Rating: 
Summary: A good book for everyone who agrees with the author
Review: Brownmiller's book certainly does provide a fascinating history of the women's movement's early days...it is wonderful to learn the details of who first said certain slogans (or came up with the concepts) we all know so well now. In this respect, the book is strong on detail, fun and enjoyable--although I was dissapointed there was no account of exactly what happened to the mercurial Shulamith Firestone. Did she flip out or what? It is implied, but not spelled out. Likewise with various other movement drop-outs. Where did they go? Did any of them change their politics? A first-rate history of an era, such as Jean Stein's EDIE, includes a "where are they now?" section, or tries to. Brownmiller doesn't bother, which is disturbing.Beyond this, I found Brownmiller's treatment of issues very shallow and unsatisfactory. The opposition had its own very real objections, and she gives them very short shrift. Her chapter on abortion, particularly, does not give A SINGLE REASON why anyone might object to abortion on principle, and offers no accounts from feminists who were uncomfortable with the ramifications of the issue and subsequently left the movement over it (I can think of at least a half-dozen, at least two of whom form the core of Feminists for Life today). Although she is exhaustive and fair covering the "pornography wars" from both sides, and understands intrinsically the contradictions embodied in both positions, she does not do the same for abortion. She takes it for granted that the decision of a woman to get an abortion is a given, not to be challenged--even though of course it is fraught with the so-called "patriarchal values" (challenged elsewhere in the text) of capitalist success, male-styled independence, and beauty. However, to Brownmiller, the decision of a woman to become a prostitute, porn star or Miss America contestant is worthy of challenge, and is seen as low-consciousness. Why is one decision supposedly the product of patriarchal oppression and the other is not? (Answer: both are, obviously.) Perhaps this bias is because Brownmiller has had 3 abortions, which she speaks of in the first few pages of the book? Perhaps then, as a journalist, she should have had someone else collaborate with her on this chapter, who was more capable of being fair on this issue (or is the modern feminist movement, as I have learned, not too interested in fairness regarding this issue)? The book suffers, and it is supposed to be understood that only sexist meanies would oppose abortion, which is as one-sided and frivolous as the religious right view, that only selfish meanies want to get rid of inconvenient babies. Alas, the truth is far more complex and complicated than that, or the issue would not still be with us. I was also interested in the hand-wringing over the infamous "lack of women of color" in the movement, yet no mention was made of Celestine Ware--wasn't she there at the beginning? I was gratified to see my old publication, PLEXUS, included...I am pleased someone remembers. A few good early chapters, which could have been serialized in a magazine such as ATLANTIC MONTHLY or ROLLING STONE, but not really good enough for a whole book--but I am glad to have read it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating, Remarkable Book!
Review: I just finished reading Susan Brownmiller's book, having begun it only a few days before (it was hard to put down). I found it fascinating for several reasons. First, as a guide to the women's liberation movement--its confrontation with age-old grievances, its astonishing wealth of new ideas, its many diverse personalities (with pages of photos), its stormy organizational development, and its years of intense political struggle--it is invaluable. It brought back many memories and taught me much I didn't know. Especially interesting was her intelligent and judicious treatment of the movement's inner conflicts and crises, as well as as their personal ramifications--for the author and for others. If the personal is political (as it is) then certainly the political is personal. That was a lesson that for many people was bought at a very high price. For anyone who passed through the cauldron of the revolutionary years of the late sixties and seventies and managed to retain some political consciousness this is perhaps one of the most difficult areas to talk about honestly and objectively. It is also one of the most important. Brownmiller has succeeded brilliantly. Younger people reading her book will get a helpful inoculation against some forms at least of that movement madness that was so destructive even to its own purposes. There are few writers who could match the fairness and dignity that Brownmiller brought to her task. It is impossible to understand the transformation of American society that resulted from the struggles of the 1960s and 70s without a knowledge of the women's liberation movement. There is no better book than Brownmiller's for this. All in all, I found this to be an extraordinary book, highly engrossing, extremely important, and a pleasure to read. It offers a unique and balanced history of the women's liberation movement as told by one of its leading activists, as well as a candid personal exploration into the complex experience of participating in a mass movement for social justice. Told with great wit and intelligence, sensitivity and poise, the book is amply rewarding on many levels. What most impressed me about Brownmiller's narrative was its seamless blend of revolutionary ideas, fascinating personalities, amd intense political struggle, leavened with an honest appraisal of her own role and that of others. I highly recommend it for all readers. To borrow a phrase, it will raise your consciousness.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read on Feminism
Review: If you didn't participate in the women's movement during the 70s, In Our Time illuminates those heady days. For those of us who were there, it brings back the most intense memories - some of them hilarious and some downright painful. Brownmiller gives us an account of her own participation embedded in a more general history, written in a vivid prose style that carries the reader along like a river in spring flood. Yet despite the swift pace, the author never fails to provide clear explanations of the multitude of ideologies that clashed or came together under the rubric of feminism. This is an essential book for the historian. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the inner dynamics of a political movement and the origins of ideas that are still changing the world.
Rating: 
Summary: A excellent resource for women's history
Review: Imagine a time when there was no such phrase as "sexual harassment" yet its practice went on unchecked, a time when there were no domestic violence shelters for battered women, no rape clinics for victims of sexual violence, a time when the classified ads were divided into columns for "Male" and "Female" jobs... "In Our Time" is an excellent first hand account of Susan Brownmiller's experience of the women's movement. She has successfully integrated her own personal experience (as a journalist then as a scholarly writer) with that of her friends and enemies, the movers and shakers of the women's movement. Her work is infinitely readable and having both a scholarly reflection of the sequence of events coupled with her emotional account is riveting. Two major things emerge from this book. First, like most movements the women's movement was intensely grass-roots with all its heated emotions and disorganization. Made up (with a few exceptions) of young women, initial efforts at organization suffered from awkward leadership and infighting. Second, nevertheless, the issues women were fighting for struck such a chord across America that eventually the movement was comprised of women from all races and backgrounds - resulting in the successful passage of important legislation. Brownmiller's book would be an excellent addition to a women's history collection - one warning though, there are a ton of names of movement leaders peppered throughout the book and someone new to the history might be confused initially. A reading of a more scholarly book might be a good preface. Thanks Susan for a super book!
Rating:
Summary: A excellent resource for women's history
Review: Imagine a time when there was no such phrase as "sexual harassment" yet its practice went on unchecked, a time when there were no domestic violence shelters for battered women, no rape clinics for victims of sexual violence, a time when the classified ads were divided into columns for "Male" and "Female" jobs... "In Our Time" is an excellent first hand account of Susan Brownmiller's experience of the women's movement. She has successfully integrated her own personal experience (as a journalist then as a scholarly writer) with that of her friends and enemies, the movers and shakers of the women's movement. Her work is infinitely readable and having both a scholarly reflection of the sequence of events coupled with her emotional account is riveting. Two major things emerge from this book. First, like most movements the women's movement was intensely grass-roots with all its heated emotions and disorganization. Made up (with a few exceptions) of young women, initial efforts at organization suffered from awkward leadership and infighting. Second, nevertheless, the issues women were fighting for struck such a chord across America that eventually the movement was comprised of women from all races and backgrounds - resulting in the successful passage of important legislation. Brownmiller's book would be an excellent addition to a women's history collection - one warning though, there are a ton of names of movement leaders peppered throughout the book and someone new to the history might be confused initially. A reading of a more scholarly book might be a good preface. Thanks Susan for a super book!
Rating:
Summary: The Story of a Grass-roots Revolution
Review: IN OUR TIME is an interesting and dramatic story of a grass-roots social movement, which revolutionized and liberated this society (and the world). It was very interestng to see, that other than the brutal punishing law outlawing abortion, which the women's liberation movement succeeded in taking off the books, the movement succeeded in changing the world by changing the consciousness of women. What an extraordinary movment this was-- which liberated the female half of the population. If not totally, then a very great difference from where it was before. It seems like such a hard thing to do-- to write a history of a grass-roots movement-- about emerging consciousness. I think Susan Brownmiller did an excellent job. Although (I think) the founding member (Shulamith Firestone) supplied the vision; her vision was just a trigger-- to trigger this explosion in consciousness. How any historian can write about these consiousness-raising liberation movements of the '60s, I don't know-- because they're not really about leaders-- they're about consciousness moving in the masses (us) (or in mass-consciousness). Here is a book, which can actually take someone through the whole experience. Now the story of this extraordinary movement is out in the world, for all to read. Thank you. Love, Anne
Rating:
Summary: Substantial and chatty at once
Review: Like the rest of the world I was fammillar with Ms. Brownmiller through her 1975 classic on rape, I was previously unaware to this time, the extent to which she had been involved in the feminist movement. Certainly, with Rosalyn Baxendal/Linda Gordon and Ruth Rosen, there is no shortage of insider accounts of the women's liberation movement, but this book manages to take the reader--whatever their perspective on feminism---to a deeper level than the other two. Aside from some clearly defensive behavior towards Gloria Steinem's popularity and past involvement with a Helsinki festival (Brownmiller uses emotion-ladden words to infer Steinem knew exactly how shady her actions were--but did it anyway) the book is impartially written and balanced, not an easy task when chronicling your own victories. Because the names mentioned in this book may be unfammilar to a large number of Americans, this book could have wound up as an enlarged ego trip, but name dropping is balanced with clear examples of street actions and demands. It would have been much easier to write off or down play the erractic behavior of some of the media-annointed (many of the early groups with New Left refugees rejected a hierarchy in favor of collective consensus) leaders of the women's movement, but Brownmiller sympathetically and crtically examines their contributions to the larger goal of eradicating sexism. As far out as some of these women were, their flamboyant media personalities were in retrospect what the movement needed to have impact long after the male left was delegitimized.
Rating:
Summary: Essential, readable history of how women changed the world
Review: Many of the accomplishments of the feminist movement are now banal: the acknowledgement that sexual harassment is a real phenomenon, the acceptance of the principle of equal work for equal pay, the idea that women have rights in bed...Susan Brownmiller reminds us that until recently this wasn't the case and gives us her first-hand version of how these struggles resulted in a better reality for women today. She tells us about the early genesis of the movement and its links to the civil rights struggle, the anti-Vietnam war movement, and the New Left; and how in a short time it emerged a distinct force of its own. Descriptive and analytic without ever being polemical or strident, Brownmiller also describes her own role in the movement with candor and humaness -- and with the sense of humour that feminists were often accused of lacking. For those of us on the latter-peripheral end of the 60s and early 70s movement, this is a wonderful summary; and so that we treasure the progress that has been made, it should be read by those who care about social justice and how it is achieved.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all women!
Review: Susan, a major second-wave feminist on many levels is balanced, judicious, honest, self-crtical and witty. This is a splendid book, based on years of research to check out her own recollections and get to the bottom of controversies. In my own new book FOR WOMEN ONLY; YOUR GUIDE TO HEALTH EMPOWERMENT, an anthology, (with Gary Null) Susan's wit and wisdom appears in several different sections both in the form of excerpts from AGAINST OUR WILL and FEMININITY, and a marvelous interview conducted by Carrie Carmichael. FOR WOMEN ONLY actually closes with an incisive (and hilarious) observation by Susan. We give her the last word on our struggles to "take our bodies back." She deserves it..
Rating:
Summary: "The Blood on the Floor was all Mine"
Review: This is a most unusual work: a far-ranging account of a major social movement through the eyes of someone at the heart of the storm. The cast is enormous, with many well known personalities sharing the limelight once again with those whom history has unfortunately forgotten. Brownmiller is as involved and passionate about her cause (and prone to her trademark wiseacre remarks) today as she was then, and has things to say about many of her former compatriots that may cause embarassment. For all that, she has a lot of important thins to say, and I believe that this is an important book, that deserves to be read.
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