Amazon.com Review
Like any journalist worth her salt, renowned news correspondent Cokie Roberts knows how to ask the tough questions. In
We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, she poses what has long been a real doozy: "What is woman's place?" As you might guess, her answer is manifold, reflected by the table of contents, which reads like the Career Day schedule at a progressive girls' school: Sister, Politician, Consumer Advocate, Aunt, Soldier, First Class Mechanic, Friend, Reporter, Civil Rights Activist, Wife, Mother/Daughter, Enterpriser. Roberts makes no claims about this being groundbreaking research, or even an exacting investigation, rather, she explains that these are simply her own stories, and those of women she has come in contact with at different times and places in her life.
Having graduated from Wellesley College in 1964, Roberts explains that the women of her generation were pioneers in many ways--especially when it came to career and workplace issues: "We were the first women at almost everything we did, and most of us often had the experience of being the only woman in the room." Accordingly, many of her essays are political in nature: the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (which included "sex" as a prohibited discrimination category by virtual accident); the work of consumer advocate Esther Peterson; and the history of women in the military. But for Roberts, it's clear that the personal is political, and many stories, while not overtly activist--her older sister's death, her circle of female friends, and her experiences as a wife, mother, and reporter--reveal the importance she places on a united community of strong women. Using clean, compelling language throughout, Roberts compiles these different stories to reveal a thread of continuity running through the fabric of women, summarizing, "We are connected throughout time and regardless of place." She ends with a message of encouragement for young women--that we need only look as far as our foremothers for inspiration. --Brangien Davis, Amazon.com Kids Editor
From School Library Journal
YA-Roberts, an NPR and ABC correspondent, has written a series of wide-ranging essays that are delightful to read, if difficult to classify. She gently leads readers from her sister's untimely death from cancer, through her early married years as an unquestioning follower of her husband's career, to historical vignettes featuring women as warriors, fighters for human rights, or entrepreneurs. In each of these selections, the author's voice is honest, and sometimes bewildered, as she attempts to fix upon what it is that women do and what it is they should be passing on to the next generation. Roberts discusses her grandmothers and eccentric aunts as well as her own daughter and her friends. She comments that her mother and mother-in-law were both under 50 when they became grandmothers, giving that relationship a long time to grow and change. Today's young women, waiting later to marry and have children, may miss this lively connection. These and other observations are indeed food for thought, and reading this slim volume gives mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, friends, and other female relations much to think about. Many of the historical tidbits may tempt YAs to look further into the brief list of suggested readings. This is a fine vehicle for discussion or individual contemplation, giving both mothers and daughters new perspectives for viewing one another. Wonderful material for all ages.
Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
