Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology [Paperback]

Jill Ker Conway (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1992

The bestselling author of The Road from Coorain presents an extraordinarily powerful anthology of the autobiographical writings of 25 women, literary predecessors and contemporaries that include Jane Addams, Zora Neale Hurst, Harriet Jacobs, Ellen Glasgow, Maya Angelou, Sara Josephine Baker, Margaret Mead, Gloria Steinem, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jill Ker Conway (The Road from Coorain ) edits this sterling selection of autobiographical excerpts by 25 American women. Among them are artists, scientists, doctors, writers, and reformers, all well chosen though not necessarily well known. Physician Anne Walter Fearn writes of decades dispensing Western medicine in China and struggling with her husband, a God-fearing medical missionary who was "born to give orders just as definitely as I was born not to take them." The heart-rending narrative of former slave Harriet Ann Jacob, who tells of abortive and finally successful attempts to free herself and her children segues into Maya Angelou's more widely read contemporary account of doggedly soliciting sex as a teen uncertain of her sexual identity and hoping to be ushered into "that strange and exotic land of frills and femininity."

From Library Journal

The autobiographies in this collection are by women of extraordinary achievement--some well known, some neglected through the generations--who overcame daunting obstacles to pursue their individual destinies in an often hostile, changing America. The narratives, chosen and edited by historian Conway, a former president of Smith College, are grouped into the areas of freedom-fighting, science, arts and letters, and social reform. Among the women relaying their encounters with discrimination are Marian Anderson, preeminent black contralto, who was celebrated in Europe but barred from appearing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., and Margaret Mead, the renowned anthropologist, who refused a "safe" field assignment and forged her own way in Samoa. Many, like writer Zora Neale Hurston, emerged from broken or impoverished families to pursue an education and find a way to support themselves and their families. The strong, clear voices of the trailblazers found in this exemplary anthology reveal a sheer delight in excellence, adventure, and intellectual challenge. Essential for public and academic libraries.
- Amy Boaz , "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st edition (November 17, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679736336
• ISBN-13: 978-0679736332
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant compilation of women's stories, December 7, 1999

By 

Debbie Terrill - See all my reviews

This review is from: Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology (Paperback)

Jill Ker Conway is a good writer and editor. She has collected here a group of American women's stories, all of which are fascinating. Before each memoir, she writes a short explanation, but it is the women's stories that stick with you. The ones that stuck with me most were the one of the escaping slave woman, who hid in an attic crawl space for almost a year, so desperate was she for freedom -- and the one written by Margaret Sanger. I give this book frequently as a gift to young women -- for Bat Mitzvah, graduation, to mark some important milestone in their lives. By reading about other women's struggles to define their lives, you learn more about your own.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and inspirational, June 29, 2002

By 

Linda Deak (Wassenaar Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology (Paperback)

I discovered this book on my own, no one told me about it. I bought it mostly on the strength of Jill Ker Conway's writings. I trust her judgement.
This book is now at the top of my favorites. It is a compilation of twenty-five autobigraphical sketches, written with truth, genius and verve, each one of them. I had to take them one at a time, letting each one digest before I went on. Each time I thought, phew, the next one won't match up and yet it did. The voices and stories are extraordinary. I am going to buy it as a gift over and over again. It is more than a jewel. It is a necklace of gems.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intrigued as well as informed me, September 16, 2007

By 

Nina M. Osier (Randolph, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology (Paperback)

This anthology includes both previously published and previously unpublished memoirs, some by women whose names I recognized and others by women whose names I'd never heard before. Editor Jill Ker Conway, author of The Road from Coorain, has selected a true cross section. Physicians trained in the days when "ladies" simply didn't enter that profession, scientists, activists, and scholars, each writer speaks powerfully in her own voice; and the result is a work that intrigued as well as informed me. I'm looking forward to reading the second volume.