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Like any journalist worth her salt,
renowned news correspondent Cokie Roberts knows how to ask
the tough questions.
In We Are Our Mothers' Daughters,
she poses what has long been a real doozy: "What is
woman's place?"
As you might guess, her answer is
manifold, reflected by the table of contents, which reads
like the Career Day schedule at a progressive girls'
school: Sister, Politician, Consumer Advocate, Aunt,
Soldier, First Class Mechanic, Friend, Reporter, Civil
Rights Activist, Wife, Mother/Daughter, Enterpriser.
Roberts makes no claims about this
being groundbreaking research, or even an exacting
investigation, rather, she explains that these are simply
her own stories, and those of women she has come in
contact with at different times and places in her life.
Having graduated from Wellesley
College in 1964, Roberts explains that the women of her
generation were pioneers in many ways--especially when it
came to career and workplace issues: "We were the first
women at almost everything we did, and most of us often
had the experience of being the only woman in the room."
Accordingly, many of her essays are
political in nature: the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act (which included "sex" as a prohibited discrimination
category by virtual accident); the work of consumer
advocate Esther Peterson; and the history of women in the
military.
But for Roberts, it's clear that the
personal is political, and many stories, while not overtly
activist--her older sister's death, her circle of female
friends, and her experiences as a wife, mother, and
reporter--reveal the importance she places on a united
community of strong women.
Using clean, compelling language
throughout, Roberts compiles these different stories to
reveal a thread of continuity running through the fabric
of women, summarizing, "We are connected throughout time
and regardless of place."
She ends with a message of
encouragement for young women--that we need only look as
far as our foremothers for inspiration.
--Brangien Davis, Amazon.com Kids
Editor
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