Joy Ding’s Review Of Lynn Gilbert’s Oral History Profiles, Particular Passions

This review was posted in 'Synchronized Chaos' in honor of March being National Women’s History Month.

Particular Passions: Talks with Women Who Have Shaped Our Times is a treat and an essential read for any woman out to make history. Written by Lynn Gilbert with the help of Gaylen Moore, Particular Passions brings together forty-six profiles of accomplished women such as Betty Friedan, Julia Child, and Gloria Steinem. With every chapter, the reader gets the opportunity to meet and become intimately acquainted with the life, decisions, and experiences of a woman accomplished in her own right, in fields as disparate as science and dance. Gilbert’s black and white photographs show each woman with dignity and honesty, and her decision to use the oral history format is a stroke of genius, allowing each woman to speak for herself in first-person.

Gilbert’s chapter on Agnes de Mille is no exception. Rather than merely covering de Mille’s background—an American choreographer and dancer whose work elevated dance in musical theater from mere accessory between acts, to the story-telling function it serves today – Gilbert’s oral history brings out de Mille’s self-effacing humor, stubborn perseverance, and drive to make things better for artists.

 Selected excerpts from the Agnes de Mille chapter:

“I think it is a miracle that I turned into anything of worth…I was the petted daughter in a fairly wealthy household, in which being a lady was the thing.”

“It was very rough going out into the world…my work wasn’t good enough, my technique wasn’t sound enough, my hair would fall down, my stockings were wrinkled. It just wasn’t professional…I didn’t have a classic body. I had a long torso and shortish legs. They are pretty legs, but very short. What I did have was a real acting ability and inventive, creative thought. I couldn’t fit into the mold so I made my own, that’s all.”

“I didn’t set out to change the world of dance. I had to do it because nobody cared a damn about dancing and I got fed up with people’s ignorance and indifference; particularly the American men scorned it.“

Even though the oral history format effectively removes Gilbert from the transcript, the expansiveness and gleam of each profile testifies to her ability to ask questions and to draw meaningful stories out of her subjects. Particular Passions is a rare gift to the women’s movement, providing forty-six unique role models to inspire the next generation of leaders.

Joy Ding is a writer living in San Francisco. You can reach her at joy.j.ding@gmail.com.

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: Will women ever be included in the Vatican?

The Vatican, an august and regal place fitting royalty, protects the rituals of the Catholic Church whose doctrine on faith and morals is seen as infallible. (Wikipedia)

Papal Conclave 2013

The Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world. (Wikipedia). Curious then, that a humanitarian institution denies women in their community and the world imbues the church with this power, in spite of the rampant pedophilia and scandals in the Church.

Why should women, who are the majority of the population, have to plead for a place in the sun. Read the story of Betty Friedan, whose book 'The Feminine Mystique' galvanized a grass roots movement to change women’s role in society.

From one review: "Tantalizing glimpses into the lives of women who have not only made a living at their own “particular passion,” but have become well known, even world renowned, for doing work they love." — Christian Science Monitor. 

The chapter is available at Amazon and Apple for just $0.99

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: HAVING IT ALL?

Mary Cassatt - La Toilette (1891)

Thirty years ago, after Betty Friedan who set the second women’s movement in motion in the 1960’s, thought that the guilts of motherhood would have abated.

“The way... you can have children now, when you've already started on your work, and know what you can do, you are not subject to the guilts...That put negative valences on one's own enjoyment of motherhood… “  from "Particular Passions: Talks with Women who Have Shaped our Times"

Women, fifty-one percent of the population, are gaining greater equality. Much has changed, but dealing with the role of motherhood is moving at a snail’s pace. Life, now that women are part of the workforce has become even more complicated.  What can we learn from the woman who wanted women to have a choice in the kind of life they could have.

The oral biography and brief chapter of Betty Friedan from “Particular Passions:  Talks with Women who Have Shaped our Times.”  Friedan fueled the women’s liberation movement that continues today around the globe.

An excerpt from a review: "One of those rare, rare books that pick your life up, turn it around and point it in the right  direction." — K.T. Maclay

Available at Amazon and Apple for $0.99

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Image by Norman Rockwell

"That a lawyer could do something that was personally satisfying and at the same time work to preserve the values that made this country great was an exciting prospect for me." — Ruth Bader Ginsburg,  Particular Passions: Talks with Women who Shaped our Times.

A brief chapter, the oral biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg whose contributions to civil and women’s rights continue today in the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Available for nook / kindle / ipad at Amazon and Apple for $0.99.

"Tantalizing glimpses into the lives of women who have not only made a living at their own “particular passion,” but have become well known, even world renowned,  for doing work they love." — Christian Science Monitor.

WHAT MAKES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL

Finally women claimed their rightful place in history by creating Women’s History Month in 1980. Strange that women’s struggle, just to be treated as people took centuries to accomplish, because women are 51% of the population. And the struggle is still not over. The Catholic Church maintains its’ doctrine on faith and morals is definitive and infallible. Today the Vatican hierarchy is hit by scandals, priests’ sexual abuse of over 16,000 children worldwide, and intrigue and betrayals befitting a Renaissance court.

While men of the cloth at the highest level in the church hid their scandals, ordinary women came out in the open because of what they desired to contribute. Read stories of these women, who used their abilities in the face of great obstacles to make extraordinary things happen.

“Particular Passions: Talks with Women who Have Shaped our Times,” is the first collective record of the experiences of pioneering women, in multiple disciplines from the 1920s to the 1980s, as told in their own words. It is available at Amazon and Apple.

The 42 women included in the book, such as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Grace Murray Hopper share their passions. The book is not about accolades or titles, but what inspired and enabled them to succeed where none had gone before.

“This is a wonderful book... The book is recommended reading for anyone — no matter what political or sociological background — who wants to know more about living history.” — Santa Cruz Sentinel.