Second to None: A Documentary History of American Women. Volume 2, From 1865 to the Present
Present in this collection of documents are the famous-Pocahontas, Anne Bradstreet, Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Friedan, and Anita Hill-and those many anonymous and invisible women of American history-a Hopi bride, an indentured servant, an unwed mother, an immigrant. This collection is remarkable for its breadth and diversity. Volume 1 uses 153 selections and 55 illustrations to cover the period from just prior to white settlement through the Civil War, while Volume 2 uses 122 selections and 56 illustrations to cover the period 1865 to the present. Along with diaries, letters, and poems are excerpts from captivity narratives, court and legal documents, advertisements, myths from oral traditions, and gravestone inscriptions. Each volume is divided into sections, first chronologically and then by whatever typified women's experience during that period. Selections vary in length from a few lines to three or four pages, and each section and selection is preceded by valuable introductory material from the editors. Historians Moynihan, Cynthia Russett, and Laurie Crumpacker have produced in these volumes an exceptional resource for students of women's history. While there are a few recent documentary histories of American women (see Early American Women: A Documentary History, 1600-1900, edited by Nancy Woloch, Wadsworth, 1992; and Modern American Women, edited by Susan Ware, Wadsworth, 1989), none matches the scope of this work. Recommended for academic collections but accessible to the interested general reader as well.Linda V. Carlisle, Southern Illinois Univ., EdwardsvilleCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.