Andrea Barnet Livres

Longlisted for the PEN/Bograd Weld Prize for Biography 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.

The ladies were smart. Sassy. Daring. Exotic. Eclectic. Sexy. And influential. One could call them the first divas--and they ran absolutely wild. Poets, actresses, singers, artists, journalists, publishers, baronesses, and benefactresses, they were thinkers and drinkers. They eschewed the social conventions expected of them--to be wives and mothers--and decided to live on their own terms. In the process, they became the voices of a new, fierce feminine spirit.There's Mina Loy, a modernist poet and much-photographed beauty who traveled in pivotal international art circles; blues divas Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters; Edna St. Vincent Millay, the lyric poet who, with her earthy charm and passion, embodied the '20s ideal of sexual daring; the avant-garde publishers Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap; and the wealthy hostesses of the salons, A'Lelia Walker and Mabel Dodge. Among the supporting cast are Emma Goldman, Isadora Duncan, Ma Rainey, Margaret Sanger, and Gertrude Stein.Andrea Barnet's fascinating accounts of the emotional and artistic lives of these women--together with rare black-and-white photographs, taken by photographers such as Berenice Abbott and Man Ray--capture the women in all their glory. This is a history of the early feminists who didn't set out to be feminists, a celebration of the rebellious women who paved the way for future generations.

New York in den ersten Jahrzehnten des 20. Jahrhunderts zieht Menschen aus ganz Amerika an, die vor puritanischer Strenge, rigiden Moralvorstellungen und Prohibition fliehen. Auch Kriegsdienstverweigerer aus Europa suchen hier Zuflucht. In den Jazz- und Nachtclubs sowie den unzähligen Flüsterkneipen träumen sie von einer kulturellen Revolution. Besonders Greenwich Village und Harlem pulsieren vor Aufbruchsstimmung, und Frauen spielen dabei eine zentrale Rolle. In dieser Zeit, die wie eine Zeitenlücke wirkt, fühlen sie, dass das Leben jederzeit neu beginnen kann. Sie schreiben Gedichte, Theaterstücke und Romane, singen, tanzen, gründen Verlage und führen Salons. Die Geschichten von weißen und schwarzen Frauen, die aus dem Gefängnis eines konventionellen Lebens ausbrechen, sind aufregend und ermutigend. Andrea Barnet zeigt, wie diese Frauen die kreative Atmosphäre des New York der zwanziger Jahre mitgestalteten und wie sie nach dem Ende der Euphorie in den dreißiger Jahren um ihr künstlerisches und materielles Überleben kämpften. Auch wenn ihre Lebensläufe manchmal exzentrisch erscheinen, entfacht ihr Wirken die Vorstellungskraft nachfolgender Generationen, ein selbstbestimmtes Leben zu führen.