Customer Reviews

It's Good to Be a Woman:Stories from Bryn Mawr Class of '62

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Alison Baker has written a book that tells us both about the major cultural and political events of the 60's (and beyond) and about the lives of a random selection of Bryn Mawr graduates who lived through them. Her keen observations left me feeling I knew these women and better understood how their lives were shaped by the yeastiest decade of the century. This very well written book held my interest from first to last.

This inspiring book focuses on the lives of Bryn Mawr graduates who were formed by 1950s mores but are confronted in the 1960s with new opportunities for women. I want my daughters to read these biographies to better understand no path is ever straight, and even very successful women have had to struggle to find their way.

I couldn't put this book down, because these interesting women are in my generation, and the book is full of reminders of how much our lives have changed. Baker has gone back to find articles from student newspapers in the early '60's, and has interviewed in depth a number of women from the class in science, law, journalism, teaching, scholarship, and the arts. As a Radcliffe graduate, I was interested in the Bryn Mawr perspective; a classmate says of us, "You were really learning how to be a second-class citizen."

Alison Baker's special talent it to weave compelling narratives of individual lives into the history of our culture. Anyone interested in women's lives and careers, the challenges they faced in the last half century in order to lead productive and satisfying lives, will find this work indispensable. Baker's work brings to life a group of remarkable women -- remarkable for the ways in which they achieved success and happiness -- while illuminating the psychology and sociology of the last half century in America.

Alison Baker's It's Good to Be a Woman tells the stories of women from the class of 1962 from Bryn Mawr College. They came out into a world that was changing before their eyes and found ways to reconcile their ambitions and values with the shifting ground. The stories are inspiring and the author's use of quotes from her subjects telling. I couldn't put it down. I also enjoyed their triumphs and felt for their struggles, some personal and others pushed by the larger world. It's full, it's rich, it's a riveting read.