Old Wife's Tale, An: My Seven Decades in Love and War

By Midge Decter

Book Overview

An outspoken opponent of ideological feminism dissects the changing roles of women over the last fifty years in this energetic, pithy memoir. Over the past few years, young voices from Katie Roiphe to Wendy Shalit have started to question the assumptions of women's lives since the advent of feminism and the sexual revolution. But how did we get from there to here? A well-known essayist, editor, and lecturer, Midge Decter's conservative stands on modern social issues have historically raised controversy. An Old Wife's Tale is her thoughtful, pointed examination of the role of women over the last sixty years, as viewed through the lens of her own life. From stories of her youth during after World War II to wry observations about the supposedly oppressed housewives who were her peers in suburban Long Island, to analysis of her later roles as single mother, publishing executive, happily married woman, and doting grandmother, Decter takes unstinting aim at those who in her view have completely reordered the roles and expectations of both men and women--with confusion and misery the result for both.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060989009
• ISBN13: 9780060989002
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Freaking Brilliant....

Midge Decter may be the most eloquent female "Don Giovanni" since the Wife of Bath! Incredible stuff -- particularly her long (and sometimes painfully clinical) study of the clitoral orgasm. Decter may no longer consider herself a feminist, but her book is positively jam-packed with what Simone de Beauvoir called the "joie de Tel Aviv."

I have waited decades to read what she wrote.

I am of the same generation as Decter. She followed the lives of women chronologically during the past about fifty years up to the present. Her observations are exactly correct. It is very obvious how and why the lives of many of the younger women today are confused and in turmoil as a direct result of the feminist movement. We older gals are thankful that we were not and are not a part of the victimization imposed upon women the past thirty or so years. We like and love ourselves, our families and friends, and our men.

Claims to be Everywoman

I was initially put off by Decter's claim that she is a sort of Everywoman of the past 30 or so years. But I was surprised at how true it turned out to be. Her comments on most women's inner fears over the sexual revolution and the prospect of life without "a man" jived completely with my memories of the period. Her descriptions of the political climates of recent presidencies were also right on target.

WHAT???

This is a very well written book offers a chronicle of American life since the 1940s that would be hard to match in wisdom on subjects ranging from the relations between the sexes to the relations between America and the world.Midge Decter is known for her frequently ocntroversial stands on modern social issues. An Old Wife's Tale is her thoughtful examination of the lives of American women and men over the last 60 years, as viewed through the lens ofher own life. From stories of her youth during World War II-when Dectoer and her friends learned that "only the class beauty and the class tramp had no difficulty with the dating system"-to a surprising and often hilarious picture of what the Fifties were really like, to an account of her later roles as single mother, publishing executive, happily married woman, political iconoclast, and doting grandmother, Decter paints a singular portrait of a life lived on the front lines of American culture

Review in 12/3/01 Weekly Standard

Apologies--this is not a review, simply a note to where to find one. There's an appreciation of Decter's life and works in the 12/3/01 Weekly Standard.