Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century

by Susan Ware

Book Overview

In wanting to think through modern women's history, Susan Ware found herself drawn to seven larger-than-life women who influenced not only their professions--politics, journalism, anthropology, acting, sports, dance, and music--but also the way women saw themselves and their options in life. Ware recovers the people behind the legends of Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Thompson, Margaret Mead, Katharine Hepburn, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Martha Graham,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393046524
• ISBN13: 9780393046526
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Great book on significant women

This is a great book on seven significant women of the 20th Century.The author has become thoroughly familiar with each of her subjects, and in writing on her subjects, beautifully blends details of her subjects' lives, with thoughtful insights on her subjects' impact on their world, in a very readable fashion.I picked up the book from the library for its chapter on Marian Anderson. On Ms. Anderson, the author writes that "when an elegant, beautiful black woman like Marian Anderson became a success, and did so with dignity and class, this message undermined the basis for racism in the first place, by revealing a black woman who in every way but her skin color matched the most successful whites." I then continued on to read the portrayals of the other seven women.Even if you've read multiple biographies on the women portrayed in this book -- Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Thompson, Margaret Mead, Katharine Hepburn, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Martha Graham -- you will pick up something new and interesting in the chapters of this book. If some of these women are new to you, you will get to know them as new and interesting friends. I did lean more toward the chapters on the women I was more familiar with -- Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, Katharine Hepburn, and Marian Anderson.