Paperback Edition
ISBN: 9781558611733
Publication Date: 08-01-1997

Jane Gould recounts a life that paralleled and propelled critical struggles in the women’s movement, including her groundbreaking involvement in the middle-class return-to-work movement and her experiences as the first permanent director of the Barnard Women’s Center. Her memoir documents the development of important ideas and social transformation while candidly revealing their impact on one woman’s life and consciousness.

"A sobering account of women’s struggle for opportunity and equality in the work force, seen through the eyes of one of the leaders in the fight." —Kirkus

"Vividly written and profoundly moving, Jane Gould's memoir illuminates a stunning journey from a childhood of privilege and convention, through the maternalist forties and stifling fifties, when women's work and careers were discouraged and humiliation and contempt were ordinary, to a pioneering feminist vision that helped change all that. Today there are few colleges without women's centers, women's courses, women's options, and Jane Gould reminds us, through her achievements, struggles, and adventures, how that happened—and against what determined barriers. Bluntly honest and generous, this high-hearted book is a marvelous addition to the story of women's progress and the creation of community. It is also a gripping, exciting read." —Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt

"This is an extraordinary life: dedicated, self-critical, exciting. How magnificently Jane Gould has grown, how generously she has given to others." —Kate Millett, author of Sexual Politics

"Jane Gould is a pioneering woman of uncommon spirit, courage, and honor. Her memoir is both her story and that of a generation. Jane Gould is to be thanked for so much, including the gift of this book." —Catharine R. Stimpson, author of Where the Meanings Are