No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women - Paperback

by Estelle Freedman (Author)

"On the situations of women around the world today, this one book provides more illumination and insight than a dozen others combined. . . . Freedman's survey is a triumph of global scope and informed precision."
-NANCY F. COTT
Professor of History, Harvard University

Repeatedly declared dead by the media, the women's movement has never been as vibrant as it is today. Indeed as Stanford professor and award-winning author Estelle B. Freedman argues in her compelling book, feminism has reached a critical momentum from which there is no turning back. Freedman examines the historical forces that have fueled the feminist movement over the past two hundred years-and explores how women today are looking to feminism for new approaches to issues of work, family, sexuality, and creativity.

Front Jacket

On the situations of women around the world today, this one book provides more illumination and insight than a dozen others combined. . . . Freedman's survey is a triumph of global scope and informed precision.
-NANCY F. COTT
Professor of History, Harvard University
Repeatedly declared dead by the media, the women's movement has never been as vibrant as it is today. Indeed as Stanford professor and award-winning author Estelle B. Freedman argues in her compelling book, feminism has reached a critical momentum from which there is no turning back. Freedman examines the historical forces that have fueled the feminist movement over the past two hundred years-and explores how women today are looking to feminism for new approaches to issues of work, family, sexuality, and creativity.
Drawing examples from a variety of countries and cultures, from the past and the present, this inspiring narrative will be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the role women play in the world. Searching in its analysis and global in its perspective, "No Turning Back will stand as a defining text in one of the most important social movements of all time.

Author Biography

For the past twenty-five years, Estelle B. Freedman, a founder of the Program in Feminist Studies at Stanford University, has written about the history of women in the United States. Freedman is the author of two award-winning studies: Their Sisters' Keepers: Women's Prison Reform in America, 1830-1930 and Maternal Justice: Miriam Van Waters and the Female Reform Tradition. Freedman coauthored Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, which was a New York Times Notable Book. Professor Freedman lives in San Francisco.