The Women Who Broke All the Rules: How the Choices of a Generation Changed Our Lives [Paperback]

Joan Avis Ph.D. (Author), Susan Evans Ed.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

Life turns out in ways you never expected.

The eighteen million women born in the first years of the baby boom grew up anticipating a life of rules--go to college, get married, have a family. But when the time came, the cultural, social and political tumult of the late 1960s catapulted them into options that no previous generation had even considered.

The Women Who Broke All the Rules is the first book to celebrate the ordinary but extraordinary women who made decisions that have changed every woman's life. Against extreme odds and without role models, these women made unprecedented life choices--in marriage, childbearing, education and work. By breaking every rule in the "good girl" handbook, they defined new ways for adult women to live. You will recognize yourself, your family and your friends in these pages.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

YA-This breezy, conversational book recounts the stories of 100 women born between 1945 and 1955. While their individual successes were not noteworthy, their collective actions improved conditions and provided opportunities for young women today. Most of the individuals profiled came from traditional, middle-class families that expected their daughters to get an education, get married, and have a family-in that order-certainly by their early 20s. Evans and Avis traced the behavior-changing factors in 1960s and 1970s society-birth control and abortion, women's rights legislation, the escalating divorce rate, and increased career opportunities-that affected these young women. Their stories involve drug use, abuse, and free sex widely practiced at the time. Remarkably, they overcame their difficulties and turned their lives around. The book will provide today's youth with good insight into the conditions of the period, all the more credible in that the stories included were from "ordinary" women. An interesting read that will hold the attention of most teens.
Jean Johnston, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

American women born between 1945 and 1955 came of age during a unique historical period. These women, raised with the traditional expectations of college, marriage and motherhood, reached adolescence during a time of enormous social change. How did this transitional generation negotiate unheard of freedoms and choices for women that most women now take for granted?

The result is a very engaging social history of ordinary women with extraordinary stories. Diane, a marketing director for a large computer company, talks about the conflict between her childhood training and her current life: "I grew up in the purest, most unadulterated structure -- a Catholic female upbringing. I remember going to politeness classes where they taught us how to eat potato chips with a spoon. I was conditioned for a life which I am not living."

Of interest is the appendix, which contains the interview questionnaire, which readers can take themselves, or use to interview their female friends and relatives. Also rewarding is a segment on advice for younger women. Although the book is almost exclusively a social history of white, middle-class American women, it does include a few stories from African-American, Asian-American and Latino women. Specifically tailored for a general audience, the book would benefit a sociology or women's studies course, or provide the foundation for an oral history project. The authors conclude: "We encourage Torchbearers to accept that they are trailblazers who deserve credit for their individual and generational achievements. They are members of a lucky generation, but it was not luck that brought them to where they are today...Remember that the only thing permanent is change." -- Foreword magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks; First Printing edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570714282
• ISBN-13: 978-1570714283
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable generation comes alive on all the pages!, August 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Who Broke All the Rules: How the Choices of a Generation Changed Our Lives (Hardcover)

The result of Evans and Avis's five-year collaboration is an extraordinary book, The Women who Broke all the Rules, containing stories based on ideas, motivations, and behaviors of 100 selected female representatives of the Torchbearer Generation (individuals born between 1945 and 1955). By utilizing an effective interview questionnaire, designed by the authors and provided in the Appendix, as well as by conducting extensive face-to-face interviews, Evans and Avis have accomplished a difficult task. They have successfully managed to combine four decades of thousands of childhood, adolescent, and adult memories into an enticing exploration of American social history.

Pleasantly surprising, these 100 Torchbearers are not easily recognized public figures, superstars, or celebrities. Instead, they may be readily distinguished as any one of our own trusted wives, older sisters, younger sisters, cousins, aunts, friends, and colleagues who have had to "reconcile their 1950s childhoods with their more liberated adult selves." Whether married, divorced, remarried, childless, with children, or invested in any other combination of personal realities, the self-made female heroes in this book are cleverly discussed within the concepts of "old rules" (e.g, "Your families' values, beliefs, and practices should be yours") or "new truths" (e.g., "Honor your traditions but act on what you think is right"). Understandable, engaging, and thought-provoking, this fine piece of work presents significant "choices" to think about and discuss with friends, lovers, or family members.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Torchbearers' Daughters: Flame- Throwers and Fire-Tenders, April 9, 2000

By 

Libby Clark ""writer, reader" (Strangely, living in Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women Who Broke All the Rules: How the Choices of a Generation Changed Our Lives (Paperback)

As the daughter of a true Torchbearer, I deeply appreciate the candor, humor, and professionalism with which this book analyzes these women's lives. So many books have been written in the "spirit" of celebrating all women and their achievements, but they seem to be long on sentiment and theory and short on real research. Evans and Avis carefully structured their research to include women's persepctives about all areas of their lives but also leave the reader a great deal of room to understand and infer what s/he will. I also agree that most Torchbearers do not take enough credit for their culture-changing actions and attitudes, and I truly look forward to the day when (hopefully) my daughter and I can watch a "History of Women's Empowerment" program, and I can say to her that her grandmother was a woman who broke all the rules. More than any other I have ever read (and, as a psych major, I have read many), this book explains my mother as a member of this generation in a way I never could understand before. Plus, I now know that she really was part of a movement that, not unlike the civil rights movement, was part personal and part political. It brought Bell Hook home to me for the first time, without quoting her once.

I think this book is a must-read for all daughters AND SONS of Torchbearer mothers.

Just a hint, though, to those TB's rushing immediately to Amazon.com: You raised these kids, you know they won't read it if YOU suggest it : ) ha ha

One final note: I came to Amazon.com today for the first time ever (although I have previously used many e-commerce sites) expressly to buy 10 copies of this book to mail to my other 20-something girlfriends. Hey gen-x'ers: it's really THAT good!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars APPRECIATING THE WOMEN WHO CAME BEFORE US, August 31, 1999

By 

Tamara Monosoff ([e-mail]) (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Who Broke All the Rules: How the Choices of a Generation Changed Our Lives (Hardcover)

REVIEW: The authors of WOMEN WHO BROKE ALL THE RULES illustrate the lives of women born during the baby boom era (1945-1955). A captivating story, read in a single sitting, about women who challenged existing social strictures by forging into professional fields previously closed to them. Most important for my generation to appreciate is the fact that they had to do so without the benefit of role models and mentors, which they now have become to those of us born in the 1960's. To hear how these ordinary yet exceptional women triumphed after immense struggles and conflicts they encountered in their lives, left me with a great sense of appreciation for what they went through personally, as well as,what they accomplished for women who have followed. This book should be required reading for both high schools and universities so that generations coming after the baby boom era can be reminded that the innumerable opportunities that exist today for women must not be taken for granted. Dr. Susan Evans and Dr. Joan Avis portray the lives of these women within the context of "Old Rules"--existing social constructs, and "New Truths"- the discoveries made when breaking the "Old Rules." This method perfectly illustrates the broad social impact of their individual acts of courage and their trail blazing spirits. The actions of these women literally forced society to think and act differently. I recommend and applaud this book and thank the women of the baby boom generation.