Customer Reviews

Women in the Material World

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This book is a superlative sequel to the early Material World by Peter Menzel. I have read the earlier book so many times that when this new volume came out, I bought it immediately sight unseen. In this book, Faith D'Aluisio revisits 19 of the 30 families featured in the Material World to find out about the women's lives.

The articles are organized alphabetically, together with short features on marriage, laundry, work, education, childcare, hair, food, water, and friends. At the back of the book, we find statistical charts about women, and a useful statistics glossary. Each article has an extended interview with the mother of the family that reveals parts of her life story as well as her attitudes towards topics such as marriage, child care, education, money, and possessions. The articles are of course filled with numerous color photos, large and small, of the women at work and with other family members.

The Material World itself is a monumental book, but it was hard to go back to it after reading this book, where we find that the details presented in the Material World were so incredibly superficial. For example, family life for Maria dos Anjos Ferrerira in Brazil or Carmen Balderas de Castillo in Mexico isn't nearly as rosy as one might guess from looking at their original smiling photos in the Material World. On the other hand, Zhanna Kapralova from Russia continues to be a survivor. No matter how much you learn from the Material World, it will be far eclipsed by this book with its extended interviews and additional photographs.

A sequel to the authors' successful, "Material World: A Global Family Portrait," which interviewed 30 "statistically average" families from around the world and photographed them surrounded by all their worldly goods, "Women In The Material World," by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel, revisits 21 women from these families.

With interviews conducted by women over a period of days, even weeks, and 375 color photographs of women captured in their daily lives, this is an absorbing look into an overlooked world of marriage, women's work and families. From female circumcision to divorce, from finances to education, gender roles, work, and friends, women discuss every aspect of their lives - seemingly freely.

Two themes repeat through this largely agricultural world - women's work begins before dawn and ends long after dark and most women feel they have enough children - whatever that number may be.

This is a fascinating, captivating and beautiful volume, to be read, not just browsed.

I first read Material World: a Global family portrait. This one is similar, and has some of the same people in it, but this one focuses on the women in the family, and how she takes care of her family, what she thinks about, how she gets along in life in general.

There are some statistics about the country, things about how much money they make, the literacy rate, etc.. none of it boring. the book makes you feel like you are traveling around the world and meeting all of these people. The pictures are also beautiful.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in other cultures and the way that women live around the world.. i would love to find more books like this. It makes me thankful for how much I have and the opportunities in this country that are open to women!

When I first ordered this book and received it in the mail, after opening the box it came in, sat down right then and there "just to take a peek". Well, let's just say, my short "peek" turned into an interrupted 30 minutes! "Women in the Material World" certainly joins the ranks of "can't-put-down-and-can't-forget-about" books. It is a very worthy sequel to "Material World", in which women from some of the "Material World" families are looked at more closely. Perhaps the most special thing about this book is a long, personal, and intimate interview with each women. The women are surprisingly open in responding about their daily life, their children, their marriage, and their future hopes. "Women in the Material World" simply lets the women speak for themselves, and in the process, breaks down many stereotypes (who would have thought a 58-year Chinese woman would love farming much more than her traditional household duties?)and lets others remain (the secluded life of an Indian woman). Statistics for that country, quick facts about each woman, a brief write-up on conditions for women in each of their countries, and field notes from the photographer further enrich this amazing book. The women in this book will inspire you, challenge you, and never let you forget this book.

I read the book, Women in the Material World after I saw the author at a young women's conference last year. I thought the book was great. It showed many women's points of view on life and the way they live. This book made me think about other women and how we are all very different but also the same. I think this book is very truthful and has a beautiful message. There are not many books like this out there so I commend Faith for writing it.

Women in the Material World was written to correct a defect the author percieved in the previous book The Material World: that the women of the families were neglected subjects by the interviews and photographers. Because the authors chose statically average families, unmarried women, homosexual women and women without children were not chosen--we (I call into one of the above catagories) are a minority and therefore to include us in the book would create a false impression. The questions and replies are not trite. It is almost impossible for those of us used to the unlimited possibilities open to many (but by no means all) to understand how cirumscribed the lives of the vast majoirty of men and women are. Lacking the opporunity to know or understand other ways of living, it is very hard for them to address anything but the day to day issues facing them. Yet the answers given the women in this book are thoughful, insightful and show great compassion. Here, in the US the words diversity and tolerance are bandied about--here is a book that begins to show how different we are in our understanding of ourselves, each other and our place in the world--and also how much we have in common. Now we a book about the most neglected group--Children in the Material World.

A companion to Material World: Portrait of the Global Family, this book is an incredible expose of the lives of typical, average women all over the world. I, as an American woman with everything I could ever possibly dream of, especially appreciate seeing how things may have different for me had God just decided to make me the girl child of a Vietnamese working family vs. my background. It really makes you take stock of your life, appreciate it, and feel blessed no matter what your circumstances may be. America is truly a wealthy and favored nation. Even our poor, compared with most of the countries in the world, are rich! We should all feel compelled to give back, not matter how much (or how little) we have. I've been giving this book to my friends for gifts (thank you, Amazon!) A MUST READ!

After living in ten U.S. states, England and Panama, I am well aware of economical differences between geograpthical areas. This book reminded me of the indoor physical space we Americans take for granted. The sheer luxury of a bedroom separate from the common living area, let alone bedrooms for the parents and each child!

I was thrilled with this book when I first saw it at a friend's house when I was visiting the US. While trying to recover from burn out syndrome, 'reading' photo books works well for me and I enjoyed this book so much because the photos give an incredibly intimate look into the lives of ordinary people around the globe. They capture both love and despair in an amazing way. However, the interviews could have been a lot better. Other reviewers are right that the chosen families are not as representative as we might wish, but at least that is accounted for and I think understandable. What bugs me most is the American bias: the American woman is asked questions on a totally different level than the others, making the others seem sort of stupid on the one hand and frustrating comparison on the other. And I also would like to have had more information about how the interview was done, if the interviewer spoke the woman's language, what may have gotten lost in the translation etc. Still, a great book to have and I wish I could have been part of the team that made it!

This book was terrific. When I read the book MATERIAL WORLD, A GLOBAL FAMILY PORTRAIT, I thought there was no book like it that could be better. Now when I read it, all I wish is to have is WOMEN IN THE MATERIAL WORLD . I cannot believe how good it is. I recomend this book for all ages (I am 11).