Okay–I previously warned readers of this blog that yet another book was in process. This time, it’s a co-authored effort with Morton Marcus, who occasionally comments here. The book is titled: From Property to Partner: Women’s Progress and Political Resistance, and it’s available as either an e-book (6.50) or a paperback (15.00).
Morton and I have been friends for 30+ years, and–while we don’t always agree–our disagreements tend to be both minor and civil, and both of us think women are people and equal rights are a good thing.
This is the 11th book I’ve written–and only the second with a co-author. Most have been published by academic and trade presses that did absolutely nothing to market them. (Granted, three or four of them were barely interesting to other academics, but there was no effort at marketing even those that I fondly believed merited a broader distribution.) Morton’s experience with publishing houses has been similar, so we’ve published this book on Amazon–keeping the price reasonable and access broadly available. Hint, hint.
This time, we’re marketing!
Our book–with individual chapters by each of us– considers the progress women have made over the last 100 or so years—from a status that essentially made females the “property” of their fathers or husbands, to today’s almost-equal legal parity with men. It outlines the bases upon which that progress rests, and the very real threat posed by the Rightwing culture warriors who see women’s progress as an existential threat to their continued patriarchal dominance.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from the “Afterword,” to give you a taste of the contents:
We began this book as an exercise in social history. The decision in Dobbs was handed down a couple of months after we began researching the path women had taken—the path we’ve dubbed “from property to partner”—and it changed our focus for this effort. Dobbs was a frontal assault on human liberty. Yes, it was a “shot over the bow” of women’s right to self-determination, but it was much, much more. It represents a profoundly anti-liberty worldview that poses a danger to fundamental American constitutional values….
In order to look forward and to act with vigor, we need to understand the technologies and cultural changes that have empowered women over the past years. Now, women (and men of good will) must enlist the technological and cultural opportunities of our times to issue a call to arms. This effort, this manifesto if you will, is intended to assist in a marshaling of building blocks for the critically-necessary program to stem the tide of reaction, to regain what we have already lost, and to prevent the further erosion of women’s personal autonomy. It is the time for all of us to ask, “What else we are at risk of losing?”
So–here’s my shameless plea, and my “elevator speech.”
If you are a regular reader of this blog and feel that its contribution to the current national discourse is worthwhile–buy this book!
If–like Morton–you believe that data “tells the tale” and that an analysis of credible and accurate facts and figures confirms and documents both persistent problems and progress to date–buy this book!
If–like yours truly–you are deeply worried about the culture warriors’ efforts to return women to a subservient status, and interested in the religious and historical roots of their paternalistic backlash–buy this book!
If you want to feel better about the prospects for women’s continued emancipation –buy this book!
And if you do buy it, and after reading it decide that you like it–tell your friends!
We’ll really appreciate it!
I will now return this blog to its usual whining and ranting…..
Congratulations on your latest achievement. Good luck 🙂
Purchased! As a fan of both you and Morton Marcus and women having full rights, I’m looking forward to reading it! Thank you!
Purchased the ebook and looking forward to reading it this weekend. Looking for insights and ideas on how to dismantle the patriarchy and bend the arc of a moral universe back toward justice.
Well, your timing is good. The 2024 election will be about women’s rights based on the decisions being made by SCOTUS and Congress.
It’s a great distraction from economic rights, where women have been truly clobbered by the oligarchs running the show. Now, we have children working in meat plants because of the war along the border – another election issue.
Since you are marketing your book, Sheila, you may want to join us on Twitter and Facebook to get the message out. If you want to publish a “press release” about the book, I’d be happy to publish it on Muncie Voice and share it on Twitter and Facebook.
Meanwhile, there are many resentments toward women that men must work out on their own instead of using their power to force their will upon women. And using religious texts as justification for their wounds is embarrassing!
Copied and pasted from Business Weekly, May 2, 2023, by Morton Marcus; OPINION: Pie in the Sky: IU’s strategic plan disappoints… “Simply put, IU sold out to Indiana’s political leadership, failed to differentiate itself from Purdue University in the intense competition ahead, and abandoned its traditional strengths.
IU has hitched itself to the goals of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), a public-private organization seeking increased private investment in our state. Leaving aside the IEDC’s virtues, should IU or any institution of higher education have the material goals of the state as the guiding force of its mission?” (“IEDC supports keeping Hoosiers in Indiana.”)
From Sheila: “In order to look forward and to act with vigor, we need to understand the technologies and cultural changes that have empowered women over the past years.”
One of “our” (women’s) hardest fought for changes was the right to higher education and the future improvement of the lives of our family. What does Indiana offer women, sufficient to encourage them to stay in Indiana? Women in Indiana government and business are still the vast minority and our personal lives are losing the hard fought for control over even decisions about our bodies is being reversed to the early years of our “right to look forward and act with vigor,” are being repealed under the Red Menace of the Republicans. Morton Marcus’ OPINION column in the Business Weekly doesn’t single out the effect IU’s decision may have on the future of women in Indiana but one point is evident, we are not fighting for the “private investment in the state”.
My generation of women weren’t even encouraged to complete high school; we were expected to marry, have children and keep our butts at home cleaning and cooking for “our man”. At what point in “our” (women’s) history do we pick to begin the battle again because we cannot move forward from where we are now till we undo the recent losses of some of our basic rights?
“It is the time for all of us to ask, “What else we are at risk of losing?” Morton’s column points us to the age old FOLLOW THE MONEY for answers.
Hello JoAnne, it seems that many academicians have the ability to track financial transactions, but they tend to avoid economic matters. At Ball State, those in power use gag orders in buyouts and contracts, which prevents professors and even presidents from expressing their opinions or sharing their experiences on campus. It’s disappointing that such actions undermine the principles of a democratic society.
Purchased… Will be on my kindle tonight!
Purchased the physical book and the eBook to add to the rest of your books on my bookshelf! Loooking forward to reading this one too!
If “24” results are not materially affected beyond the expected by Dobbs, I think we can safely say that misogyny lives and breathes strongly. By “materially affected” I mean getting many extra votes beyond those of DEM suburban and young women in other than DEM gerrymandered places. And, of course, if The Duck runs and wins…his is the hairpiece of misogyny.
As pretty much everyone here knows my first love is science and one aspect of science in particular and that is the fact that it’s never done, nor ever it will be. Every answered question leads to a dozen more to ponder.
So it is with liberty.
Some take that to mean that any under class is never satisfied with progress because what they really want is power over, not equality among, others.
In my mind it’s more about the never ending progress that starts with equal classes then moves to finer detail until every individual in every class has their Constitutional promise of equality fulfilled.
I view the Constitution not as being static but aspirational. Still after all these years, and with no end in sight probably ever. Like science.
I just bought the ebook. Thanks for writing about it.
I just got it and am looking forward to starting it tonight 🙂
Shameless! OK, so I bought one. Will share with all my west coast peeps. (Says a man with 3 daughters).
Bought the book. Thanks, Sheila and Morton.
An honest shameless promotion works for me! I just downloaded the book on my Kindle.