Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling Biography, December 28, 2006
In this compelling biography, author Joyce Daniels creates a sensitive and humorous portrait of Jackie Day, from her humble beginnings to her active and dedicated eightieth decade. Daniels distills countless interviews with Jackie Day, her colleagues and her family into an engaging narrative, peppered with Jackie's own colorful language, stories, and jokes. I found myself laughing out loud at some of Jackie's unique phrases and tales.
Daniels chooses just the right stories and examples to give readers a
multi-dimensional picture of Jackie. Daniels' own skills as a storyteller
are evident when she narrates her interactions with Jackie. Jackie Day comes alive on the page.
In addition, Daniels allows Jackie Day's colleagues and family members to
speak for themselves, adding an even deeper understanding of the Old Wolf
Lady. In The Old Wolf Lady, Daniels has
created an engaging record of an important woman's life and her
contributions to Iowa and women's history.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring Read for Local Politicians, December 3, 2006
Born in the Southeast Bottoms of Des Moines in 1918, using the family bathtub for her bed until she was four, Jacqueline H. Armstrong Day, AKA Jackie Day, emerged from a poverty-stricken childhood as a feisty scrapper who became active in the Republican party on local, state, and national levels. Day turned her father's colorful, raw expressions into a Jackie Day trademark that is fondly remembered in this book by former Iowa governor Robert Ray and former journalist Dolph Pullium, among others. Jackie Day rose above the expectations of women in her time, working as a member of the Nurse's Aid Corps with returning WWII vets, helping organize the National Republican Convention in San Francisco in 1956, serving as Secretary of the Iowa Headquarters at the National Republican Convention in Chicago in 1960, and traveling in 1967 to Vietnam with an Iowa delegation on a fact-finding mission.
Joyce Daniels, Iowa writer and college professor, writes with humor, admiration, and charm about her uncle's wife, who is described by others as "a master mechanic for the Republican party," "a sparkling woman of uncut realism," and a woman with "Betty Grable legs." Daniels shares Jackie-isms, like "Life shouldn't be a spectator sport," and "The easiest way to resent your age is to regret the things you haven't done." And then there are the many anecdotes, like the time Jackie "dry gulched" Gene Autry, cowboy movie star: in order to make room for the Iowa headquarters for the National Republican Convention, she sent him packing from a San Francisco hotel he had refused to leave. Daniels writes, "As the 200 Iowa delegates began to arrive, Jackie simply gave them the number of Autry's suite and told them it was the place to pick up their tickets and credentials." Autry finally realized "he was facing a faster gun" and moved out.
The Old Wolf Lady inspires us all with its depiction of a common woman who used her natural strengths and passions to live fully and to make a difference.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Important Life Lessons, September 12, 2006
The Old Wolf Lady by Joyce Daniels is a wonderful, heartfelt book about Jacqueline Day, a woman who lived life on her terms. Daniels paints a vivid picture of an assertive woman of action who refused to play the role others prescribed for her. She brought attention to the inequality of women, soldiers fighting and dying in Vietnam, racial issues and the plight of Native Americans. The Old Wolf Lady should be an integral part of every women's study group not only in the United States, but throughout the world. But its lessons are not restricted only to women. The book also speaks to the universal issues of love, faith, honor, dedication and good old-fashioned `horse sense'. The Old Wolf Lady is a must read for anyone who seeks a glimpse of a woman who knew how to live life to the fullest.
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