Susan Ware. Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998. xxiv + 344 pp. $25.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-393-04652-6.

Reviewed by Jennifer D. McDaid

Published on H-SAWH (April, 1999)

"There will be narratives of female lives," Car‐ tieth century, the options and opportunities open olyn G. Heilbrun asserts in Writing a Woman's to women were changing. Susan Ware tells the Life, "only when women no longer live their lives stories of seven strong women who chose to be isolated in the houses and the stories of men" (p. diferent and who, in the words of anthropologist 47). For too long, women have been confned to Ruth Benedict, made "of their lives a Great Adven‐ anonymity largely because they were storyless. In ture" (p. vii). Letter to the World, Susan Ware adds to the grow‐ Ware explains her search for subjects in the ing body of literature that tells women's stories, book's Introduction, entitled "Casting Call for the presenting biographical essays on individuals American Century." She actively scouted for inde‐ who she believes helped shape the twentieth cen‐ pendent characters, women who were "instantly tury: Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Thompson, Mar‐ recognizable" (p. xiii) because of their long ca‐ garet Mead, Katharine Hepburn, Babe Didrikson reers and distinctive personal styles. She settled Zaharias, Martha Graham, and Marian Anderson. on a handful of representative women, ambitious‐ Ware uses her biographies to explore the ly planning to weave their collective biographies changing lives of women in the modern era. around the theme of female achievement. Ware While her subjects are larger-than-life, they faced sought to answer two questions: How did popular challenges like their less famous sisters. Deter‐ culture create and disperse images of celebrity? mined to make their mark in the world, these sev‐ And, how did this message of the new woman af‐ en women built careers for themselves in politics, fect women's experiences in the twentieth centu‐ journalism, anthropology, acting, sports, dance, ry? and music. Perhaps more importantly, in Ware's Ware's selected subjects were all born within opinion, they infuenced the way that the world a twenty-seven-year period (1884-1911), and they around them saw women, and the way that wom‐ all had their greatest infuence beginning in the en saw themselves. In the early years of the twen‐ 1930s and ending in the 1960s. Unlike many wom‐ H-Net Reviews en who were born earlier, they were not bound to over other women (and some men) in photo‐ domestic life, exploring instead opportunities in graphs. "If you haven't any chin and your front education and the professions. In the early years teeth stick out," she explained to journalist Lorena of the twentieth century, for the frst time, women Hickok, "it's going to show on a camera plate" (p. could begin to lead lives in the public sphere, win‐ 5). Despite her self-deprecation, Roosevelt was ning attention and recognition for their accom‐ one of the world's most photographed women. plishments. Each of Ware's seven women con‐ One eighteen-year-old factory worker from Ten‐ sciously packaged herself to succeed, crafting a nessee summed up her enduring appeal: "Say, public persona that was at once attractive and she's swell. Why, I'm not ashamed of being a girl marketable. (Their private lives, however, were any more (p. 5)." Roosevelt's contemporary, globe- often distinctly unconventional.) All had long and trotting journalist Dorothy Thompson, covered successful careers, leading Ware to argue that in‐ revolutions and the rise of Hitler--although not (as dependent roles for women were widely accepted she once claimed) in an evening gown and high in popular culture during the mid-twentieth cen‐ heels. tury. The accomplishments of Ware's women were Despite their fame, Ware maintains, these many and varied. In 1925, at age twenty-four, an‐ women faced familiar struggles. They shared thropologist Margaret Mead embarked on her common concerns with many of their peers: fnd‐ feldwork in American Samoa. Pants-wearing ac‐ ing meaningful work, attaining fnancial indepen‐ tress Katharine Hepburn survived in Hollywood dence, balancing (or more often choosing be‐ despite her disdain for glamour and its trappings. tween) work and family, and facing the challenges "I have not lived as a woman," she wrote. "I have of growing old. Most made their public lives their lived as a man. I've done what I damn well want‐ top priority, but all refused, at one time or anoth‐ ed to and I've made enough money to support my‐ er, to distance themselves from the expectations self and I ain't afraid of being alone" (p. 127). of domesticity. In private, their lives difered con‐ Olympic track-and-feld medalist and golfer Babe siderably, although all did marry (some more than Didrikson Zaharias blazed the trail for women in once): four had loving relationships with other athletics. She refused to name a favorite sport for women, two as single women had long-term rela‐ reporters, who once asked her if there was any‐ tionships with married men, and fve never had thing she didn't play. She retorted, "Yeah, dolls (p. children. Six out of the seven kept their names 169)." By showcasing the strength of the female when they married. Despite this, as a group these body, as well as its beauty and grace, Martha Gra‐ women did not publicly align themselves with ham revolutionized the world of modern dance. feminism (with the exception of Eleanor Roo‐ Freed from toe shoes and tutus, Graham and her sevelt). Instead, Ware argues, they led by example, dancers took the stage in leotards designed to vicariously encouraging women to change and show the body and highlight, not hide, physical ef‐ take chances as the twentieth century progressed. fort. Contralto Marian Anderson's stage presence Ware devotes a chapter to each woman, writ‐ and quiet dignity broke down barriers of a difer‐ ing thumbnail biographies peppered with quotes ent kind. Ware's last subject is memorably linked by and about her subjects. She also handily dis‐ to her frst: in 1939, when the Daughters of the misses some widely-held misconceptions. Despite American Revolution refused to allow Anderson criticism of her personal style and looks, First to perform in Constitution Hall because of her Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was not camera-shy. At skin color, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the fve feet eleven inches tall, she usually towered group and helped engineer an open-air recital at the Lincoln Memorial. Martha Graham tried to

2 H-Net Reviews convince her mother to resign from the DAR at the time, but failed. "They give such nice parties," Jane Beers Graham explained (p. 267). Ware writes with zest and style, but she is somewhat hampered by her premise. Each of her subjects has been written about before (often ex‐ tensively), so chapter-length treatments reduce these monumentally important women's lives to snapshots rather than portraits. While Ware's sev‐ en women were national fgures, most of them had distinctly northern origins--three were born in Pennsylvania, two in New York, one in Con‐ necticut, and one (Babe Didrikson Zaharias) in Texas--leaving the reader to wonder about south‐ ern women and their accomplishments in the twentieth century. Ware's biographies are tanta‐ lizing, but not completely satisfying. With their appetites whetted by Letter to the World, readers may want to browse through Ware's notes and delve into Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roo‐ sevelt, vol. 1,1884-1933 (1992), vol. 2, 1933-1938 (1999); Peter Kurth, American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson (1990); Margaret Mead, Blackberry Winter: My Earlier Years (1972); Katharine Hepburn, Me: Stories of My Life (1991); Susan E. Caylef, Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1995); Martha Graham, Blood Memory (1991); and Marian Anderson, My Lord, What a Morning; An Autobiography (1956; reprint, 1992). Susan Ware reintroduces the read‐ er to seven fascinating pioneers, but only begins to address the history of twentieth-century wom‐ en and what we can learn from and about them. Copyright (c) 1999 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected].

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Citation: Jennifer D. McDaid. Review of Ware, Susan. Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century. H-SAWH, H-Net Reviews. April, 1999.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=2961

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