Bachelor Girl: The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "We all grow up with images of single life..." (more)
Key Phrases: singly blessed, new spinster, bachelor girl, New York, New England, World War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While historians have studied various subsets of women working class, professional, radical, etc., little attention has been paid to the single woman. As journalist Israel documents in this impressive history of single women in America from the Industrial Revolution to modern times, these women have maintained a flourishing subculture, despite attacks and ridicule by the media. While focusing primarily on white, middle-class Manhattan women, Israel draws on a variety of sources, movies, popular novels, magazine and newspaper features that shape the single-woman experience for the broader population. "B-girls" bachelor or bohemian, have always been with us, some from lack of marriage prospects, true, but many by preference. Israel says it's mainly the appeal of the companionship of other women and the desire for independence from marital suppression that keeps these women from tying the knot. Social acceptance of singletons has flip-flopped over the generations. Positive icons, including the emancipated New Woman, settlement house professionals, WWII's Rosie the Riveter, and liberated '70s "chicks," have alternated with scary images of frigid, lonely Old Maids staring at their used-up biological clocks. But even as social critics have changed their tunes about how much rope to allow these women, the women themselves brave factory girls, Bowery Girls, "shoppies," Greenwich Village bohemians, flappers, Murphy Browns and Bridget Joneses have been tough enough to have it "their way." Israel's witty and provocative look at a topic dear to many women deserves wide readership.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Journalist Israel (Growing Up Fast) writes wittily but reveals few "secrets" about single women in this chronicle of white, never-married women in New York City since the 18th-century. In describing settlement workers and immigrant factory girls, sales clerks and office workers, she draws copiously from standard secondary accounts, and from the popular press she gleans evidence of the derisive stereotypes that accompany the lived experience. As her narrative traverses the century, we encounter "Rosie the Riveter," the desperate women of the 1950s, the liberated witches of the second wave of feminism, and, finally, their disillusioned daughters. Although her bibliography is impressive, this popular history lacks specific citations, and some of her generalizations are misleading. More important, most of the women she discusses are not single so much as not yet married; she says little about the mature single woman, the divorcee, the widow, or the women who cohabit without marriage and virtually nothing about black women, who are more likely to live unmarried throughout adulthood. Still, libraries might consider. Morrow plans a major marketing campaign, and urban public libraries will likely experience a demand.
Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (October 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380976498
• ISBN-13: 978-0380976492
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,090,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read, December 27, 2002

By	Sara (New York) - See all my reviews

"Bachelor Girl" is an exhaustive history of single women beginning in the mid-19th century to present day (although the author spends a lot more time on the first half of the 20th century). I had no idea the lives of single women back then were so interesting. Betsy Israel discusses their jobs/careers, how they lived, and how they affected American culture. The title, though, is a bit misleading--the bulk of the book deals with how the media and society viewed single women through the ages, not on their "secret lives." My only complaint about the book was the last chapter about the modern single woman. As a single woman a few years out of college, I didn't relate at all to anything she discussed. Especially the section on "baby brides" where she describes girls fresh out of college getting married. Who is she talking about?? None of my friends from college (male or female) are engaged or married, or close to it. As far as I know, marriage among recent college grads is a rarity. She fails to point out that people from certain groups tend to get married younger than average (i.e., people in the military, deeply religious people, people from certain ethnic groups). I think she glossed over things too much in the last section. She also kind of has the consensus that singles have an "uncomfortable place in society." Huh?? As a single, I just don't see it.

But I did agree with the message she gave at the end, that everyone, whether they choose to get married or not, should make their own decisions, and the media should stop bothering them about it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars transdendant insight into single life, November 25, 2002

By A Customer

I have never read such a worthwhile book on single women. There are so many other books that claim to cover it all about single life, but I have never found one that takes in the whole picture--how single life developed in the US, going back a century, and how our attitudes and negative views of single women were forged over time. This is a media history. It's women's history. It's a story of how popular images have infected our ability to see single women with any honesty. Organized according to icons and "media archetypes" it's also a fun and fascinating read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Detailed History of Single, but City, Girls, January 22, 2003

By	Cailen Wevodau (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was a very interesting history of single women in the last 150 years. The author did extensive research on the topic. One shortcoming that the author acknowledges--the book focuses too much on being a single woman in New York City. She does not address the history of single women on a national level. Still, it is an interesting read and I would recommend it.