The Feminine Mystique

by Betty Friedan

Overview

First published in 1963, The Feminine Mystique ignited a revolution that profoundly changed our culture, our conciousness, and our lives. Today it newly penetrates to the heart of isuues determining our lives — and sounds a call to arms against the very real dangers of a newe feminine mystique in the economic and political turbulence of the 1990s.

Three decades later, the underlying issues raised by Betty Friedan strike at the core of the problems women still face at home and in the marketplace. As women continue to struggle for equality, to keep their hard-won gains, to find fulfillment in their careers, marriage and family, The Feminine Mystique remains the seminal conciousness-raising work of our times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141192055
Publisher:	Viking Penguin
Publication date:	06/28/2010
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Betty Friedan (1921–2006), a transformational leader of the women’s movement, founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) and authored many works, including The Second Stage, The Fountain of Age, and Life So Far.

Gail Collins, the best-selling author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, is a national columnist for the New York Times. She lives in New York City.

Anna Quindlen is an award-winning columnist and novelist. She left journalism in 1995 to write fiction full time and has published three bestsellers. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Anne Quindlen
Twenty Years After
Introduction to the Tenth Anniversary Edition
Preface and Acknowledgments
1 The Problem That Has No Name
2 The Happy Housewife Heroine
3 The Crisis in Woman's Identity
4 The Passionate Journey
5 The Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud
6 The Functional Freeze, the Feminine
Protest, and Margaret Mead
7 The Sex-Directed Educators
8 The Mistaken Choice
9 The Sexual Sell
10 Housewifery Expands to Fill the Time Available
11 The Sex-Seekers
12 Progressive Dehumanization: The
Comfortable Concentration Camp
13 The Forfeited Self
14 A New Life Plan for Women
Epilogue
Thoughts on Becoming a Grandmother
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Anna Quindlen

[The Feminine Mystique] now feels both revolutionary and utterly contemporary. . . . Four decades later, millions of individual transformations later, there is still so much to learn from this book. . . . Those who think of it as solely a feminist manifesto ought to revisit its pages to get a sense of the magnitude of the research and reporting Friedan undertook.

Amitai Etzioni

One of those rare books we are endowed wIth only once in several decades, a volume that launched a major social movement....Betty Friedan is a liberator of women and men.
— (Amitai Etzioni, author of The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society)

Alvin Toffler

The book that puled the trigger on history. Future Shock)

Editorial Reviews

The book that pulled the trigger on history.

Alvin Toffler

[A] bridge between conservative and radical elements in feminism, an ardent advocate of harmony and human values. —Esquire

Marilyn French

One of those rare books we are endowed with only once in several decades.

Amitai Etzioni

"The Feminine Mystique forever changed the conversation as well as the way women view themselves. If you’ve never read it, read it now and reflect on what our mothers and grandmothers were feeling at the time. It’s a great moment to celebrate this milestone work, which fundamentally altered the course of women’s lives."— Arianna Huffington O Magazine

"Re-reading The Feminine Mystique, it exudes love for the human being, human spirit, and human potential. She wants mothers—indeed, all people—to "lean in" to life's work and not fear inevitable difficulties that arise when trying to "have it all" and juggle work and family. Overcome obstacles. Solve problems. Serve leftovers, she urges. Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique 50 years ago, but today her wisdom still merits sharing."— Nanette Fondas The Atlantic

"The Tupac Shakur of literary feminism, reincarnated at least once every decade with new insights that engender old beefs while at the same time serving as a reminder of why it’s a classic."— Andi Zeisler Salon

From the Publisher