing the differences between the sexes, and why men do all of the annoying things women think they do, and vice versa...there's no sexism here, it's dished out in equal measure. You will find yourself laughing out loud, but most of all realising how to make the right changes to have the best possible relationship you can with your partner, husband, wife, father, brother, mother. Enjoy...I can't wait for their next book! Thank you!! ... Read more

Book Description

With A WOMAN'S WORTH, Marianne Williamson turns her charismatic voice--and the same empowering, spiritually enlightening wisdom that energized her landmark work, A RETURN TO LOVE-- to exploring the crucial role of women in the world today. Drawing deeply and candidly on her own experiences, the author illuminates her thought-provoking positions on such issues as beauty and age, relationships and sex, children and careers, and the reassurance and reassertion of the feminine in a patriarchal society. Cutting across class, race, religion, and gender, A WOMAN'S WORTH speaks powerfully and persuasively to a generation in need of healing, and in search of harmony.
... Read more

Reviews (34)

FANTASTIC BOOK: HONORS FEMININE BEAUTY!
Here's a book that guides women back to their true essence.

The Goddess within every woman is embraced, honored and adored in A Woman's Worth. If we ever doubted the feminine beauty, Marianne Williamson passionately weaves a modern mystical tale reminding us of Her necessity.

In countless ways she gives testimony to the love and goodness all women can provide the world. It is the feminine in all of us that brings the finer subtleties to life fulfilling what Nature craves. It is the responsibility of men and women alike to balance our masculine communities, our masculine governments, our masculine ways. It is through our own gracefulness that we attune ourselves to the highest good.

Throughout her passionate commentary of her own life and the lives' of women, Marianne teaches how to embrace all that is feminine. From chapters Glorious Queens and Slavegirls to The Castle Walls, her personal, intuitive insights move all of us to cultivate that which is pure in our being. In order to develop the Goddess within, appreciation is given to the necessity of pain in our lives while the importance of forgiveness, patience, and understanding is encouraged. At any stage in our personal development journey all can benefit from Marianne's conversational and uplifting prose.

Finally, this is the book that will take you to higher plains in your development.

Very Powerful Insight!
This book reminds you of your greatness as a woman. Reminding you that it is okay to do well and be the best you can be and the goddess you were born to be! This is a spiritual journey into our self-realization as woman. A book not just for women but also for men who wish to acknowledge their feminine powers of intuition, passion, healing, nurturing. The author's insight is insightful and encircling and she has an extraordinary was to actualize the women's roles in family, society, relationship and just the being. This is a book nobody should miss and one you purchase two for. To keep one and to pass the other to a friend.

This book changed my life...
Marianne Williamson puts forth in this beautiful book, what we all know. Deep down in the bottom of our soul, we know that we're here for a purpose. We know that God created us and that for centuries we have been silenced, denigrated and devalued. Yes, we know we are powerful, but many of us have forgotten.
Read this book and remember. And then buy one for your sister, your best friend, your mother and your daughter.

A beautiful treatise on woman
The heart of a woman lies, according to Marianne, in the secret interior of the heart. She talks a lot about the body and mind, and how they come together to form the feelings we have had about each other, and as human beings, to our sexual spirits and ideals.

Her diverse iconography of language in this wonderfully written book divests to us the true beauty of a woman. Naked, powerful, unfathomable. With her distinct breath, a woman reveals her instinct as a Goddess and as a spiritual animal, capable of both honoring the goddess and loving her sensibility.

The religion she refers to (in the book as in A Return to Love) is a mainly Judeo-Christian one, one also bound to be a fatigue to most readers interested in the spirit. I say this with clarity, because I came from the religion she talks about, and it is a very sad religion, because it takes away women's power over their bodies, and ultimately, truth. I think she uses words like God and King and Heaven to illustrate her point of view, and not name any one point or place or whatever. It's her choice of words that may throw some people off, but in the end, you will see an immaculate dialogue forming between the characters in her mythical tale and her worldview of the reality of how little woman's bodily nature has been revered, and how decimated she has become, because of this.

I hope you will read this book! It's a wonderful work about women who are searching for answers on how to live fully, openly gracious, and more considerate of those around them. If you like this please buy her other treatise on love, "A Return to Love".

A great gem
Marrianne Williamson's work is both real and honest. Rather than couch things in a concepts that are alien or extremely religious, she talks to you about the realities of existing. Of how things will not always be easy, about how you will lose your way, and honestly how to see people clearly. Growth is messy, it's not neat, maturity is not easy, nor is spirtiuality delicate work, but with assistance from a tape like this you can see yourself clearly and how to bridge yourself from concept to human to spiritual being. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides a balanced approach to gender study- providing research related to both men and women's issues and encouraging critical thinking about topics that are relevant to all people. This book examines the topic of gender - the behaviors and attitudes that relate (but are not entirely congruent with) biological sex.Research and scholarship form the basis of this book, providing the material for a critical review and an attempt at an overall picture of gender from a psychological perspective. To accent the relevance of research findings in vivid detail, Brannon supplements the review of scholarly research with personal, narrative accounts of gender-relevant aspects of people's lives as well as highlights from a cross-cultural perspective of gender. The personal narrative and diversity highlights help to balance the research-based scholarship with the personal experience of gender. For anyone with an interest in gender studies. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Bla Bla Bla
This book is possibly the worst I have read in a long time. It blabs on making inane points with specific examples that justify the exact inane point. It even says "science" was started in Europe in the 16th century...um sure... The According to the Media and According to the Research sections are rediculous. The author's own personal bias towards physchology is more easily seen than say Michael Moore's bias towards America in Stupid White Men. This book is a waste of your time. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Each of the extraordinary portraits made by photographer Annie Leibovitz for her book Women stands on its own. Looked at together, these "photographs of people with nothing more in common than that they are women (and living in America at the end of the twentieth century), all--well almost all--fully clothed," writes Susan Sontag in the book's preface, form "an anthology of destinies and disabilities and new possibilities." Leibovitz, who in her years working for Rolling Stone, Vogue, and Vanity Fair magazines has photographed hundreds of celebrities, turns her lens on a wide range of ordinary and extraordinary female subjects: coal miners, socialites, first ladies, artists, domestic-violence victims, an astronaut, a surgeon, a maid. What she creates is a reflection of contemporary American womanhood that mirrors both women's accomplishments and the challenges they still face individually and as a group.

Leibovitz demonstrates her own range as a photographer in this body of work, shooting in the studio and natural settings and working in both black-and-white and color film. She depicts model Jerry Hall wearing a little black dress, a fur coat, and high heels, staring frankly at the viewer from a velvet chair in a plush red parlor while her naked infant son nurses from her exposed right breast. Schoolteacher Lamis Srour's eyes--the only part of her face visible behind her heavy black veil--illuminate a dark black-and-white portrait. Leibovitz frames actress Elizabeth Taylor and her dog Sugar by their shocks of snow-white hair. She captures four Kilgore College Rangerettes, a drill team, at the apex of their kicks--white-booted legs pointing up, obscuring their faces and revealing the red underpants beneath their blue miniskirts. There are many more wonderful and unexpected images here, over 200 in all. The delight in discovering them awaits readers. --Jordana Moskowitz ... Read more

Reviews (42)

I'm not Thomas, I'm his daughter, he used my computer to ord
er from Amazon and Now His Name is Stuck on My Account

So much for a title.

Annie Leibovitz's book requires no words. Sorry, Susan, I didn't read your text. The best way to enjoy Annie's photos is to set aside your search for a defining message about women. There isn't one. Women are varied creatures just like the rest of humanity and nature.

Don't you just love looking at them? Don't wish you could get a closer look? Don't you wish the interesting one's would stand in just the right light so you could get a better look? Didn't you always think Hillary C. was beautiful, but you didn't know why?

Thank you Annie Leibovitz for taking the interesting women and standing them in a beautiful light and binding them in a huge book so we can stand and stare as long as we want.

Enough said.

Image as Everywoman
Fiction is my preference when writing book reviews, because I love the complexity of words, stories, and the vagaries of human nature with its endless permutations. But when I received Leibovitz's astonishing compilation of photographs as a gift, I thought I might attempt an impression of page after page of females, as seen through the professional eye of one of the most important photographers of our generation.

Who has not gazed in awe at Leibovitz's unusual perspective, the beautiful made even more so? But I want real women with wrinkles and dirt under their fingernails, the kind of women overlooked in the rush to worship human perfection. I want to see if there is a balance, not just the too thin, too gorgeous, too self-indulgent. In that regard, I believe Women contains a preponderance of well-groomed elegance, albeit impressive, for instance a breathtaking portrait of Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother, Blythe Danner. This particular image contrasts a young woman in the blush of her feminine power with the graceful progression of years that adds to a woman's complex attraction. To be sure, there are folios of celebrities, socialites, all those who live in the rarified strata of entitlement.

While not as numerous, the presentation of real women like me, those who inhabit my world, are so powerful as to diminish the bland compositions of society's darlings. The studies of abused women jump off the pages, eyes glazed, the immediacy of domestic violence tattooing their faces, staring into a future devoid of hope; a remarkably insightful photograph of Ellen DeGeneris, virtually unrecognizable under a layer of cracked white greasepaint; two pre-adolescent girls in the back of a pickup truck, displaying a row of leggy blonde Barbie's, with Ken in a faux high school letter jacket, his plastic Prom Queen sporting a crown atop hair that cascades down the length of her body; three young Latino women glare accusingly at the lens, displaying gang colors with pride, ambiguously dangerous; the lines of age score lived-in faces, eyes shadowed by years of struggle, etched finally by the exhaustion of daily survival. For me, these pictures contain the essence of womanhood, untainted by ubiquitous vanities.

In all, Leibovitz "sees" these women, their strengths, frailties and vulnerabilities. This series of images is a walk through the multi-hued, textured world of women, esoteric, generous, often brutally honest and unflinching. Luan Gaines/2004.

A moving and exceptional book
This is definately my favorite book, and one I enjoy giving to special women friends. Annie Leibowitz has managed to capture the full spectrum of women, from the subdued and simple to the succesful and sophisticated. It is a moving book and a celebration to women's individuality and uniqueness. I warmly recommend it.

Just a name
Although the idea of this book is worthwhile, I am amazed to find so many of the images out of focus. She is supposed to be a fine photographer, but maybe it is this title that has allowed her to feel okay with displaying such poor examples of portraits. It seems she rushed through the work just to get the book published as I don't sense that she put too much heart into the work.

Very Enlightening
I loved the book "Women," this book not only gave information on what all these amazing women do for a living, but it showed the pictures of them at work. A lovely tribute to WOMEN all over the world! ... Read more

Book Description

Hailed by readers and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age eighteen that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs with men as diverse as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky; her association with the Communist Party; her absorption in Mexican folklore and culture; and her dramatic love of spectacle.

Here is the tumultuous life of an extraordinary twentieth-century woman -- with illustrations as rich and haunting as her legend.

Reviews (21)

The Best Book on Frida Kahlo
One cannot live in the modern world without regularly encountering self-portrait images of the beautiful and tragic Frida Kahlo. Whether on coffee mugs, t-shirts, posters, or Mexican artifacts, Frida's exquisite face with its darkly joined eyebrows and beribboned hair is immediately familiar to most observers, even if they do not know who she was. Yet Frida Kahlo's popularity in the twentieth century can be wholly attributed to her brilliance. Unlike the work of most modern artists, almost all of her 200 paintings depict realist, surrealist, and primitive self-portraits symbolizing the concerns and agonies of her life. Hayden Herrera's fine biography is still, seventeen years after its publication, the champion text on one of the most important, original, and phenomenal painters of our time.

Frida was born in 1910 (the year the Mexican Revolution began)to a Mexican mother and German father in the same cobalt blue house in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City, where she later worked and shared her life with the great muralist Diego Rivera. Ironically, it is the house where her life also ended. Today it is a museum, open to the public and still festooned with her beautiful collections of retablos, pottery, and Mexican folk art. Frida's life was consumed by pain as a result of suffering polio at age 6 and a bus/trolley collision as a teenager when, thrown from the bus, she was gored by a steel rail. Frida spent most years of her life bedridden and in body casts (which she also painted)after some 30 surgeries meant to alleviate her suffering. Throughout her life,and even while prone in a bed with a mirrored canopy, she painted herself because of the focus created by chronic pain and said, "I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone." Her self-portraits suggest deep meanings as her face is always encircled with images derived from her physical and psychological life. The paintings are vibrant and, typical of many of her women contemporaries' works, tiny.

Hayden Herrera's book presents a comprehensive life study of the great artist, incorporating photographs, diaries, letters, painting reproductions, eye witness accounts, and local history and politics in the most readable, enjoyable, intelligent work available. An art historian, Ms. Herrera is thoroughly knowledgeable and writes beautifully, as well. One will be as engrossed by this book as by any great novel. Her work convincingly recreates the scenes from Frida's life and populates them with important contemporaries Frida knew and loved, including Andre Breton, Leon Trotsky, Tina Modotti, Pablo Picasso, and, of course, her own Diego Rivera who called her the greatest painter of our time.

There isn't a more engaging biography available about Frida Kahlo (in second place is Herrera's other text, Frida Kahlo:The Paintings), and one need not be an art student to be enthralled by this work. Ms. Herrera's compassionate, energetic account will capture anyone who wonders just what Frida Kahlo was like--her inspirations, occupations, and truly vivacious approach to her one very painful and amazingly productive life.

Thanks to this book, I discovered Frida!
It was thanks to this wonderful book that I discovered Frida Kahlo, who is now my heroine. I have read many books about her, but this is absolutely the best one. It made me laugh - and weep, too, because I could really feel Frida`s pain in my own body...
Today I am probably Sweden`s biggest Frida - fan, and I drive everybody crazy talking about her all the time! Thanks to her, I have started to paint and draw a lot, I dare to wear crazy clothes - and I dare to be my self.
Thank you, Hayden Herrera, for writing such a great book...

Complete and Complex Like Frida
Hayden Herrera has written an excellent portrait of the great artist Frida Kahlo, complete in thought and tender in describing a woman well lived.

Frida Kahlo is the ultimate survivor and represents women for their strength, tenderness, fierceness and suffering compassion. She lived during a time when women had few rights, especially Mexican women, she faced the dreadfulness of the Mexican Revolution in her early years, a bout with polio, a horrible bus accident that attempted to cripple her for life, an often unfaithful husband, criticism of her dreams, activism, accused Communism and many exciting adventures in life. She lived a true artistic life and her paintings represent the complicated nature of her inner soul. She loved hard and fought often, for her rights, her dreams and her man. While bed-ridden and suffering in the severest of agony she taught herself to paint, her body encased in a huge white cast, she painted to survive and reached the other end with a unique perspective on art. Her life and home were surrounded with color, a rainbow that never needed the promise of something golden at the end. She danced her own rhythm and never stopped walking her own path. This is a woman to be admired!

Herrera does an excellent job as the biographer of this phenomenally complicated woman. Her research is thorough and her suggestions entirely believable. You will be transported back in time into the life of a controversial woman who deserves every ounce of recognition that Herrera has given us.

A thorough rendering of an artist's life
This biography is a complete, engaging 440-page effort of sheer reportage. Herrera, an art historian and curator, has also written a book on Kahlo's art, and books on Mary Frank and Matisse, and you can see evidence of her thoroughness on every page. The book traces Kahlo's life by setting up the lives of her parents (her father was an Austrian immigrant to Mexico) all the way to her death and funeral with great detail. As Herrera follows the path of Kahlo's life, she includes letters to and from Kahlo, Kahlo's journal excerpts (illustrations, words and poems) and explicates Kahlo's art as it becomes relevant to the storyline of her life, either because paintings were done around the time of narrative points or because they illustrate incidents or themes in Kahlo's life. There are two color-plate sections and two black-and-white photo/painting sections to which the reader may refer.

Frida's life is certainly compelling, and Herrera doesn't need to resort to emotional language or hyperbole to make her interesting -- and, thankfully, she doesn't. The narrative is quite matter-of-fact, and illustrated with the subjects' own words, one feels that one can get to know Frida, and her husband, Diego Rivera, pretty well, for being somewhat removed from them (at least I feel that way living in the twenty-first century in Arkansas). The book incorporates the commonly known facts of Frida's life -- her devastating tram accident as a high-schooler in which she was impaled on a shaft of metal handrail, her turbulent and deep connection with and TWO subsequent marriages to Diego Rivera, her Mexicanista loyalties and sensibilities, her affair with Trotsky, her personal flamboyance and her great talent -- with the over-arching idea of Frida's alegría -- or happiness, joy -- in the face of her many hardships. As one of her friends said, Frida was a woman who "lived dying." Her many health problems and her problematic and sometimes painful relationship with Rivera were great obstacles to her, but her flamboyant alegría appears throughout her life as a constant, a will to enjoy, to overcome.

I think what the book offers most is Frida's personality, explicated as carefully and well as the paintings, and the effort helps inform the viewer's assessment and response to her work. Using Kahlo's own words often, Herrera allows Frida to tell us herself her reactions to incidents, events, her successes, her health problems.

She writes to her dear friend and medical adviser, Dr. Eloesser, in the United States when she is struggling with the decision to amputate her increasingly problematic foot: "My dearest Doctorcito: [The doctors] are driving me crazy and making me desperate. What should I do? It is as if I am being turned into an idiot and I am very tired of this f---ing foot and I would like to be painting and not worrying about so many problems. But, it can't be helped, I have to be miserable until the situation is resolved..."

This passage is emblematic of Kahlo, mixing her crass language with her charming endearments to her friends, her concern for her health and her resignation to the situation, "it can't be helped..." She often curses, refers to her reader as "kid" and to money as "dough," in English.

Herrera points out points at which Kahlo is not completely forthcoming with truthful details, for instance her age, the length of time she spent hospitalized at various stages, and her changing view on whether she was a Surrealist painter or not. She also illustrates Kahlo's changes in terms of the political situation of the international Communist party, her views about Trotsky, and her public vs. private comments on Diego's never-ending philandering.

In a book on Kahlo, these life details are relevant to her art because her art is confessional and personal. She's a "Sylvia Plath" of painting and mines her life and emotions for subjects until the end. Not long before she died, she had resolved her priorities, telling a friend, "I only want three things in life: to live with Diego, to continue painting, and to belong to the Communist party."

The people around her were deeply important to Frida Kahlo, and to the end of her life, she adored her friends, wrote winning and charming, caring notes to them, and wanted them around her at the end. Her love of others plays itself out in her political beliefs; she toured the world as an artist, but she drew her subjects and methods from Mexicanista traditions, and popular as well as pre-Columbian culture. Her personal illustrations are appealing because of that understanding of others, and Herrera's sound biography renders Kahlo's work and life even more poignant and remarkable. It's a good book. I recommend it.

(I do wish that this book had Frida Kahlo's own art or a photo of her on the cover, rather than a photo of Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo.)

Frida Kahlo is Alive and Well
The greatest compliment one could offer a biographer is that she has brought to life her subject with honesty and insight. Well, I offer this compliment to Hayden Herrera. It is supreme understatement for me to observe that the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, was a complex person filled with great contradictions. Yet, through liberal use of Frida's letters coupled with Herrera's own insightful analysis of her painting, "Frida" brings this great artist to life for us to bask in her brilliance, energy and strength. "Frida" is one of the most remarkable, illuminating and fulfilling biographies I have ever read. I highly recommend this magnificent book. ... Read more

Book Description

What is the most baffling period in our lives? Not childhood, not old age, but the decades of our forties and fifties, the period now generously known as middle age. It's both an occasion for regret and an opportunity for coming to terms, the moment when we come up against our limits and discover -- for better and worse -- who we are.

My Life in the Middle Ages is a portrait of what that unnerving experience is like. A collection of unified essays about the pleasures and pathos that attend the threshold of old age, it charts an original course between reportage and confession. Drawn from the author's own life, from the testimony of parents, children, teachers, and friends, from the books he's read and the life that he chose -- and that chose him -- My Life in the Middle Ages is a comic, poignant memoir that's both personal and generational.

Whether he is struggling with God (or trying to find out if he believes in one), celebrating the books he's loved and regretting those he'll never read, or leafing through the snapshots in his family album and marveling at the passage of time, James Atlas is always alert to the surprises of everyday life. He parses the fine points of success and failure among New York's "lower upper-middle class" (several of the chapters began as essays in The New Yorker) and expresses the largest themes: "I tried to remind myself that death was a part of life. I was here, then I wouldn't be here."

Atlas writes movingly about watching his parents age and his father die. In a wry and soul-searching piece, he recounts his perplexing quest for spiritual meaning after a secular lifetime, a quest that takes him to a private synagogue and a Buddhist meditation center. On the tennis court, he ruefully capitulates to his teenage son's blossoming athletic prowess, recalling a similar passing of the torch with his own father forty years earlier.

At once pensive and funny, lighthearted and profound, My Life in the Middle Ages is a tale of survival, but also a meditation on how it feels to flourish -- how to live.

Reviews (3)

A THOUGHTFUL READING BY THE AUTHOR

Age isn't any barrier to finding enjoyment and information in listening to "My Life In The Middle Ages" as read by the author.Former editor for the New York Times Book Review, Atlas has an impressive resume', which includes founding Atlas Books and writing for The New Yorker and The Atlantic.

If you're still enjoying your salad days, Atlas will share a few secrets with you that the years may bring.Those in mid life will find much with which to identify in the experiences the author has remembered in his own life and in the lives ofothers.

Give a listen as Atlas evaluates himself at this point in time.He is honest about his accomplishments and sometimes poignantly candid about his disappointments - what he has not done and what he now knows he will never do.Has he done as he might have wished as a young man, as a husband, a father?

The death of Atlas'sfather had an enormous impact upon him, perhaps a glimpse of what the future held.Whatever the case, "My Life In The Middle Ages" is a compilation of what some have gleaned from their life journeys - well worth hearing.

- Gail Cooke

hard to teach an old dog new tricks
This book is a very quick read and although it has some truly touching moments such as Atlas' description of the death of his father, I couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't further along on the evolutionary scale.Hard to find out the meaning of life when he paying up the wazoo for expensive private schools for his kids, shuffling credit card dept, and keeping up with the Jones.

I found myself shaking my head towards the end of it..like seeing yet another Woody Allen film- thinking ...what a putz!

a really" good read"
yes, a terrifically "good read,",and not out of stories of crime, espionage, mystery, perversion, violence, etc, but the comedies, tragedies, challengesof everyday life..keenly observed and beautifully written... ... Read more

Book Description

"With its hard-nosed realism and passion for God, this memoir should appeal to people of faith across the political spectrum." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Winner of a 2004 Wilbur Award

Compared to the work of writers like Alex Kotlowitz and Jonathan Kozol, Heidi Neumark"s Breathing Space is an extraordinary memoir of a woman pastor, a church, and an urban community laboring for life and breath. Neumark—a young woman from a suburban, Ivy League background—spent nearly twenty years ministering in a Hispanic and African-American Lutheran church, aptly named Transfiguration. Despite living and working in a milieu of overwhelming poverty and violence, she encounters even more powerful forces of hope and renewal. Through poignant, intimate stories, Neumark charts her journey alongside her parishioners as pastor, church, and community grow in wisdom and together experience transformation.

"Surrounded by violence and poverty and threatened by urban renewal, Transfiguration Lutheran Church under Pastor Neumark survived and, perhaps miraculously, thrived . . . Her story proves genuinely inspirational as we follow her from despair and frustration to cautious optimism in the face of a still tenuous future." —Booklist

"Breathing Space is a beautifully produced book, and it has a utopian poignancy . . .
Yet it is grounded in the virtue of hope."
—James S. Torrens, America ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Inspirational -- pun intended.
This book was absolutely wonderful.I recieved it from a friend of mine who was an intern under Pastor Heidi -- and am very glad that he sent it to me.It is a bold book and a much needed to hear story.She writes in a compelling manner and has rich experiences to share with the reader.I thank her and the congregation at Transfiguration for sharing this blessing.

Remarkable book, by an even more remarkable person
I don't know where to begin in describing my admiration. The book is remarkable, blending bible studies and religion with politics, etymology, and common sense in telling compelling, well written stories. But even more than that is what the book shows about Heidi Neumark-her courage, feeling, and remarkable commitment to justice and humanity. Some people are committed to humanity as a nameless, theoretical mass. Her commitment is far more difficult and meaningful since it is to real people, one person at a time. The world is lucky to have someone like her. I wish that the rich and powerful could all be required to read this book.

The Publishers' Weekly review says that the book will "appeal to people of faith across the political spectrum."In fact, as someone at the other end of the faith spectrum, it appealed to me, in both senses of the word "appeal."



... Read more

Book Description

The Gendered Society examines current thinking about gender, both inside academia and in our everyday lives. Through an examination of current work in biology, anthropology, psychology, and sociology (in Part I), an original analysis of the gendered worlds of family, education, and work (in Part II), and the gendered interactions of friendship and love, sexuality, and violence (in Part III), Kimmel makes three claims about gender. First, he argues that the differences between men and women are not as great as we often imagine, and that in fact women and men have far more in common with one another than we think they do. Second, he challenges the notions of many pop psychologists who suggest that gender difference is the cause of the dramatic observable inequality between the sexes. Instead, Kimmel reveals that the reverse is true: gender inequality is the cause of the differences between women and men. Third, Kimmel argues that gender is not simply an aspect of individual identity but is also an institutional phenomenon, embedded in the organizations and institutions in which we interact daily. Kimmel concludes with a brief Epilogue looking ahead to gender relations in the new century. The Gendered Society is a well-reasoned, authoritative, and keenly animated statement about gender relations today, written by one of the country's foremost thinkers on the subject. It is an essential text for both scholars and students alike. Kimmel's companion book, The Gendered Society Reader (OUP, 1999), provides a perfect complement for classroom use. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A rare book
I highly respect a writer who does not follow trends.Who
looks at society and the so called "gender differences"
as cultural rather than fixed biological traits.
Difference is a matter of cultural conditioning,expecting
differences and enhancing them through reinforcing
sterotypes and myths about boys,girls,men and women.
I can understand the writers frustration with the status quo
gender typing going on in America today.Gender and "differences"
has become a national obsession.Freedom is but a word if the
individual is not honored and nutured.
He leaves so much room for the reader to think.He is not
preachy or arrogant.He gives the human race room for variation,
rather than fixed static hard wired traits believed to be the
norm by most gender study writers.
Very happy to see someone standing up for the human race,
rather than dividing it into opposing sexes.
Great book for readers who feel fenced in by sexism,pop science
and writers trying to make a buck from the gender "difference"
craze.

The Gendered Society
One of the best studies of the cultural forces that determine what we believe we are supposed to be and to think. It will take strong people to go against these rule and to move us toward a society that allows both women and men to live in love and freedom.

Read this book
This book is well-written, entertaining, and to the point. Kimmel covers just about every conceivable area of gender interaction in a thought-provoking manner that will change the way you look at our society. Highly recommended for everyone American to read. ... Read more

Book Description

Ask some women their age, and they'll demur. Ask others, like Joni Mitchell or Cybill Shepherd, and they'll take up a sword. In this inspirational book, 50 women ranging in age from their 40s to their 60s-including movie and television personalities, musicians, and Olympic athletes-are presented in stunning photographs holding a sword to symbolize their passionate and courageous approach to aging. Their stories are told alongside the pictures, capturing the experiences of the 38 million women of the Baby Boom generation who are challenging the age barrier and living the second half of their lives to the fullest.

Coauthors Nancy Alspaugh and Marilyn Kentz are founders of the Fearless Aging movement, which encourages women to discard outdated views of getting older and celebrate who they are today. Joan Lunden, Leeza Gibbons, Shari Belafonte, Erin Brockovich, and Native American medicine woman Brooke Medicine Eagle are among the women who share their feelings about how they have become wiser and more powerful with age. The book concludes with an empty page for one final woman: a place where her photo can be added and her story can be told. As a tribute to a friend or loved one, this book is one of the best gifts a fearless woman can receive. AUTHOR BIO: Nancy Alspaugh, 49, is the Emmy Award-winning producer of numerous network and nationally syndicated programs, including NBC's long-running talk show Leeza.Marilyn Kentz, 57, is a member of The Mommies, the comedy duo whose stage show led to a television sitcom, a Showtime comedy special, and the ABC talk show Caryl and Marilyn: Real Friends. Together Nancy and Marilyn have published Not Your Mother's Midlife: A Ten-Step Guide to Fearless Aging and created a stage show about fearless aging. Mary Ann Halpin, 53, is an acclaimed photographer best known for her celebrity portraits and album and CD covers, along with a vast body of other work. She is the author and photographer of Pregnant Goddesshood: A Celebration of Life. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Magnificent mid-life - we ain't done yet!
After looking at three of the photographs and reading the first page of the introduction, I immediately purchased three copies of this book - one for myself, and one for each of my sisters.Now halfway through looking at these amazing women and reading their inspiriational stories, I am empowered and inspired.Life is long, and the middle of it is fabulous! My first book was published when I was 53 and my next one is due out when, God willing, I will be 57.So take heart all you "women of an age."The best is yet to come, as the authors of this book and the women in its pages will show you.You, too, can join this company in making this the most delightful time of your life!Give this book to every "Boomer Babe" you know.

Spectacular
I purchased two copies of this book.The photographs are strong and captivating, followed by awe inspiring stories from a variety of backgrounds.It is a perfect gift for any woman in your life.

Beautiful and inspiring
Wow! I just got it and this book is beautiful and what amazing women.I am so excited to buy this as gifts for my friends who are in that age range but also just my female friends who are making it up in this world like some of the women in the book.The photos are awesome and it is also inspirational to read each of their stories.Definitely one to keep out on the coffee table for when guests come over. ... Read more

Book Description

Imperial Leather chronicles the dangerous liaisons between gender, race and class that shaped British imperialism and its bloody dismantling. Spanning the century between Victorian Britain and the current struggle for power in South Africa, the book takes up the complex relationships between race and sexuality, fetishism and money, gender and violence, domesticity and the imperial market, and the gendering of nationalism within the zones of imperial and anti-imperial power. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

It was fascinating!
I don't agree with the reviewer for Library Journal because I found McClintock's book thorough and solid. She situates the book in a very clever way in the myriad of "isms" and scholarly debates on post-colonialism. She argues that one cannot talk about colonialism without at the same time investigate how gender,race, sexuality, class etc, has shaped the colonial discourse and discussion.
I would recommend this book to people interested in feminist, gender, postcolonial studies but also to anyone who wants a more indepth and creative analysis of the current debate on postcolonialism and gender. ... Read more

Book Description

"Why So Slow? is a breakthrough in the discourse on gender and has great potential to move the women's movement to a new, more productive phase." -- Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

Why do so few women occupy positions of power and prestige? Virginia Valian uses concepts and data from psychology, sociology, economics, and biology to explain the disparity in the professional advancement of men and women. According to Valian, men and women alike have implicit hypotheses about gender differences--gender schemas--that create small sex differences in characteristics, behaviors, perceptions, and evaluations of men and women. Those small imbalances accumulate to advantage men and disadvantage women. The most important consequence of gender schemas for professional life is that men tend to be overrated and women underrated.

Valian's goal is to make the invisible factors that retard women's progress visible, so that fair treatment of men and women will be possible. The book makes its case with experimental and observational data from laboratory and field studies of children and adults, and with statistical documentation on men and women in the professions. The many anecdotal examples throughout provide a lively counterpoint. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Clear and Informed Analysis
Virginia Valian is an outstanding researcher in the area of women's status in prestigious professions. Her analyses are concise and accurate. She has the gift of asking important questions and not biasing her answers with any specific opinions of her own. Her documentation is thorough and includes current thought when it is relevant. If you are interested in issues of women in academia and the work place, you need to read this book!

Have we come a long way, baby?
I discovered this book browsing through the bibliography of Woman, An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier. Some of the statistics Angier used truly frightened me, and this excellent book turned out to be the source. This book paints a fascinatingly disturbing picture of the status of women in modern society, and Valian relies on statistics, data and research to back up her theory that we haven't progressed quite as far as we might think. Because Why So Slow? focuses on research rather than anecdotal evidence or experiences, it does come across as 'somewhat dry,' as one reviewer noted, but I still couldn't put it down as I completely engrossed in and upset by what I was reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone at all interested in the position of women in current society. It certainly opened my eyes and has helped me notice things that otherwise wouldn't have caught my attention - examples of gender bias are so pervasive, and Valian does not sugar coat the story. Again, Why So Slow is invaluable for people - men and women alike - who are concerned about women's place in the modern world - I cannot recommend it highly enough. Be prepared to be annoyed and disturbed but don't miss it!

the data you need
Spells out clearly and carefully how it is that, despite the good intentions of many, women are still paid less and are in fewer positions of power within the academy. Especially helpful in explaining how subtly gender bias can exert its effect. Should be on the Must Read list for any dean or provost who is serious about addressing gender equity in hiring, promotion, retention, or pay.

Valian's social science research-review rocks!
Virginia Valian offers scholars and general readers a book of extraordinary excellence. Why So Slow? brings together decades of social science research on the role of gender in society.

In the schools, in the home, in the work place, men and women have taken on different roles and therefore have lived different experiences. Gender is socially constructed. But it affects who gets listened to, who gets promoted, and even whose goals get cheered in those coed soccer games! Understanding the construction isn't easy. Valian's book lights the path.

Valian's claim is that small differences can become, over time, significant differences. If disadvantage accumulates, the little molehills become mountains. If women (or any group) suffers a slight disadvantage in evaluation, hiring, promotion, consideration, or attention, over time the disadvantage can be great--and Valian gathers the numbers and data to support her view. Her title question, Why So Slow?, asks why women still represent only 8% of all the managing directors on Wall Street, still lag behid in publication, pay, and promotion. It is surprising to discover that the causes are broadly societal and not just "men as the enemy."

The book is beautifully structured, carefully written, complete (even a first rate index she must have created herself!), richly annotated, and a pleasure to read. Valian's tone is that of the scientist and scholar who has looked long and carefully at the world and has a few interesting thoughts to share. The final chapter should be required reading for anyone with a job, a child, or a future

Definitive, essential and inspiring.
Hallelujah! Valian has not only done her homework; she's done ALL of our homework. Anybody who doubts the power of subtle discrimination to shape, and warp, women's professional lives should read this book. But all is not glum: Valian goes beyond merely cataloguing problems to offer thoughtful and creative solutions as well. ... Read more

Book Description

African-American women face unique challenges during pregnancy. Here is a they can turn to for medical information, health advice, and emotional support during this exhilarating, and sometimes anxious, time. Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, an esteemed Ob-Gyn, explains all the bodily changes, feelings, and medical procedures you may encounter when pregnant. From planning a pregnancy to caring for your newborn, Dr. Hutcherson provides comforting wisdom from her years of experience as a doctor and mother of four. Most important, she addresses such potential risks as fibroid, diabetes, lupus, high blood pressure, and skin conditions.

This extraordinary resource offers medically sound and reassuring advice on choosing a care provider ... caring for yourself successfully in each trimester ... the signs and symptoms that necessitate a call to a health care practitioner...minimizing the chances of birth defects... breastfeeding basics ... and much more.

The first childbirth encyclopedia written for African-American mothers-to-be, Having Your Baby addresses all the issues, concerns, and questions you may have about pregnancy and childbirth.
... Read more

Reviews (3)

EXCELLENT
For first time mothers, this book gave me what I needed. You will find everything you need in this book. I really enjoyed reading every page, and it has been passed along to other sisters out there who are having a baby. ONCE AGAIN EXCELLENT.

Essential for 1st Pregnancy
This book was given to me by a good friend, and it is the best thing she could have given to me. I found the book to be very informative and answered ALL questions I could ever ask about being pregnant. I even found myself referring back to the book with my second child, pregnant again about a year and a half later. I am here today writing this review, because I want to email this page to my cousin who is now pregnant. I promised her I would find it online and told her to make sure she purchase and read this book....Excellent

Excellent white or black
I really liked the book. It was informative where the others where not. I just don't understand why it is focused on black women. Everything I read applies to any expected mother. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Athena Unbound
I read this book with tremendous interest. The stories it contains resonated in me or seemed to fit friends and colleagues. I have given Athena Unbound to family members upon graduation (from engineering school) and to my own women Chemistry students for graduation. I think it is important for my students to know what problems may lie before them and how they may be side-stepped. This book does a great job of outlining what these problems may be. Science is still a man's world. Forewarned is forearmed!

More like a research paper than a book
I picked this book for my engineering ethics class thinking how great it would be to read about the experience of other females in engineering. To my dismay the book was slow and repetitive. The books studies white American women in science. The data through out the book is presented in a rough research paper like format. This is not a peasant to read book. If you can identify with white American women in the scientific field, then read this book. Otherwise the focus of this book is too narrow and the authors of the book does not present any practical solutions to the problems encountered by women in the scientific field.

Great Introduction to Subject
This book is one of the best books I have read on the subject of women in science. It will appeal to the general public, who tire quickly of statistic upon statistic. Instead, this book gives a broad overview of the gender issues surrounding science and approached to resolve these issues. Should be required reading in any gender or science history class, I think, though the focus is on contemporary issues not historical documentation. ... Read more

Book Description

Gestalt and Jungian psychologists Jennifer and Roger Woolger have written a fascinating guide to the goddess qualities that live within us all. Learn how to navigate the turning points in your life by understanding which goddess type is coming to the fore. Wonderfully affirming, profound in its implications, THE GODDESS WITHIN helps restore the feminine to its rightful place in the modern consciousness and offers every woman the unique opportunity to learn more about her own power to transform herself.
... Read more

Reviews (5)

Interesting approach
This was a new spin on looking inside for me. It uses the Greek goddess architypes to look at our preferences/tendencies - recognizing that we're probably a mix of the different goddess atributes. There's a chapter each on the following godesses: Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hera, Persephone, Demeter - lots of legends, stories, some poetry. Then there is a quiz you can take to see what mix of godesses you are then it goes into discussing the various mixes that you fall into. Its interesting - not a quick read by any means - but quite interesting. Hadn't seen another book quite like it. Did come across the quiz on the internet before reading the book.

This book really gave me new insights
A wonderfully well-written, amazingly informative book on women's psyches. I recommend it to everyone - man and woman. You will be glad you read it.

Lyrically written, perceptive & worthwhile read
I think this book contains a wonderful mix of legends and folklore, along with articles, poetry and of course, a Jungian analysis that is multi-dimensional. If you're interested in mythology and analyzing the characteristics or relationships of the Roman/Greek goddesses, this is the book to read.

An Introduction to the Aspects of The Goddess
This book was recommended by my niece, a psychologist, about eight years ago. I devoured it and re-read many sections. It was a learning experience and a growing experience for me. It assisted in opening my heart and my mind to the strengths present in myself. I have begun the wonderful journey of paganism within the last year. Because of this book, I was familiar with many secular concepts of the mythology of the Goddess and quite accepting of the Divine within my heart. It cleared up many misconception that have been erroneously perpetuated throughout history regarding the journey of the pagan. Yet it also is relevent to ALL women of all faiths. It brings our strengths to the surface and makes us proud of who and what we are.

A wonderful introduction to goddess archetypes
This book is a fine guide to studying the goddesses from a psychological angle. The authors include a test that the reader can take in order to have some idea of which goddesses have the most influence and which ones are more in the background. I found it to be most intriguing and informative. It made me think about why I value certain things, like intellectual pursuits, and scorn other things, like wearing makeup. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

An Outstanding Anthology for Use in College Courses
Rothenberg's book is an excellent resource. I've used it for years and it simply gets better. Many of the authors are people engaged in race, class, and gender struggles as activists, policy-makers, scholars, and cultural workers who are familiar with the issues up close and personal. Unlike the right-in this country that engages in armchair analysis of these issues from overtly ideological perspective they deny and refuse to acknowledge as such, the authors in this anthology provide you with their politics upfront and then with an analysis or description of an issue that is always incisive and grounded in historical and cultural understandings about the multiple systems of domination that are so alive and present in U.S. society. Its diversity and range of perspective challenges you to redefine your approach to the categories of analysis and experience covered.

Biggest piece of trash I've seen in all my college years
I've never seen a more lie-filled, biased, and truth-"colored" book as this one. There is no logic, there is no fact, there is only much misinformation.

Phenomenal reading
This book is worth any price. A phenomenal collection of informative, educational, and interesting insights on American society. A must read.

Excellent service
For some reasons I got the wrong edition. However, Paola Footer not only gave me the refund but also she ask me not to turn back the book because she did not want to list an outdated book again.
I strongly recommend doing business with them.

where is the balance?
Rothenberg has been to assemble a lot of great articles but they all seem to be written by people left of center so you don't hear much diversity in terms of point of view. How much can you really learn about race, class and gender without hearing about people both from the left and the right? It seems that the left has been getting far more attention then the right. The book is filled with examples of how racism, classism and sexism still exist but none with how much society has overcome these problems and that these problems are not as big in society as you would think from reading this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Cultural Writing. Chicana Studies. Women's Studies. "The actual physical borderland that I'm dealing with in this book is the Texas-U.S., Southwest/ Mexican border. The psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands, and spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest. In fact the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle and upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy"--Gloria Anazaldua.Second Edition, with a new introduction by Sonia Saldivar-Hull, author of Feminism on the Border, and an in-depth interview with Gloria Anzaldua. An essential book. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Politics and Poetry
The US- Mexican border es una herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages again, the lifeblood of two worlds merging to form a third country, a border culture.
--Anzaldua

This is a superb book. It approaches the themes relating to Chicano identity, and does so through poetry that extends from the included poems to the cultural-socioeconomic exploration that the body of the text undergoes.
In response to negative reviews posted: yes, Borderlands does confront emotional and cultural issues brought up in other Chicano/ border-culture texts. So what. Not enough books have been written about this, especially in this format that reacts to Chicano/ border-related issues in both an intellectual and emotional/ artistic mannor. The book does this with a beautiful poeticism that carries the essence of the hispanic literary tradition, bringing the culture of the written Spanish world into a primarily English-language book.
The Spanglish included is intended for an English-speaking audience, and is not in my opinion of the true transient nature which is inextricable from spoken Spanglish. So at times the language of the writing does feel a tad contrived; using Spanish as a highlighter for key words of certain themes as opposed to allowing it even-handed participation in the exploration of the author's thesis.
While somewhat obnoxious, this choice points to Anzaldua's desire to make this work accesible to people with little or no knowledge of Spanish. This can be seen as a beacon to draw in people who do not as yet see themselves as connected to the Chicano / Hispanic world.

If you like this book, check out the other collections put out by Aunt Lute (the book's original publisher), as well as writings by author/ playwright / peformer Cherrie Morraga, playwright Magdalia Cruz, poet/ artist Ivan Silen.

Novel approach to policy sciences
While this book has been classified under the social sciences, the world's increasing complexity makes this an indispensible resource for the non-profit sector.

Instead of requiring (either intentionally or implied) individuals to choose between and rank various facets of themselves, Anzaldua makes the simple but bold proposition truw social change accepts all of an individual for whom they actually are. Only, then will all societies be able to move forward in pursuit of the oft-mythologized 'perfect world'. That the book (and author in some circles) is attacked for being 'spacey' or rambling says more about the reader's own internalized fear of 'difference' because this book was so inspiring.

Working in progressive movements, I know coalition building is critical to my policy objectives, but the prose helped me understand how emotionally positive the process was. Most 'conventional' public administration textbooks do a wonderful job talking about technology and finances, but rarely factor in the human dimension so profoundly as she does.

Anzaldua may wish to include translations from Spanish in future editions of the book because this would help residents of many other "borderlands" comprehend her own experiences and perspectives more easily than currently possible.

Not comfortable, but home!
Anzaldua's Borderlands really inspired me much. My Spanish may not be very good, that I can still catch the feelings she had in her mind, intertwined with Spanish, English y otros dialectos Chicanos. While in thinking or writing, the standard language of one society often represents its high position with logic, rationality, and academic neutrality; yet dialects of different ethnic groups then thought to be personal, informal, or sentimental. Therefore, in most of the academic conferences, we rarely see scholars doing their lectures or theoretical debates in dialects, and then ¡K.hmm¡K.our ¡§mother/grandmother/gran-granmother tongues¡¨ died in academia.

Anzaldua's multilingual texts did show us/US the new ways for revivification and liberation of ethnic minority languages both in academia y nosotras/os corazones. I expect to read more multilingual literature in the future, and I hope everybody can try to respect languages from different cultures or even from different perspectives. Don't just say that they are not worthy of reading since you don't really understand what they are trying to tell you! Reading about Anzaldua and her people's struggles may not be very comfortable, but to me the situation is quite familiar just like being home!

Worse Than Being Run Over By 2,000 Horses
I had to read this book for a Women's Studies class. There are about 45 women in the class and 1 man and only about 10 people liked this book.

Unfortunately, I had to do a presentation on this horrible book and presented something that would "make the masses happy".

This was one of the worst books I have read. All I have to say to Anzaldua is: I too am a border woman. Get over it. Move on. WHO CARES?

A complex tapestry exploring the many facets of "mestiza."
Anzaldua weaves a richly complex tapestry which explores many facets of "mestiza" -- of being "caught between" a variety of binary oppositions. Of course, the complicated cultural issues of mestiza are thoroughly addressed in this brilliant, spell-binding book. Also, issues of language (as she weaves a variety of languages and linguistic modes of expression in her text), sexual identity (as a lesbian woman), shamanic consciousness (which she describes as her "waking dream" or the Coatlicue state," and later as the "shamanic state"), and more. The political implications of the book are powerful and engagingly complex. Yet at the same time, the personal and spiritual dimensions of the book are intensly satisfying. I find this book opening up doors of consciousness for me in my own spiritual and creative life. I strongly recommend reading this book at night before going to sleep. It is the kind of literature that expands in the dreaming consciousness. ... Read more

Book Description

IntroductionMY MOTHER WAS FORTY the day the photographer came to our house on Cherry Court and lined us kids up behind my parents, who were sitting shoulder to shoulder on the piano bench. I’ve never forgotten how she looked. She was in her mint-green knit suit. Her brooch and earrings were the same gold tone as the buttons on her closed jacket. Her soft strawberry-blond hair was in tamed curls framing her bespectacled, confident face.I was a teenager looking through a different lens that day, but what I captured was just as permanent an image as the portrait that hung for years on our dining room wall. While the photographer was setting up his tripod, I was looking into the future. In that moment, watching my mom settle onto the piano bench, I saw how profound it was to be a woman at forty. Forty meant freedom. When you were forty, you could be yourself, you didn’t have to live up to other’s expectations. Forty meant you could wear whatever you wanted to, because by then you were your full, radiant self, not a copy of someone else. I could hardly wait to be just like my mom, an original, in her mint-green suit on that fall day in North Dakota.Now, twenty-some years later, it could be me sitting on that piano bench with my teenaged daughters and my son posing behind me. I’ve grown up. Not only am I in my forties myself, but it’s also my good fortune to be working every day with women in their forties, dressing them to look their beautiful selves.I wonder if it really was easier back then, or did my mom just make it look easy? Life seems so complicated today. Women have been crazy busy. Look around. We’ve climbed the corporate ladder, survived a divorce or two or three, been to therapy. If you’re forty, you may have earned a black belt in juggling careers and family. I know you. While you’re making time to mentor a coworker, you’re also closely following the basketball or soccer seasons of your kids, consoling one friend through a breakup, or helping another one plan her wedding. Chances are you’re the most likely one to be neglected. While you’re chasing life down the fast lane, you’re not sure how to dress yourself anymore. Your wardrobe’s been slogging along in the slow lane for a decade or maybe two.Where does a real woman go for relevant advice on style and clothes? Fashion magazines? They’re filled with pages of twenty-year-olds weighing less than a hundred pounds. Do you take the advice of your teenaged daughter—in orange hair and skimpy T-shirt, with a pierced tongue and belly-button ring? No. When you manage to grab a minute to shop for yourself, what do you find on the racks? Retro fashions in Day-Glo colors, showing up again like a bad dream. Aaaugh! This is hard work! Everything’s stopped making sense.To confuse the issue even more, you’re living in a different body. Your shape is changing, and your hair and attitudes are too. Where do you fit in? I’ve heard the lamenting. If you could make it all go away, you would. You may be older and wiser, but opening your closet door still brings you to your knees. You could have written the Roy Lichtenstein caption on the T-shirt that says, “I feel like such a failure! I’ve been shopping for over twenty years, and I still don’t have anything to wear!” Should you just give up?Hold everything! Amidst the world’s clatter, it’s time to do the unthinkable—to slow down, turn the focus on yourself, and do a major check-in. Who are you right now? Get current. Take a good long look, discover yourself anew. It’s the right time to take a look in the mirror and make peace with this body, these arms, these thighs, these gorgeous lips, and this hair flecked with gray. This precious body of yours has made it through one million comparisons and has defied the look of the Kate Moss print ads on the sides of city buses.It’s time to invite a new love affair into your life—a love affair with your every line, every tooth, every toenail, every facial expression, every whim and desire. Passionate, wild, crazy, frivolous, impulsive—make it a love affair with yourself.You’ve earned it. There are no more excuses. There’s no time to waste, nothing’s more important. You have collected half a lifetime of laughs, wisdom, accomplishments, mistakes, integrity, and experience. You’ve kept getting better and better. Now it’s time to express that on the outside—confidently, boldly.There is freedom at forty, the freedom I saw in my mother’s eyes, in her sure smile. With a little excavating and renovating of attitudes, you’ll be wearing that freedom too. It’s under the surface, waiting to reveal itself. You’ll find it in these forty chapters of fashion advice. You’ll learn how to combine looks, passion, personality, and preferences into the perfect recipe for wearing clothes and accessories—while having delicious fun.Forget about problem areas! Go somewhere else to hear about camouflage tricks. You’ll be too busy falling in love with yourself when you put the focus on what works (a great smile, pretty skin, shapely calves). Other body parts will quiet down and assume their proper proportion. You’ll find the correlation between your personality and preferences and discover how to wear them proudly. You’ll learn how to shop for a bathing suit with dignity and courage, what to wear while going through a divorce, what to do instead of (or until) plastic surgery, and how to walk away from clothing with “potential” and only buy what works.I won’t ask you to do anything I haven’t already done in my forties. I’ve been the mom who frantically shopped for school lunch ingredients at 7 A.M. in my accessorized jammies. Following my own advice on dressing for a high school reunion, I snagged a sweetheart at mine. I’ve given in to friends who insisted I’d lost ten pounds when all I’d really done was lift up my bra straps and loosen my belt. It’s all doable. My clients in my style and wardrobe consulting business prove it to me every single day.I invite you to zero in on the ordinary thing that you do everyday—

getting dressed—and turn it into an opportunity

for personal expression, peace, and joy

beyond words.After you’ve done your homework, it’ll be so much easier to turn off the screaming consumer ads, ignore questionable advice from teenaged daughters or well-meaning friends, and trust yourself. You can and will love how you look in clothes. Come on, I’m going to show you how. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Take it to heart. look better, save money
I hate to shop! I have to look good (on occasion) and I am definitely over 40.

This book is really great. For example, I spend far less on clothes now that I took the advice of creating a working a wardrobe around just a few good pieces. I don't throw away or give away so many failed pieces. I use the accessories to change the core outfits and I think I look a lot better.

If you go to the mall, it's plain that clothes are geared to younger women who shop often, wear somethink a short while and then move on to the next fad. These kinds of clothes don't work for me, don't fit me and cost plenty. You can save a lot of time and money by figuring out what is right for you and then building a working wardrobe around it. About time someone wrote a fashion book "for the rest of us."

Everything I Hoped It Would Be!
This is the kind of book that looks like it might be great--but you never know if it will really deliver as hoped. Well--this one does! It was every bit what I hoped it would be (and I'm truly grateful to the author--I'm just hitting that age group, and I think her solid advice will stick with me and help me the rest of my life. So this IS a helpful book!). You don't have to agree with everything the author holds true. You can read it with a "take the meat and leave the bones" approach--discarding, for instance (as I did!) the advice about always paying full price because you're worth it. (It's not that I don't think I'm worth it--it's just that I happen to LOVE "bargain shopping"--plus we're hand-to-mouth poor--so I'm going to have to regretfully pass on that piece of advice!). But even so, there's plenty, plenty of "meat" to make this book a gem and reading it well worth it. It was for me, anyway! (P.S.--to the author--I'm sorry, but it's my M.O.--I bought the book second-hand!)

Finally, I know how to go shopping
This book is fabulous especially for someone who hated to go shopping for herself. I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it because I quickly learned my clothing/shopping mistakes and thought the author knew me personally. I read only half the book so far and decided to stop and do the exercises she requested. I will now make sure clothes fit me properly before I purchase, add some "fun" items to my wardrobe and make sure my outfits are complete. Got to go and finish reading and learning from Brenda. I am recommending this book to all the women I know.

eh, not so great
I was disappointed in this book. I was hoping that there would be more practical advice. What I got from the book was a lot of rambling about nothing. Sorry

Thanks for the great advise
I bought this book a year ago. In my 40s, I was having tough time finding appropriate things to wear. I was too young to shop at the old ladies' department at Robinson's May, yet I felt too old to shop at Junior department or some boutiques likes of Express or Gap. The author taught me so much, and the learning process was truly enjoyable, because some sections of this book were very funny. I followed her advise and got lid of bags after bags of matronly looking clothes. Now I know exactly what I like to wear and what I look good in, and best of all, I feel very good about myself. ... Read more

Book Description

A must-read for anyone wishing to understand the history and present-day political reality of women, this fascinating book explores the efforts, achievements, as well as the setbacks involved in the movements toward equality for American women.Women's Movements in America; The Struggle for Political Rights; Women's Political Participation; The Struggle for Employment and Educational Rights; Women's Economic and Educational Status; The Struggle for Familial and Reproductive Rights; Women's Place in the Family; The Future of the Movement. Anyone interested in women and politics. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Excellent, Updated Survey of the Women's Movement
This just-updated history of the women's movement is an excellent introduction to the field.The book surveys the 150-year history of the movement and provides lots of good-looking graphs and tables of the current situation.

I use this book in my 2000-level course on race, gender and politics and find it very readable for my mostly 1st- and 2nd-year students.The students like the book as well.

If you want a well-organized, readable, and current survey of the movement and the current status of women in America, I wholly recommend this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Warm encouragement and straightforward guidance to help women lead a life they love.

Searching for a life blessed with peace and happiness? Longing to move past old expectations and learn to live in the moment? Life Lessons for My Sisters is an inspirational guidebook and valuable resource for women who want to live a more meaningful life. Based on Natasha Munson's own personal experiences, the book was written to help young black women avoid many of the pitfalls she herself encountered on her road to adulthood. Written in pithy, inspirational chapters, each concluding with a wise observation about life, the book offers simple advice that women of all ages and backgrounds will appreciate and respond to. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

This is the best book that i have read
I love this book I was in the book store just looking for something to read i and pick this book up i read in in 30 mins it really helped me with all that was going on in my life and i was thinking to myself how can i met this lady she is great i need to talk to her and the next week i walked into the book store and there she was i could not believe that she was sitting there read and talking about this book i was so happy that i almost cryed. she is a great lady and i just want to thank you for writing this book it has changed my life it the best book in the world. it's like she knew me when she was writing or as women we all have the same kind of problems in life and she knows that. I think every girl women needs to read this book, this book need to be givin out in schools. Natasha just doesn't understand how much she has done for me. I have a business everybody on my team has to read this book i give them a book list and this is on top with Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill. Buy 5 copies of this book. Thank you Nataha

Dawn Burnside

A must read for all women
Natasha Munson is onto something wonderful, uplifting and inspiring and she's sharing it with women everywhere in her book, LIFE LESSONS FOR MY BLACK GIRLS.This book should be used as a resource for those who are looking to define, discover, or simply to love themselves.Munson uses a list of 138 items broken up into various sections to guide and encourage women on the journey of life.She shares things such as loving yourself first, not giving up on yourself, sticking to your values, choosing battles wisely, knowing your past, and a host of other lessons.What I really love about the book is not only does she tell the lesson, she expands on it, and then recaps it in an easy to read, straight-forward manner that anyone can understand and appreciate.

LIFE LESSONS FOR MY BLACK GIRLS comes highly recommended for any woman or even for teenagers ready to take the step towards being adults.It succinctly and soundly shows that success and happiness are truly in our own hands.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

The best guide for young girls and ladies
I originally bought this book so I can give it to my daughters, yet I find myself reading through the book for my own perusal. I find the book refreshing, down to earth, honest, and overall a great guide. I only wish it were out a couple of years ago myself. I recommend this to mothers with young daughters on the road to becoming teenagers.

A breath of Fresh Air
From the beginning to end this book makes you re-evaluate your life.It offers help in just about every situation in your life.I felt and still feel empowered after reading the this book.I recommend it to every female who is a little confused, or unsure sometimes.Read this book and it will make Life's choices a little easier to deal with.. Tawana in Texas

I loved this book!
It is simple as the day is long.It is spoken in the language of a very endearing individual.I hope that mothers all around the world read this book to their little girls at bedtime.Instead of Cinderella or any ofthose confusing, books on life.Thank you Natasha...Great. ... Read more