Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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!

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.

What an incredibly well researched and well written book. For all of us who have struggled with living in a world different than the one we were brought up to live in, it really hits home and validates all those conflicting feelings that we have about who we are and what our roles are in today's world. And for the men who were raised by the same parents who raised us, and don't understand our struggle and why we aren't just like 'mom' this is a must read. And every marriage counselor who works with 'boomer' couples should read it, too.

Instead of characterizing women born in the 1940s and 50s as selfish, anti-male, unappealing and unattractive, the authors portray them as questioning and adventurous, with an incredible enİhusiasm for learning and life. In my own doctoral reseach, when I asked middle-age women if their lives were better than that of their "silent" mothers (the post-Depression, post World War II housewives), they replied, "Different, not better." They admitted that they have many more alternatives than their mothers had, which makes their lives more complicated. To guide women through this multitude of lifestyle choices, the authors offer "New Truths" and advice for young women. Their positive portrayal of midlife women inspires women who read the book to have confidence in the often rocky road of their own career and personal development.

An important contribution to the literature of the social history of women in the 2nd half of this century. Contains material previously unstudied and not available elsewhere. Starting from the old paradigms of the female code of conduct this book moves through the lives of the women who were able to create their own paradigm. We learn that the costs and rewards were great and therefore how critical it is to understand how this resonates with the women from this generation. Ultimately we must come to grips with how their journey changed the social constuct of male/female relationships and produced the achievement oriented women of today.This notable book accomplishes all that and more. A good read with thought provoking insights that you will ponder long after the book is read.

I am one of the 100 women who were interviewed 5 years ago for this book. I didn't realize the in depth discovery of our generation. As a woman business owner, I didn't have a role model as women do now in the 90's.

This book gives insight into our every day lives and decisions of women of our generation. What fascinated me was that I could relate to every page. I have given away many of these books to close friends and childhood friends that I grew up with. We are all successful and made way for women in business and technology as well as other fields that were dominated by men.

Terrific!!!!

Bren Norris Bren Norris Associates Inc Bren International

What a wonderful reading discovery!!! This certainly gave me new insights as a male species! Since I'm "bordering" that age group on the "far side" age wise, this book by Drs. Evans & Avis certainly gives me thought provoking insights into the lives of women around me! As for the writing - where have these two credible authors been hiding? I'd love to see more of their work! With their intuitive natures, I can see a similar book for men of the same period by these two brilliant authors. This book should be a "MUST READ" for all men between the ages of 21 & 60! Maybe you'd understand your grandmothers, mothers, sisters, co-workers, friends in a slightly different way! My eyes have been opened wider! Thanks, Dr. Joan Avis and Dr. Susan Evans! Kudo's!!!! :)

Evans and Avis have started to reconstruct the last chapters of Simone DeBeauvoir's book "The Second Sex." When I first read DeBeauvoir's book in 1973 I was dazzled by her essays, particularly 'Situation and Character' and the 'Formative Years.' Still, I recall being disappointed by the chapter on the 'Independent Woman.' It puzzled me that she didn't seem to have much to say that was new, fresh or interesting, and I was hungry for that examination. Perhaps too, my American sensibility expected a kind of formula on how to proceed. In retrospect, I have reconciled that women had neither succeeded nor failed on a public stage long enough for DeBeauvoir to have invoked a deeper analysis. This book makes an important contribution in beginning to record and analyze stories from this transitional group that the authors so accurately call the torchbearer generation. I think other readers would enjoy this book as much as I did.

I very much enjoyed THE WOMEN WHO BROKE ALL THE RULES. As a member of the "Torchbearer" generation, I found it interesting to compare my own life choices with those of the women where were interviewed for the book and to realize that I did make some rather astounding choices in my own life. I think a younger generation of women would enjoy the book very much--it puts into perspective the status quo we all experienced and challenged. So many ideas and situations that are available to women today exist because of the ground-breaking done by the Torchbearer generation. In addition, the book is a reminder that change is always possible and that some rules were meant to be broken.