The Feminine Mystique

Landmark, groundbreaking, classic — these adjectives barely describe the earthshaking and long-lasting effects of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. This is the book that defined "the problem that has no name," that launched the Second Wave of the feminist movement, and has been awakening women and men with its insights into social relations, which still remain fresh, ever since. A new introduction by the bestselling author Anna Quindlen traces the book in her own story and how it was prescient on consumer culture as well as domestic issues. “Betty Friedan has been and remains a bridge between conservative and radical elements in feminism, an ardent advocate of harmony and human values.” — Marilyn French, Esquire “One of those rare books we are endowed with only once in several decades, a volume that launched a major social movement ...Betty Friedan is a liberator of women and men." — Amitai Etzioni, author of The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society Landmark, groundbreaking, classic―these adjectives barely do justice to the pioneering vision and lasting impact of The Feminine Mystique. Published in 1963, it gave a pitch-perfect description of “the problem that has no name”: the insidious beliefs and institutions that undermined women’s confidence in their intellectual capabilities and kept them in the home. Writing in a time when the average woman first married in her teens and 60 percent of women students dropped out of college to marry, Betty Friedan captured the frustrations and thwarted ambitions of a generation and showed women how they could reclaim their lives. Part social chronicle, part manifesto, The Feminine Mystique is filled with fascinating anecdotes and interviews as well as insights that continue to inspire. This title presents an analysis of the position of women in Western society. When published in 1963 it met with an enormous response and led to Friedan being called the mother of the new feminist movement. The Problem That Has No Name -- The Happy Housewife Heroine -- The Crisis In Woman's Identity. By Betty Friedan. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women.