Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties

By Wini Breines

Book Overview

Young, White, and Miserable is a critically acclaimed study that compellingly shows how the feminist movement of the 1960s found momentum in the seemingly peaceable time of the 1950s. Wini Breines explores white middle class America and argues that mixed messages given to girls during this decade lent fuel to the fire that would later become known as feminism. Concluding with a look at the life and suicide of social scientist Anne Parsons, this book is a poignant and important look into conditions that led to the women's movement.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226072614
• ISBN13: 9780226072616
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The era of my mothers....

The fifties and sixties have always been an inspiring time that I love studying. My parents grew up and struggled through this era. Many movies and books have been made about this era but Breines really brings new light to girls and women's lives during this period. Aspects of life that we take for granted these days (such as the increase of music group created solely for the young teen audience) have originated during this time. The same girls who cooed over the Beatles became the feminists of the sixties where they rebelled against the system. Breines examines the aspects of women struggled within this culture and the conflicts they encountered. Dealing with the ideology of domesticity and longing for the freedoms of education and sexual choice. It is a wonderful glance into how women idealized the "superwoman" concept they still suffer with today. An excellent read for anyone interested in the origin of the second wave of feminism or the fifties and sixties in general.