An American Daughter (Paperback)

by Wendy Wasserstein (Author) "A Saturdays in September. Around noon..." (more)
Key Phrases: icebox cakes, Lyssa Dent Hughes, Quincy Quince, Surgeon General (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Listen Up Awards "Best Audio of 1999" Dramatization Category -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

This brave and ambitious play portrays with withering accuracy the damage wrought by the tart-tongued TV culture of Washington.-Walter Shapiro, USA Today

A daring new play-beautiful, brilliant, angry and funny. Wendy Wasserstein has not merely returned to the broader political concerns of her cherished Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, she has returned with a vengeance-electrifyingly reconnected. . . . Enormously moving.-Newsday

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Product Details Paperback: 112 pages Publisher: Harvest Books (August 19, 1999) Language: English ISBN-10: 0156006456 ISBN-13: 978-0156006453 Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #601,313 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #7 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Wasserstein, Wendy

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
A Saturdays in September. Around noon. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
icebox cakes

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lyssa Dent Hughes, Quincy Quince, Surgeon General, Time Zone, Timber Tucker, Beach Boys, White House, Kate Nelligan, Lyssa Hughes, Miss Porter, Act One, Billy Robbins, Festival of Regrets, Happy New Year, Renaissance Weekend, Senator Hughes, Big Head Todd, Charlie Rose, Fort Wayne, Hal Holbrook, Lesser Elite, Tim Tucker

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 4 books:

• California Girls! (Baby-Sitters Club Super Special, 5) by Ann M. Martin on page 22
• The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic by Wendy Wasserstein in Front Matter
• The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein in Front Matter
• Beach Boys (Center Stage) by William Sanford on page 22

 

32 books cite this book:

• Wendy Wasserstein: A Casebook (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) by Claudia Barnett on 28 pages
• The Playwright's Muse (Studies in Modern Drama, 17) by Joan Herrington on 15 pages
• The Playwright's Muse (Studies in Modern Drama, 17) by J. Herrington on 15 pages
• The Cambridge Companion to American Women Playwrights (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Brenda Murphy on 7 pages
• Contemporary American Playwrights by Christopher Bigsby on 6 pages

See all 32 books citing this book

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	92% buy the item featured on this page: An American Daughter 4.3 out of 5 stars (3) $14.00
	8% buy The Sisters Rosensweig 4.2 out of 5 stars (4) $7.50

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars "They tear you apart because they are jealous or disappointed. Or worse--just because they have nothing better to do.", November 25, 2008 By  Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    When Lyssa Dent Hughes, a widely respected physician, is nominated for United States Surgeon General, it looks as if she is a shoo-in to be confirmed. Fifth generation granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant, daughter of a conservative Indiana senator, wife of a respected Georgetown professor, and tireless pioneer for women's health issues, Lyssa is looking forward to her opportunity to make a difference on a larger scale. During a casual conversation in the presence of a reporter, however, a "friend" remarks that she once failed to appear for jury duty. The press pounces on this "Jurygate" mistake, which quickly becomes worse when she indicates that she does not make "icebox cake" and "pimiento-cheese canapés" like her late mother and the other women from Indiana, galvanizing them to oppose her "elitism." The press camps out at her Georgetown home, and before long, her young son is yelling from the TV room, "Mom, they think that you're the problem with America." But Lyssa refuses to "be hung out to dry, even if I have to wear headbands, bake cookies, and sing lullabies to do it." In an interview with Timber Tucker, which becomes the climax of the play, she aggressively tackles the health and social issues which mean so much to her, and angrily faces down the press and the public's perceptions, for better or worse. Written in 1999, this play tackles women's social issues in a man's world, serious women's health issues, political expediencies, and press intrusions into private areas, and every female reader or viewer will understand and empathize with the characters as they face their demons here. In the ten years since this play was written, however, the country has made great strides, and the issues Lyssa discusses have been analyzed and tackled with far greater energy than ever before, to the point that Lyssa's impassioned speech seems a bit dated. Hilary Clinton's "baking cookies" remarks and Lyssa's parallel icebox cake and pimiento-cheese references feel tired and "stale" now. The facts and figures she cites regarding research funds for breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer, as opposed to the far greater funding for prostate cancer, are being actively addressed, and points made about the holding of women to different standards now feel like a cliché. As a relic of the 1990s, this play is important and, perhaps, even ground-breaking, but its punch has been blunted over the past ten years by the progress women have made since it premiered. The fact that it still resonates with viewers, however, shows that significant issues still remain. n Mary Whipple The Sisters Rosensweig The Heidi Chronicles. Bachelor Girls Old Money Charlie Rose with Wendy Wasserstein, John Guare & David Henry Hwang; Caio Fonseca, Edmund White & Isabel Fonseca; Morris Lapidus (November 23, 2000) 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars An American (Ritual) Character Assassination, November 22, 2004 By  Aco - See all my reviews Of the Wasserstein I've read, Heidi and Rosensweig, this one read the smoothest. It was an engrossing story, certainly recognizable in this day in age, peppered with characters that I've seen time and again on cable news, and pivots on that seemingly minor transgression everyone famous and political seems(has) to have made. What stands out about An American Daughter is the weakness in the media system to award courage and conviction in action. Even in spite of mistakes, which are surely universal. That I suppose was behind Wasserstein's m.o., that tangling with the gossips and character assassins and the news engine is more gristle for them, death for you. That is a statement painfully necessary more and more, as the hypocrisy of the day is not slips of paper and frustrating civil service, but war and death and political capital. 3 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars An American Daughter, June 22, 2001 By A Customer This review is from: An American Daughter (Audio CD) Amazingly relevant to present days. Beautifully acted and written.		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (August 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156006456
• ISBN-13: 978-0156006453
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #601,313 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #7 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Wasserstein, Wendy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "They tear you apart because they are jealous or disappointed. Or worse--just because they have nothing better to do.", November 25, 2008

By	Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

When Lyssa Dent Hughes, a widely respected physician, is nominated for United States Surgeon General, it looks as if she is a shoo-in to be confirmed. Fifth generation granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant, daughter of a conservative Indiana senator, wife of a respected Georgetown professor, and tireless pioneer for women's health issues, Lyssa is looking forward to her opportunity to make a difference on a larger scale. During a casual conversation in the presence of a reporter, however, a "friend" remarks that she once failed to appear for jury duty.

The press pounces on this "Jurygate" mistake, which quickly becomes worse when she indicates that she does not make "icebox cake" and "pimiento-cheese canapés" like her late mother and the other women from Indiana, galvanizing them to oppose her "elitism." The press camps out at her Georgetown home, and before long, her young son is yelling from the TV room, "Mom, they think that you're the problem with America." But Lyssa refuses to "be hung out to dry, even if I have to wear headbands, bake cookies, and sing lullabies to do it." In an interview with Timber Tucker, which becomes the climax of the play, she aggressively tackles the health and social issues which mean so much to her, and angrily faces down the press and the public's perceptions, for better or worse.

Written in 1999, this play tackles women's social issues in a man's world, serious women's health issues, political expediencies, and press intrusions into private areas, and every female reader or viewer will understand and empathize with the characters as they face their demons here. In the ten years since this play was written, however, the country has made great strides, and the issues Lyssa discusses have been analyzed and tackled with far greater energy than ever before, to the point that Lyssa's impassioned speech seems a bit dated. Hilary Clinton's "baking cookies" remarks and Lyssa's parallel icebox cake and pimiento-cheese references feel tired and "stale" now.

The facts and figures she cites regarding research funds for breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer, as opposed to the far greater funding for prostate cancer, are being actively addressed, and points made about the holding of women to different standards now feel like a cliché. As a relic of the 1990s, this play is important and, perhaps, even ground-breaking, but its punch has been blunted over the past ten years by the progress women have made since it premiered. The fact that it still resonates with viewers, however, shows that significant issues still remain. n Mary Whipple

The Sisters Rosensweig
The Heidi Chronicles.
Bachelor Girls
Old Money
Charlie Rose with Wendy Wasserstein, John Guare & David Henry Hwang; Caio Fonseca, Edmund White & Isabel Fonseca; Morris Lapidus (November 23, 2000)

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An American (Ritual) Character Assassination, November 22, 2004

By	Aco - See all my reviews

Of the Wasserstein I've read, Heidi and Rosensweig, this one read the smoothest.
It was an engrossing story, certainly recognizable in this day in age, peppered with characters that I've seen time and again on cable news, and pivots on that seemingly minor transgression everyone famous and political seems(has) to have made.
What stands out about An American Daughter is the weakness in the media system to award courage and conviction in action. Even in spite of mistakes, which are surely universal. That I suppose was behind Wasserstein's m.o., that tangling with the gossips and character assassins and the news engine is more gristle for them, death for you. That is a statement painfully necessary more and more, as the hypocrisy of the day is not slips of paper and frustrating civil service, but war and death and political capital.

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American Daughter, June 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: An American Daughter (Audio CD)

Amazingly relevant to present days. Beautifully acted and written.