Overview

Four influential women we thought we knew well--Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters--and how they spearheaded the modern progressive movement This is the story of four visionaries who profoundly shaped the world we live in today. Together, these women--linked not by friendship or field, but by their choice to break with convention--showed what one person speaking truth to power can do. Jane Jacobs fought for livable cities and strong communities; Rachel Carson warned us about poisoning the environment; Jane Goodall demonstrated the indelible kinship between humans and animals; and Alice Waters urged us to reconsider what and how we eat. With a keen eye for historical detail, Andrea Barnet traces the arc of each woman's career and explores how their work collectively changed the course of history. While they hailed from different generations, Carson, Jacobs, Goodall, and Waters found their voices in the early sixties. At a time of enormous upheaval, all four stood as bulwarks against 1950s corporate culture and its war on nature. Consummate outsiders, each prevailed against powerful and mostly male adversaries while also anticipating the disaffections of the emerging counterculture. All told, their efforts ignited a transformative progressive movement while offering people a new way to think about the world and a more positive way of living in it.

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9781538501382

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Reviews

At a moment in history that will likely be remembered for the hard-won consequences of revelatory truths, Barnet's magnificent book is a stunning reminder that women are extraordinary-and character is everything. -- Jessica Helfand, author of Design: The Invention of Desire A fascinating cohort of four brilliant, impassioned women who singly and collectively transformed the way we view life on this planet. -- Linda Lear, author of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature Drawing on the many 'superb individual biographies' of these women, who did not know one another, Barnet offers an overview of their lives to point up...'the extent to which these four pioneers were channeling the anxieties of their particular moment.' -- Kirkus Reviews [A] highly readable collective biography...[Barnet] uniquely separates their voices from the feminist movement of the period, arguing that, instead, they were trying to save endangered aspects of our culture. -- Library Journal Barnet tells their dramatic stories within the context of the counterculture of fifty years ago, charts the ongoing vitality and influence of their compassionate visions, and asks if we will yet accomplish what these four 'accidental revolutionaries' call on us to do to preserve the web of life. -- Booklist (starred review) Superb...Barnet has added greatly to our understanding of the way human beings with a vision can change society for the better by pursuing their dreams. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch Vivid. -- New Yorker Portrays the world we know through four extraordinary women who did so much to shape it. -- Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author Inspirational...tales of four women who became moral voices in the 1960s through a passion for truth and a perseverance that defied expectations. -- Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author Cassandra Campbell offers an easy-on-the-ears reading. Her voice virtually revels in the women's accomplishments and shares their frustration with outdated thinking, primarily male. -- AudioFile

At a moment in history that will likely be remembered for the hard-won consequences of revelatory truths, Barnet's magnificent book is a stunning reminder that women are extraordinary-and character is everything. -- Jessica Helfand, author of Design: The Invention of Desire A fascinating cohort of four brilliant, impassioned women who singly and collectively transformed the way we view life on this planet. -- Linda Lear, author of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature Drawing on the many 'superb individual biographies' of these women, who did not know one another, Barnet offers an overview of their lives to point up...'the extent to which these four pioneers were channeling the anxieties of their particular moment.' -- Kirkus Reviews [A] highly readable collective biography...[Barnet] uniquely separates their voices from the feminist movement of the period, arguing that, instead, they were trying to save endangered aspects of our culture. -- Library Journal Barnet tells their dramatic stories within the context of the counterculture of fifty years ago, charts the ongoing vitality and influence of their compassionate visions, and asks if we will yet accomplish what these four 'accidental revolutionaries' call on us to do to preserve the web of life. -- Booklist (starred review) Superb...Barnet has added greatly to our understanding of the way human beings with a vision can change society for the better by pursuing their dreams. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cassandra Campbell offers an easy-on-the-ears reading. Her voice virtually revels in the women's accomplishments and shares their frustration with outdated thinking, primarily male. -- AudioFile Vivid. -- New Yorker Portrays the world we know through four extraordinary women who did so much to shape it. -- Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author Inspirational...tales of four women who became moral voices in the 1960s through a passion for truth and a perseverance that defied expectations. -- Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Andrea Barnet is the author of All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem, 1913-1930, a nonfiction finalist for the 2004 Lambda Literary Awards. She was a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review for twenty-five years, and her journalism has appeared in Smithsonian, Self, Harper's Bazaar, and Elle, among other publications. She and her husband split their time between the Hudson Valley and New York City. Original bio sent from Cassandra: Cassandra Campbell began doing voice overs as the voice for Calvin Klein's Italian commercials. This was followed by commercial and documentary recording in both English and Italian. She has recorded many audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as an Audie(R) Award nomination. As an actress and director, she has worked at the Public, the Mint, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stagewest, Theatreworks, the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Millmountain Theatre, the National Shakespeare Company, and the New York Fringe Festival.

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