To Believe in Women : What Lesbians Have Done for America-A History [Hardcover]

Lillian Faderman Professor (Author), Lillian Faderman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1999

From the author of the acclaimed Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, a landmark work of lesbian history that both "sets the record straight (or unstraight)" for all Americans and "provides a usable past" for lesbians "This is a book about how millions of American women became what they are now: full citizens, educated, and capable of earning a decent living for themselves. But it departs from other such histories because it focuses on how certain late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century women whose lives can be described as 'lesbian' were in the forefront of the battle to procure the rights and privileges that large numbers of Americans enjoy today." A groundbreaking reappraisal of those women known by history but whose histories are incomplete, To Believe in Women examines how their lesbianism may in fact have facilitated their accomplishments. Lillian Faderman, twice winner of the Lambda Award, persuasively argues that even before a "lesbian identity" was defined, many early female leaders had what would now be called lesbian relationships, free from the constraints of traditional heterosexual arrangements that might otherwise have impeded their pursuits in education, politics, and culture. A book of impeccable research and compelling readability, To Believe in Women will be a source of enlightenment for all, and for many a singular source of pride.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Taking up where her 1981 classic, Surpassing the Love of Men, left off, Lillian Faderman reveals that many of the early leaders who fought for women's suffrage, higher education for women, and women's entrance into "male" professions would in today's parlance be called lesbians: "women who lived in committed relationships with other women." Unencumbered by the duties of marriage and motherhood, they were more likely to have the time, energy, and freedom to work for women's rights. In fact, they were more or less obliged to try to better women's lives, Faderman argues, for there was no man to represent them at the polls or support them financially. (Although Elizabeth Cady Stanton's husband and seven children failed to distract her from the cause, her friend Susan B. Anthony used to help her with the children and housework before they settled down for political strategy meetings.) During the Depression, when women's social and economic gains began to dwindle, it was these "single" women who kept professions open while married women were being fired in favor of men. Faderman gracefully surveys a century of advancement and retreat, shedding light on America's debt to women-loving women. --Regina Marler

From Booklist

Faderman continues her work in lesbian studies with an analysis of how nineteenth-and twentieth-century women whose lives can be described as "lesbian" pioneered civil rights movements because "lesbian arrangements freed" them to do so more than "heterosexual arrangements" would have. The book breaks no new ground, including assessments of Susan B. Anthony (who "chided" black activist Ida Wells Barnett for dividing her energies by getting married and having children), Carrie Chapman Catt (who used her "great personal attractiveness to women to the advantage of the suffrage movement"), and Eleanor Roosevelt (who found sanctuary and sustenance in a cadre of lesbian political activists in Greenwich Village). Because lesbian identity per se is a modern concept and Faderman's sources are thin, believe may be the operative word. Faderman is more successful in interweaving women's leadership and participation in various social activisms with a mainstream story that has focused primarily on men and in showing the gradual shift from closeted lesbian activism to feminism's second wave, when "love between women was an expressly political statement." Dale Edwyna Smith

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039585010X
• ISBN-13: 978-0395850107
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,834,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book by book, Lillian Faderman continues to surpass herself., July 10, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Believe in Women : What Lesbians Have Done for America-A History (Hardcover)

I don't ordinarily write reviews; rather, I read them. But I must take issue---and I very much disagree---with the two-star review (above) given Faderman's newest book `To Believe In Women'. Faderman's work, from the classic `Surpassing the Love of Men', through `Scotch Verdict', `Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers' (and the great, sprawling anthology `CHLOE plus OLIVIA' which she edited and for which she wrote the prologue to each section), stands far away and above the work of almost any other scholar of lesbian history; indeed, the great bulk of work by contemporary scholars in the field of lesbian history has not only been based upon, but legitimized by her efforts. She was *the* pioneer, and continues to be the foremost lesbian historian of our time. And while Faderman is a scholar of tremendous erudition, as a writer she manages to walk a line between the academic and the accessible with all the wit, grace, and agility of a cat. In `To Believe In Women', she is, as ever, at her best.

Taking on the task of interweaving the political, social, and educational impacts of American lesbians of past generations on American culture is no easy job; in `To Believe In Women', Faderman handles that job with style and finesse. She explores not only these womens' accomplishments, but their failures and setbacks, as well. She examines not only successful lesbian relationships, but those that fail or compromise (a form of failure in itself) because of social fear, financial insecurity, or simply a change of heart. But what is perhaps one of the most pleasing points of this book is that Faderman allows these long-gone (and sometimes heterosexually- married) women to speak for themselves and their lesbianism in private letters and personal diaries; papers in which, even when the writer was (occasionally) attempting to be `discreet', the lesbian subtext is far from sotto voce. Faderman makes her case for these women's lesbianism amply clear to anyone with the simple ability to *think* as they read.

In short, `To Believe In Women', is yet one more excellent addition to lesbian history; a book to be savored, enjoyed, and remembered.

"I shall go to Chicago and visit my new lover---dear Mrs. (Emily) Gross---en route to Kansas.So with new hope and new life..."

--Susan B. Anthony*

*as cited in `To Believe In Women', page 1

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb book for feminists of all sexualities, June 3, 2001

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done For America - A History (Paperback)

A heterosexual feminist ally, I picked up this book at the suggestion of a friend, and was entranced by the premise of the book and meticulously researched evidence.

Precisely because they were not bound by unintended pregnancy (which continued to be a problem until the early 70's)Lesbians were the vanguard of the women's movement on everything from equal employment to the vote and birth control, and had an obligation to work towards policies that would benefit all women regardless of sexuality.

Granted some readers of the reviews will decide that this book attempts to glorify lesbians at the expense of straight women, but I have read this book repeatedly and simply find the truth as it existed in historical context. Faderman simply points out the important role that Lesbians have played---a contribution that gets over shaddowed in many straight women's and gay men's focused history books.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who knew?, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: To Believe in Women : What Lesbians Have Done for America-A History (Hardcover)

Wow! I'm just amazed at how many important people and events have happened that I've never heard of. This book is fun to read,is inspiring and it is only just that people should know about lesbians contributions that benefitted all women. We all owe them a debt. And to who ever wrote the 2 star review...."frustrated"? didn't sound too frustrated to me, sounded like they were having a pretty good time, no evidence? come on, I mean, what straight women write letters like that in ANY era? Buy this book and read it. Its another of the pieces of the puzzle to the past that have been lost or ignored.