A recommended introduction to an often overlooked aspect of feminist history.
A feminist look at how events of the 1920s informed the role of female athletes through the next century of American sports.
Art deco page designs, colorized archival photos, and reprinted news articles bring readers into the Roaring ’20s, illustrating a time of radical change in women’s liberation through the lens of sports. Chapters, broken down in two-year increments, focus on athletes and events that moved women forward in an arena dominated by men. Contextualized primary-source articles presented in sidebars help show how women challenged the era’s preoccupation with femininity, at odds with athleticism, though at times the main narrative repeats this information. Efforts are made to explore racial segregation in sports and to highlight the important roles played by athletes of color as well as how historically black colleges and universities were more forward-thinking in supporting women athletes than white institutions tended to be. The author’s note addresses the challenge of drawing a full picture due to lack of documentation of athletes of color. When discussing sports and athletes outside the U.S., the narrative is Eurocentric with the exception of a spotlight on Japanese athlete Kinue Hitomi. An epilogue ties events of the 1920s to pinnacle moments such as the passing of Title IX and the 2019 Women’s World Cup while discussing the disparities still prevalent in sports.
A recommended introduction to an often overlooked aspect of feminist history. (table of contents, foreword, index, timelines, source notes, illustration credits, annotated resource list) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4263-3676-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
If Freedman wrote the history textbooks, we would have many more historians. Beginning with an engrossing description of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, he brings the reader the lives of the American colonists and the events leading up to the break with England. The narrative approach to history reads like a good story, yet Freedman tucks in the data that give depth to it. The inclusion of all the people who lived during those times and the roles they played, whether small or large are acknowledged with dignity. The story moves backwards from the Boston Tea Party to the beginning of the European settlement of what they called the New World, and then proceeds chronologically to the signing of the Declaration. “Your Rights and Mine” traces the influence of the document from its inception to the present ending with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The full text of the Declaration and a reproduction of the original are included. A chronology of events and an index are helpful to the young researcher. Another interesting feature is “Visiting the Declaration of Independence.” It contains a short review of what happened to the document in the years after it was written, a useful Web site, and a description of how it is displayed and protected today at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Illustrations from the period add interest and detail. An excellent addition to the American history collection and an engrossing read. (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1448-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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