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Gail Collins

Biography

Gail Collins

Gail Collins is a columnist for the New York Times. From 2001 to 2007, she was editorial page editor of the paper --- the first woman to have held that position.

Gail Collins

Books by Gail Collins

by Gail Collins - History, Nonfiction, Social Sciences, Women's Studies

"You're not getting older, you're getting better," or so promised the famous 1970s ad --- for women's hair dye. Americans have always had a complicated relationship with aging: embrace it, deny it, defer it --- and women have been on the front lines of the battle, willingly or not. In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries.

by Gail Collins

From the women peering worriedly over the side of the Mayflower to feminists having a grand old time protesting beauty pageants and bridal fairs, America's Women tells the story of how women shaped the nation and our vision of what it means to be female in America. Spanning wars, the pioneering days, the fight for suffrage, the Depression, the era of Rosie the Riveter, the civil rights movement, and the feminist rebellion of the 1970s, this book describes the way women's lives were altered by dress fashions, medical advances, rules of hygiene, social theories about sex and courtship, and the ever-changing attitudes toward education, work, and politics. While keeping her eye on the big picture, Gail Collins still notes that corsets and uncomfortable shoes mattered a lot too.