In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution [Hardcover]

Susan Brownmiller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 1999

There once was a time when the concept of equal pay for equal work did not exist, when women of all ages were "girls," when abortion was a back-alley procedure, when there was no such thing as a rape crisis center or a shelter for battered women, when "sexual harassment" had not yet been named and defined.  "If conditions are right," Susan Brownmiller says in this stunning memoir, "if the anger of enough people has reached the boiling point, the exploding passion can ignite a societal transformation."

In Our Time tells the story of that transformation, as only Brownmiller can.  A leading feminist activist and the author of Against Our Will, the book that changed the nation's perception of rape, she now brings the Women's Liberation movement and its passionate history vividly to life.

Here is the colorful cast of characters on whose shoulders we stand--the feminist icons Betty Friedan, Kate Millett, Germaine Greer, and Gloria Steinem, and the lesser known women whose contributions to change were equally profound.  And here are the landmark events of the era: the consciousness-raising groups that sprung up in people's living rooms, the mimeographed position papers that first articulated the new thinking, the abortion and rape speak-outs, the daring sit-ins, the underground newspaper collectives, and the inventive lawsuits that all played a role in the most wide-reaching revolution of the twentieth century.

Here as well are Brownmiller's reflections on the feminist utopian vision, and her dramatic accounts, rendered with honesty and humor, of the movement's painful internal schisms as it struggled to give voice to the aspirarations of all women.  Finally, Brownmiller addresses that most relevant question: What is the legacy of feminism today?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Susan Brownmiller was a Gucci-clad, 33-year-old writer grappling privately with the decidedly masculine preserve of feature journalism when she attended her first consciousness-raising session in 1968. Her first impression? Oh, brother! But as other women around the room told their stories, they resonated with something deep in Brownmiller's psyche, and when it was time to tell her own--"I've had three illegal abortions"--the ambitious reporter experienced something akin to a road-to-Damascus conversion.

Brownmiller's 1975 classic, Against Our Will, changed the nation's perception of rape and turned her into a feminist icon overnight. In Our Time, though, is less an argument for transformation than an encyclopedic look at the forces that shaped the social movement of late-20th-century feminism, from occasional clashes of colorful personalities like Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Germaine Greer (who, 30 years later, have a tendency to seem larger than life) to the methodical, often unexciting, day-by-day planning behind the landmark sit-ins, lawsuits, and other headline events. Sisterhood's call to arms was most persuasive when the enemy was economic oppression and the battle cry "equal pay for equal work!" Solidarity was harder to muster, Brownmiller reports, when it came to targeting social injustices, particularly those pertaining to sex. Were Clarence Thomas's raunchy remarks to Anita Hill business as usual or a type of harassment? Was pornography a male counterreaction intended to degrade newly liberated women or an effort to make sexual pleasure available to fantasists of all persuasions? These arguments persist today--and In Our Time reminds us that they must be viewed in historical context. --Patrizia DiLucchio

From Publishers Weekly

Here is a gossipy account of women's liberation by a New York journalist who was in the thick of many movement controversiesAfrom the pornography wars to accusations of elitism. A freelance magazine and TV news writer, Brownmiller went to her first women's liberation meeting in the fall of 1968. After her feminist "click," she almost single-handedly redefined Americans' views of rape when she wrote Against Our Will in 1975. Brownmiller chronicles the movement's rise out of civil rights and anti-Vietnam War activism; the heady days of demonstrating at the Miss America pageant, in the offices of Ladies' Home Journal and on the streets; the struggle for abortion rights and to define rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment as discrimination against women; and the rise of feminist newspapers, magazines and publications such as Our Bodies, Ourselves. She also covers writers Marilyn French, Shere Hite and a host of other feminist theorists then on the edge and now part of the mainstream. Her memoir concludes with what she views as the final demise of the radical feminist movement, when feminists started to shred one another in the porn wars of the 1980s. For those seeking a narrative rather than analytical history, Brownmiller offers an enthralling mix of lively stories about her own activities (although she doesn't delve into her own background as much as some readers might wish) and interviews with other participants in one of the most influential social movements of our time. Agent, Frances Goldin.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: The Dial Press; 1ST edition (November 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385314868
• ISBN-13: 978-0385314862
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,701,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read on Feminism, November 29, 1999

By 

Martha A. Shelley (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (Hardcover)

If you didn't participate in the women's movement during the 70s, In Our Time illuminates those heady days. For those of us who were there, it brings back the most intense memories - some of them hilarious and some downright painful. Brownmiller gives us an account of her own participation embedded in a more general history, written in a vivid prose style that carries the reader along like a river in spring flood. Yet despite the swift pace, the author never fails to provide clear explanations of the multitude of ideologies that clashed or came together under the rubric of feminism. This is an essential book for the historian. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the inner dynamics of a political movement and the origins of ideas that are still changing the world.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating, Remarkable Book!, January 2, 2000

By 

Kenneth Lapides (Cottonwood, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Susan Brownmiller's book, having begun it only a few days before (it was hard to put down). I found it fascinating for several reasons. First, as a guide to the women's liberation movement--its confrontation with age-old grievances, its astonishing wealth of new ideas, its many diverse personalities (with pages of photos), its stormy organizational development, and its years of intense political struggle--it is invaluable. It brought back many memories and taught me much I didn't know. Especially interesting was her intelligent and judicious treatment of the movement's inner conflicts and crises, as well as as their personal ramifications--for the author and for others.

If the personal is political (as it is) then certainly the political is personal. That was a lesson that for many people was bought at a very high price. For anyone who passed through the cauldron of the revolutionary years of the late sixties and seventies and managed to retain some political consciousness this is perhaps one of the most difficult areas to talk about honestly and objectively. It is also one of the most important. Brownmiller has succeeded brilliantly. Younger people reading her book will get a helpful inoculation against some forms at least of that movement madness that was so destructive even to its own purposes. There are few writers who could match the fairness and dignity that Brownmiller brought to her task.

It is impossible to understand the transformation of American society that resulted from the struggles of the 1960s and 70s without a knowledge of the women's liberation movement. There is no better book than Brownmiller's for this.

All in all, I found this to be an extraordinary book, highly engrossing, extremely important, and a pleasure to read. It offers a unique and balanced history of the women's liberation movement as told by one of its leading activists, as well as a candid personal exploration into the complex experience of participating in a mass movement for social justice. Told with great wit and intelligence, sensitivity and poise, the book is amply rewarding on many levels. What most impressed me about Brownmiller's narrative was its seamless blend of revolutionary ideas, fascinating personalities, amd intense political struggle, leavened with an honest appraisal of her own role and that of others. I highly recommend it for all readers. To borrow a phrase, it will raise your consciousness.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A excellent resource for women's history, October 22, 2001

By 

Courtney L. Lewis "Sassy Librarian" (Kingston, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (Hardcover)

Imagine a time when there was no such phrase as "sexual harassment" yet its practice went on unchecked, a time when there were no domestic violence shelters for battered women, no rape clinics for victims of sexual violence, a time when the classified ads were divided into columns for "Male" and "Female" jobs...

"In Our Time" is an excellent first hand account of Susan Brownmiller's experience of the women's movement. She has successfully integrated her own personal experience (as a journalist then as a scholarly writer) with that of her friends and enemies, the movers and shakers of the women's movement. Her work is infinitely readable and having both a scholarly reflection of the sequence of events coupled with her emotional account is riveting.

Two major things emerge from this book. First, like most movements the women's movement was intensely grass-roots with all its heated emotions and disorganization. Made up (with a few exceptions) of young women, initial efforts at organization suffered from awkward leadership and infighting. Second, nevertheless, the issues women were fighting for struck such a chord across America that eventually the movement was comprised of women from all races and backgrounds - resulting in the successful passage of important legislation.

Brownmiller's book would be an excellent addition to a women's history collection - one warning though, there are a ton of names of movement leaders peppered throughout the book and someone new to the history might be confused initially. A reading of a more scholarly book might be a good preface. Thanks Susan for a super book!