AUTHOR: Marjorie J. Spruill
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: February 28th, 2017
GENRE: History, Politics
PREMISE: A non-fiction book delving into the 1977 National Women's Conference and how what happened there was a glimpse of future politics to come...
MY REVIEW: I have so many mixed feelings about this book. I do think it's an important thing to read and many people today could stand to read it. But I have issues with the way the author went about presenting the information because it's clear from the way she presented it, that she is biased and wanted you to feel a certain way about things. I HATE when non-fiction history authors do this. If there's something that doesn't have a lot of info and you do have to guess, then okay I get that. But stuff like this? No, just give us the information and let us come to our own conclusions, please.
Namely, she seemed to want you to sympathize with conservative women and admire Phyllis Schlafly. About eighty percent of this book is spent presenting Schlafly and her group as some amazing united force. Meanwhile, she presents the feminists as an unprepared group that spends too much time in-fighting and whatnot. I thought this was weird and then I went and looked up the writer. She's from the south. And most of the books she's written has to do with southern white women and their great deeds. Which, explains a lot.
Look, feminists are not perfect. I am the first to tell you that. But seriously don't sit there and tell me that Shclafly and her group was better. They did everything they could to undermine progress for women simply because they felt they knew what was best for every woman. That is not something to be admired. And I don't think it's very surprising or admirable they were able to organize very well. They all just had one goal. It's easy to agree and get everyone on board when you have one goal. Feminists, have more then one goal, and everyone wants their goal to be at the fore front and focus on that. So of course, we're not all going to agree on everything. Also, I would like to point out, Shclafly's group is also responsible for a lot the negative and frankly untrue stereotypes you hear about feminists today, such as that lie about how feminism is about hating men.
But one thing this book does do well, is it explained the switch of the political parties that took place during the seventies. It does draw very good links between politics now and politics back then. I just...am not pleased with how biased the author clearly was and how she tried to get you to sympathize with people who were actively trying to take away women's rights.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those interested in political history
MY RATING: Three out of Five flawed takes on history
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