Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century

Rosalind Rosenberg, professor of history at Barnard College, is the author of Beyond Separate Spheres: Intellectual Roots of Modern Feminism.

American women have made great strides in the last century to win personal autonomy, sexual freedom, economic independence, and legal rights. Yet the vast majority of them still assume the domestic burdens that leave men free to play their traditional public roles. Examining women's lives in the larger context of U.S. social and political history, Rosenberg shows how American traditions of federalism, racial and ethnic diversity, geographic mobility, and relative abundance have both aided and hindered women's strides toward equality. This informed analysis of the leaders, goals, and setbacks of the women's movement is a landmark study.

"Historians of women have been predicting all along that retrieving women's past would eventually alter the dominant narrative in American history. In this clear, concise, and readable volume, Rosalind Rosenberg has brought her considerable abilities to bear on the task of revising mainstream accounts. She gives voice not just to gender issues but also to those of race and class, and strives mightily to include a widely diverse collection of individuals and groups. Telling a story sensitive to difference, but mindful of commonalities, Divided Lives is a truly admirable achievement."—Regina Morantz-Sanchez, University of Michigan

"Historians of women have been predicting all along that retrieving women's past would eventually alter the dominant narrative in American history. In this clear, concise, and readable volume, Rosalind Rosenberg has brought her considerable abilities to bear on the task of revising mainstream accounts. She gives voice not just to gender issues but also to those of race and class, and strives mightily to include a widely diverse collection of individuals and groups. Telling a story sensitive to difference, but mindful of commonalities, Divided Lives is a truly admirable achievement."—Regina Morantz-Sanchez, University of Michigan

"The best available introduction to the full range of women's experiences in twentieth-century America."—D'Ann Campbell, Indiana University

"From the opening pages where a moving story of Zora Neale Hurston's birth unfolds to the closing chapter confronting the feminization of poverty, Divided Lives provides a superbly crafted survey. The chorus of women's voices featured in Rosenberg's compelling narrative affords students and scholars alike a comprehensive yet compact guide to women's experiences over the past century."—Catherine Clinton,Queen's University, Belfast, and author of Plantation Mistress and The Other Civil War