The World Split Open (85 page)

Some very special friends have helped sharpen my understanding of American political culture by teaching me about their own. I am especially grateful to my friend and colleague Professor Jirina Siklova of the Czech Republic, my friend and former student Dr. Wang Zheng of China, and Professor Ida Bloom of Norway.

Only now do I realize how much this book grew out of my undergraduate lectures at the University of California, Davis, and my op-ed pieces for the
Los Angeles Times.
I thank several generations of students for teaching me what I needed to learn. I am forever indebted to Bob Berger, op-ed editor of the
Los Angeles Times
, who, in his characteristically brilliant and blunt manner, taught me to write a convincing argument in 750 words.

As obvious as it may seem, I had to survive in order to write this book. I am profoundly grateful to Michael Lerner, intellectual and spiritual leader of Commonweal in Bolinas, California, for tutoring me in the art of healing and to doctors Paul Smith, Jan Kirsch, Lisa Bailey, and Paul Walton, for knowing that physicians must heal a patient's mind, body, and soul. And they did.

I also want to thank Jae-Jung McClure for her healing touch and Julie Cummings for maintaining domestic order, and Louise Bernikow, who early publicized Muriel Rukeyser's powerful words.

And then there is the next generation. Scott and Brian Rosen, my nephews, have been a great source of love. By word and by deed, Kevin Brunner has assured me that a new generation of boys has grown up to be strong men with soft hearts. Through her intellect, passion, and friendship, Kira Brunner has reassured me that the future of feminism is in sturdy hands. I am delighted to report that, while I wrote this book, my husband, Wendel Brunner, never gave up his own career as Director of Public Health, never quit struggling for a healthier and more just society, and never stopped sailing or backpacking. And, for the love and laughter he brought into my life, for his patience and generosity, for his irreverent humor and honest criticism, for his sublime sense of wonder, for his steady encouragement and loving presence, for all this, and more, I feel blessed and filled with gratitude.

Ruth Rosen

Berkeley, California, 2000

Alta, 5/97, Berkeley, California

Bettina Aptheker (with Mark Kitchell), n.d., Berkeley, California

Elaine Baker, 6/19/89, Denver, Colorado (telephone)

Jill Benderly, 6/8/91, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia

Kira Brunner, 10/98, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Charlotte Bunch, 4/13/87, New York City

Rennie Davis, 1988 SDS Reunion

Bernadine Dohrn, 1988 SDS Reunion

Hester Eisenstein, 6/5/95, New York City

Dan Ellsberg, 10/98, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Judy Ezekiel, 6/2/87, Paris, France

Anne Ferrar, 7/15/86, San Francisco, California

Dick Flacks, 1988 SDS Reunion

Mickey Flacks, 1/2/83, Santa Barbara, California

Ann Forer, 4/6/86, New York City

Betty Garman, 1988 SDS Reunion and by telephone 6/89

Helen Garvey, 1988 SDS Reunion

Sandra Gilbert, 4/93, Berkeley, California

Rachel Ginsberg, 7/24/91, Berkeley, California

Todd Gitlin, 1988 SDS Reunion

Vivian Gornick, 4/6/87, New York City

Tom Hayden, 2/93, Berkeley, California

Carolyn Heilbrun, 4/18/86, New York City

Nanci Hollander, 6/23/89, Austin, Texas (telephone)

Sharon Jeffrey, 6/24/89, California (telephone) at 1988 SDS Reunion

Flo Kennedy, 4/14/86, New York City

Amy Kessleman, 6/95, North Carolina

Pat Kovner, 4/15/86, Berkeley, California

Joan Levinson, 10/3/92, Berkeley, California

Kristin Luker, 5/6/97, Berkeley, California

Norman Mailer, 10/98, Wellfleet, Massachusetts

Erica Marcus, 2/5/86, Buffalo, New York

Isabel Marcus, 1/3/95, Buffalo, New York

Bob Martin, 10/98, Berkeley, California

Wendy Martin, 3/85, Berkeley, California

Valerie Miner, 5/17/86, Berkeley, California

Karen Paget, 10/5/98, Berkeley, California

Gail Pheterson, 6/92, Paris, France

Annie Popkin, 5/16/86, Berkeley, California

Vivian Rothstein, 6/24/89, 7/98, Los Angeles, California (telephone)

Vicki Ruiz, 10/98, Tempe, Arizona (e-mail)

Raquel Scherr, 7/96, Berkeley, California

Kitty Sklar, 5/97, Berkeley, California

Sala Steinbach, 1988 SDS Reunion

Mary Waters, 6/7/96, Seattle, Washington

Jean Weininger, 7/98, Berkeley, California

Leni Wildflower, 1988 SDS Reunion

Cathy Wilkerson, 1988 SDS Reunion

Honey Williams, 1988 SDS Reunion

Barbara Winslow, 6/95, North Carolina

Laura X, 8/28/97, Berkeley, California

Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley
(BL)

Social Protest Collection

Special Collections Library, Duke University
(DU)

Women's Liberation Movement On-Line Archival Collection

Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, Harvard University
(SL)

Susan Bolotin Papers

Charlotte Bunch Papers

Betty Friedan Papers

Ms.
Letters Collection

Pauli Murray Papers

Nancy Gray Osterud Papers

Marlene Sanders Collection

Women's Liberation Files

Women's Liberation Movement FBI Files

NOW Papers

Wisconsin Historical Society
(WHS)

Kay Clarenbach Papers

Oral Histories of Women Leaders of the Midwest

Pamphlet Collection, Women's History Archives, from Laura X's Women's History Library

New York University Tamiment Library
(TL)

Women's Liberation Collection

New Left Collection

Women and Labor Collection

Social Movement Collection

University of Wyoming
(UWA)

Protest Files

Media Protest Files from Women's History Health/Mental Health, Women and Law archives of Laura X's Women's

History Library Herstory Collection in Hard Copy

Northwestern University
(NU)

The International Women's History Periodical Archives. The microfilm of this archive is called
Herstory
. Web site:
http://ncmdr.org

This collection was begun in 1969 by Laura Murra (later Laura X), who created the major international archive of the modern women's movement.

Individual Collections

Todd Gitlin Personal Archives (TGPA)

Jo Freeman Personal Archives (JFPA)

Vivian Rothstein Personal Archives (VRPA)

Mary Waters Personal Archives (MWPA)

Author's Personal Archives (APA)

These works have helped inform my ideas and offer further suggestions for reading and research for those interested in specific subjects. This is by no means a comprehensive bibliography of the works I have consulted, and does not include the many archival sources and articles on which this book is based. It is arranged by the chapters as they appear in the book.

Some of the most influential and earliest histories of the women's movement were Judith Hole and Ellen Levine,
Rebirth of Feminism
(New York: Quadrangle, 1971); Jo Freeman,
The Women's Liberation Movement: Its Aims, Structures, and Ideas
(Pittsburgh: Know, 1971); Jo Freeman,
The Politics of Women's Liberation
(New York: McKay, 1975); Maren Garden,
The New Feminist Movement
(New York: Russell Sage, 1974); and Leah Fritz,
Dreamers and Dealers: An Intimate Appraisal of the Women's Movement
(Boston: Beacon, 1979). General histories that cover parts or all of this period are Winifred Wandersee,
On the Move: American Women in the 1970's
(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988); William Chafe,
The Unfinished Journey
(New York: Oxford, 1995),
The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic and Political Roles, 1920–1970
(New York: Oxford, 1972), and
The Paradox of Change
(New York: Oxford, 1991). More recent studies of the women's movement include Alice Echols,
Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1968–1975
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988), which focuses on radical feminism; Flora Davis,
Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America Since 1960
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), which includes a broader emphasis on legislation; Sheila Tobias,
Faces of Feminism
(New York: Westview, 1996), which focuses on sexual politics, the politics of backlash, and includes
biographical material; Cassandra Langer,
A Feminist Critique
(New York: HarperCollins, 1996), which offers analyses of images and popular culture; Susan Brownmiller,
In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution
(New York: Dial, 1999); Susan Okin,
Is Multicultural Bad For Women?
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999); Jo Freeman,
A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics
(New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000); and Harriot Woods,
Stepping Up to Power
(New York: Westview Press, 2000). Barbara Ryan,
Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology and Activism
(New York: Routledge, 1992), and Beth B. Hess,
Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement
(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985), both approach the movement from a more sociological perspective, emphasizing social movement theory. Lauri Umansky,
Motherhood Reconceived: Feminism and the Legacies of the 1960s
(New York: New York University Press, 1996), emphasizes the issue of motherhood; Deborah Rhode,
Justice and Gender
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), focuses on the law; Judith Grant,
Fundamental Feminism: Contesting the Core Concepts of Feminist Theory
(New York: Routledge, 1993), questions core concepts in feminism. Important books on political thought and feminism are Zillah Eisenstein,
The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism
(New York: Longman, 1981), and Susan Okin,
Women in Western Political Thought
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979). Both Hester Eisenstein,
Contemporary Feminist Thought
(Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. 1983), and Linda Kauffman, ed.,
American Feminist Thought at Century's End: A Reader
(Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1993), offer valuable intellectual histories.

Anthologies with primary documents, many of which are out of print, include Leslie Tanner,
Voices of Women's Liberation
(New York: New American Library, 1970); Toni Cade,
The Black Woman
(New York: New American Library, 1970); Alma Garcia,
Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings
(New York: Routledge, 1997); Anne Koedt, Ellen Levine, and Anita Rapone,
Radical Feminism
(New York: Quadrangle, 1973); Robin Morgan,
Sisterhood Is Powerful
(New York: Vintage, 1970); Redstockings,
Feminist Revolution
(New York: Random House, 1975); Vivian Gornick and Barbara K. Moran, eds.,
Woman in Sexist Society
(New York: Basic Books, 1971); Alice Rossi, ed.,
The Feminist Papers
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1973); New York Radical Women,
Notes from the First Year
(New York: 1968);
Notes from the Second Year
(New York: Ace, 1970);
Notes from the Third Year
(New York: 1971); Evelyn Shapiro and Barry Shapiro, eds.,
The Women Say, The Men Say: Women's Liberation and Men's Consciousness
(New York: Delta, 1979); Deborah Babcox and Madeline Belkin, eds.,
Liberation NOW: Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement
(New York: Dell, 1971); Betty Roszak and Theodore Roszak, eds.,
Masculine/Feminine
(New York:
Harper and Row, 1969); Mary Lou Thompson, ed.,
Voices of the New Feminism
(Boston: Beacon, 1970); and Miriam Schneir, ed.,
Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings
(New York: Vintage, 1972). Three recent collections are Bonnie Watkins and Nina Tothchild, eds.,
In the Company of Women: Voices from the Women's Movement
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997); Rachel Blau DuPlessix and Ann Snitow, eds.,
The Feminist Memoir Project
(New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998); and Rosalyn Baxandall and Linda Gordon, eds.,
Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women's Liberation Movement
(New York: Basic, 2000).