Foreign and Female [Hardcover]

Doris Weatherford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As portrayed by Florida-based political consultant Weatherford in this comprehensive survey, immigrant European women were at once vulnerable and resilient. While most of them accompanied male relatives to America, many made the journey alone as unmarried women, or with their children to rejoin husbands after prolonged separations. Although the majority of these women were uneducated, some left eloquent letters and journals drawn upon here by the author. Fatalism, she shows, was a common attitude among the women; annual pregnancies were expected to ensure potential earners and compensate for high infant mortality. Weatherford records the toll that hardship and adjustment to American lifein cities and on farmstook on the health of these women, their marriages and the family structure; and depicts the chaotic conditions caused by wars, westward migration, industrialization and labor unrest, amid which women sought to create an independent life for themselves and their children. As one of them put it, "I learned in America not to be afraid." Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This history relies chiefly on vignettes and anecdotes to evoke the quality of life for immigrant women in America. Weatherford surveys many different immigrant groups, including those on the frontier as well as in the cities. Her discussion takes in courting practices, sexual mores, marriage, pregnancy, birth, homes, food, clothing, childrearing, work, separation, desertion, divorce, religion, family relationships, and acculturation. Although the book lacks sufficient context for the discussion and contains little analysis, lay readers should find this treatment both entertaining and instructive. Recommended for public libraries. Cynthia Harrison, American Historical Assn., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Schocken; 1St Edition edition (December 12, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805240179
• ISBN-13: 978-0805240177
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,326,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful peek into other women's lives, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Foreign and Female: Immigrant Women in America (Paperback)

This book contains so many endearing accounts of women and their lives. I smile and cry reading these stories, thinking of my own ancestors and their similar stories! After reading this book, I feel so much closer to the women to whom I am so similar, and yet never met!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For All Thoughtful Americans . . ., September 30, 2001

By 

Arius325 (Great Neck, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Foreign and Female: Immigrant Women in America (Paperback)

I bought "Foreign and Female" because I am an amateur genealogist, and I hoped to gain more insight to the lives of those 19th- and early 20th-century European female ancestors whose lives I am researching. I was not disappointed: For this purpose, I think, the book is rivaled only by Oscar Handlin's "The Uprooted", and it should be mandatory reading for any would-be American family historian.

Beyond this, though, I highly recommend "Foreign and Female" to any American--man or women--who is interested in the history of our nation, warts and all. In recounting the hunger, hardships and heartaches of women who immigrated to America between 1840 and 1930, she also touches on the story of ALL American women, and their struggle for equal rights. Moreover, because these women often were the "tentpoles" of their families, we learn a lot about the lives of their children and male relatives--fathers, brothers, and husbands--as well.

Finally, as a citizen of New York City, whose foreign-born population has surged once again to 10%(!), I valued the insight that this book gave me to the likely feelings of my immigrant neighbors and work colleagues, and their families. With the challenges that our city and country now face, understanding each other has become ever more important.

I notice that reviews of Ms. Weatherford's other books often use the word "meticulous", and that adjective applies to this work as well. It is readily apparent that this author is very smart, and undaunted by original source material that others have bypassed. She does a remarkable job of weaving together the pertinent statistics that support her understanding of the life experience of "typical" female immigrants. But what made this book so compelling for me was her presentation of the voices of these women themselves, through their diaries and letters to the Old Country. Very well balanced, and very moving.

My only criticism--and it is minor--is that the stories she tells seem to portray almost all men of this era as "cads". I do not doubt that the male chauvinism of the day was virtually universal, but do too many of her anecdotes show men as being coldly selfish, oppressive, and cruel?

I have urged my wife, who is a school teacher, and my daughter, who is a college student, to find the time to read this book. I highly recommend it, too, to all other thoughtful Americans who want to understand better where our families and our nation really came from.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful refreshing, February 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Foreign and Female: Immigrant Women in America (Paperback)

wonderful exerpts of daily lives of these brave women. Told first hand. i truly enjoyed the different way this was told about all the ethnic beliefs .Made me realize more of what my family went through when they came to this great country.Would highly recommend this book. i am a huge fan of non fiction diaries and early american life.