Book Review: When Everything Changed

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins

A good overview of how the last 50-odd years of history affected women, from the average homemaker to the candidate for president of the United States. 

I liked it. The basic premise of the book is that the life of the American woman has changed dramatically over the past half-century, so much that most people born during the period do not comprehend what life was like in the 1950s and before. Yes, not everything is perfect these days, and women still fight discrimination. But the basic acceptance of women as equals, and their abilities in all fields, has pretty much cancelled out the idea of "men's work," and "women's work."

Collins, a columnist for The New York Times, is know for her witty observations, and this book has no shartage of them. It drags, however, when she moves into historian mode, blandly reciting facts and anecdotes on various historical events. In her defense, however, some of those times were pretty bloody and sad, as when she relates the roles of women in the civil rights movements, and the deaths that occurred during that period.

But her book is full of actual women who caused and lived through many of the changes, and the effect it had on them. However. some of these women jump in and out of the narrative, making it hard to keep track of them as individuals. Collins does, however, brings us up to date on many of the women portrayed.

Beware, however. The book was written in 2009, so while it includes Hillary Clinton's 2008 run for president, her 2016 run is not reviewed.