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When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.
By Gail Collins.
New Book Shelf HQ 1421 C64 2009

New York Times columnist Gail Collins’ latest book showcases the incredible journey of American women over the past 50 years. Ms. Collins first explores an era when women were not allowed to sit on juries in some states; she then follows the progress of the women’s movement and the civil rights movement as the passion for equality caught fire across the country.

This new title weaves the compelling stories of more than 100 women, ranging in age from 20 to 80 and includes information on dozens of well- and lesser-known female leaders, including Sherri Finkbine, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Alice Paul, Margaret Chase Smith, Phyllis Schlafly, Helen Gurley Brown and Billy Jean King. The author provides examples of the sexism that women (and men) once accepted as the norm, and she backs up her often eye-opening stories with hard facts and solid statistics. From the opening anecdote of a woman expelled from traffic court in 1960 for appearing in slacks, to the closing one of a woman fired from her job as a bus driver in 2007 for refusing to wear slacks, this an engrossing account of how not just the daily lives, but the assumptions and expectations of women have changed so much in so short a time.

Check out, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present available now in the library on the New Book Shelf New Book Shelf HQ 1421 C64 2009