Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules--a Social History of Living Single
By Betsy Israel
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In this lively and colorful book of popular history, journalist Betsy Israel shines a light on the old stereotypes that have stigmatized single women for years and celebrates their resourceful sense of spirit, enterprise, and unlimited success in a world where it is no longer unusual or unlikely to be unwed.
Drawing extensively on primary sources, including private journals, newspaper stories, magazine articles, advertisements, films, and other materials from popular media, Israel paints remarkably vivid portraits of single women -- and the way they were perceived -- throughout the decades. From the nineteenth-century spinsters, of New England to the Bowery girls of New York City, from the 1920s flappers to the 1940s working women of the war years and the career girls of the 1950s and 1960s, single women have fought to find and feel comfortable in that room of their own. One need only look at Bridget Jones and the Sex and the City gang to see that single women still maintain an uneasy relationship with the rest of society -- and yet they radiate an aura of glamour and mystery in popular culture.
As witty as it is well researched, as thoughtful as it is lively, Bachelor Girl is a must-read for women everywhere.
Editor's Note
All the single ladies…
A fascinating examination of the cultural stereotypes assigned to single women for decades, in light of their growing successes and sense of mystique in popular culture.
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Reviews for Bachelor Girl
59 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/54
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5love this series!!!!!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This last volume of Little House: The Rose Years sees Rose Wilder truly on her own. She returns home to her parents' farm after her high school graduation and year in Louisiana. Life is relatively comfortable, but boring. She's in love, but her beau has yet to propose--he's trying to make a good enough living as a telegraph operator to support both a wife and his widowed mother. When he lands a job in Sacramento, California, Rose is despondent. She finally acts on an old idea of learning telegraphy herself. With her parents' help, she heads off to Kansas City to a telegraphy school. From there she struggles to overcome various challenges to make a new life for itself. It's an interesting tale, one worth checking out, though I didn't find it a very satisfying one. The book tries to make a connection between Rose's experience and the pioneer heritage of her parents and grandparents. While I concede that there is a connection, it seems more like she's trading in the pioneer values so prevalent in the previous books for ones that are more urban and 20th Century. Maybe I can't appreciate it because the series is starting to move from a setting that is, for me, a fantasy to one that is all too familiar and real. Or maybe it's because I've read Rose Wilder Lane's biography and know that Bachelor Girl's happy ending is still many years away from "happily ever after".--J.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rose has started out on her own- empowered by her time in Louisiana, she is ready to become a self-supporting woman. She goes to telegraph school to join Paul’s profession, and switches jobs several times while making her way. Her biggest self-discovery comes when she realizes that she and Paul are going on different paths in life.