"America's Working Women" should be on a shelf in every woman's home. I am so impressed by the way Baxandall and Gordon use personal stories and wonderful narrative to illustrate the history of women in the labor force.

Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah I have been constantly bombarded with the myth that my place was in the home and that it wasn't my responsibility to have a career. I was encouraged to abandon my career and take on "traditional" female roles. Deep down I knew otherwise, but I didn't have any evidence to support what I believed.

"America's Working Women" dispels the myths and imbues the soul with strength. I highly recommend it to anyone.

I really wanted to give this book higher ratings, but was shocked at how thin the book was compared to my active imagination of a supersized feminist doccument collection. While this would be a superb primer for somebody who is new to feminist theory (especially in the late 20th century) I know there was more to the movement than was included in the selection. For some odd reason, the content was much skimpier than it logically would have been, and the layout left much to be desired for visual asthetics. Photographs of the demonstrations/actions would have helped to break up the monotony of a very intense book and reinforced the energy that the movement exuded. I was disappointed that the book was not more visually engaging for those readers who wanted to delve further into the roller-coaster experience that was the women's movement. Also disappointing is the black and white format of the booklet. Even with less advanced graphic design and mimeograph machines, the women's liberation movement produced some awesome graphics and brochures in vibrant colors. In this respect, the book unwittingly undersells itself to potential audiences--both vetrans and newcomers to feminism alike.

Excellent and well-selected look at the Women's Liberation Movement from those that lived it and made it, offering a glimpse into a time that has gone and cannot return. Sometimes we forget how far we've actually come and how much good the movement has already done, but DEAR SISTERS reminds us of the strides of those in the past, so that we may be inspired for the future. Sometimes angry, sometimes hilarious and sometimes foolish, DEAR SISTERS never makes the mistake of being boring. Subtitled "Dispatches From the Women's Liberation Movement," it offers just that - dispatches from the women on the front lines of the movement from its infancy to well up into the late 90s, telling their story through their own vibrant, unforgettable words and images.

DEAR SISTERS is not COMPLETELY exhaustive; the well-heeled feminist will notice obvious skips over black sheep like Valerie Solanas, who is now the redheaded stepchild of the movement. But as a primer, and a document of the times, there is hardly anything better.

As a fifty-one year old woman who was at one time the epitome of the radical feminist, reading Dear Sisters was a revelation. We really have come a long way, baby. This was a look back at a time that has obviously mellowed in my memory with age. The extreme view point of many of the writings came as a surprise to me, even though I was in the forefront of the movement at the time and most certainly entertained opinions that were no less extreme or radical. I reflect now that in spite of obvious arenas still lacking in parity, women today have much more power, autonomy and equality on most fronts than thiry years ago. Women in positions of authority are not only common today, but accepted and seldom considered an oddity. In spite of the failures to pass the ERA, it is hard to find much support today for keeping women from their just due. Dear Sisters is a facinating reminder that this was not always the case. In spite of the fact that some of the articles included in this book hit me as not just extreme, but also somewhat silly, it is a great historical reference. I would recommend this book not just to other aging feminists like myself, but to the young women of today who may not recognize how dramatically different times were for their mothers. This book will give them a guided tour through the struggle that brought us where we are today.

This book is interesting and worth reading because its subject is interesting. For too long, the suburbs have been treated largely as an object of satire or contempt. Baxandall and Ewen do a good job of contesting this stale perspective, but the book's focus on Long Island - and Levittown in particular, seems unnecessarily narrow, even parochial. They appear to be totally unaware of the similar Levitt developments - also named Levittown - in Pennyslvania and New Jersey. Surely, these might have provided the basis for some useful comparisons. Likewise, the authors appear oblivious to the landmark NJ Supreme Court "Mount Laurel" decisions of the 1970s and 1980s, (chronicled in David Kirp's much better book "Our Town"') which have had national implications for housing policy and which offers a direct challenge to Baxandall and Ewen's claim that developers have shown no interest in low income housing. The authors don't even make very good use of the apparently extensive interviews they conducted with Levittown residents of the 1940s-1960s era. They fail to convey any real sense of the rhythms and rituals of suburban life in this period. In short, this is not a bad book; just a very disappointing one.

"Picture Windows" is a unique analysis of the suburban phenomenon, to be sure. Knowing that it was written by two New York city professors, I approached it with mild trepidation, expecting the familiar attitude of New Yorkers toward Long Islanders. And although that attitude - that Long Islaners, and suburbanites at large, are cretinous, culturally void ciphers - is pretty well suppressed here, Baxandall and Ewen fail to entirely conceal their snobbery, even as they admit to it. In many of the extracts from their interviews of Long Islanders, and in their analyses of these people's thoughts, one detects the faintest smirk of condescension.

Nonetheless, "Picture Windows" is an interesting read. In particular, the chapters about suburban life in the 1950s and the struggles surrounding integration are thoughtful and well written. The first sections cover, in sometimes excruciating detail, the political battles that arose pre- and postwar about who should house the unhoused. Baxandall and Ewen's coverage of the politics of housing can, at times, encourage faster page turning, as the desire to skip over long sections about congressional hearings grows. Perhaps one chapter on this would have sufficed. But the book does pick up speed and reawaken the reader's interest once this background material is exhausted.

For the most part, "Picture Windows" is a worthwhile book. The snobbery the authors question and seemingly decry is not absent, though it is cleverly hidden. One pictures Levittown, enclosed in an enormous glass cage, and the authors, standing at a safe distance taking notes and wondering what it is that makes these suburbanites tick. And some sections read like the phone book and could stand some trimming. Otherwise, for urbanites and suburbanites alike, "Picture Windows" is a useful study.

One final note: Either this book didn't pass through any kind of copy editing and proofreading stages at all, or those doing the jobs were watching the game and having a Bud at the time. It seemed not a page went by without some glaring grammatical or typographical error. Hopefully, the problems will be corrected in future printings.

Is living in the suburbs, the nice green lawns, the big houses, the picture perfect family life that seems to be accepted norm? Picture Windows may paint a completely different outlook and you might be surprise to read what they have to say.

Thinking the book was another liberal based, social agenda book, I discovered that the book details how suburbs have evolved over the lat 100 years and how stereo typical attitudes have perpetuated the myths I have come to accept.

The authors' breakdown the essence of the suburbia lifestyles showing you the evolution of the growth of communities away from the big city. They also explain how racial segregation, women's' liberation, integration and immigration have all played a part in the growth of suburbs.

The Authors' provide convincing arguments, and while I may not agree with some of the points, I found that they had provided facts to back up their claims. The book is an easy read and most enjoyable. You can check out Basic Books web site for more information.