LEADER 04105nam 2200625 a 450 001 9910822406903321 005 20240508234457.0 010 $a1-4696-0415-9 010 $a0-8078-9824-4 035 $a(CKB)2670000000037581 035 $a(EBL)565707 035 $a(OCoLC)656846652 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000430921 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11282407 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000430921 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10456834 035 $a(PQKB)10315147 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC565707 035 $a(OCoLC)966767925 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse48333 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL565707 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10405069 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL929377 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000037581 100 $a20090925d2010 ub 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aWell-read lives $ehow books inspired a generation of American women /$fBarbara Sicherman 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aChapel Hill $cUniversity of North Carolina Press$dc2010 215 $a1 online resource (393 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-8078-3909-4 311 $a0-8078-3308-8 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aReading Little women -- Women and the new cultural landscape of the Gilded Age -- Young women's ways of reading -- (Reading as) a family affair : the Hamiltons of Fort Wayne -- Reading and ambition : M. Carey Thomas and female heroism -- Working her way through culture : Jane Addams and literature's dual legacy -- Hull-House as a cultural space -- New books, new lives : Jewish immigrant women, reading, and identity -- With pen and voice : Ida B. Wells, race, literature, and politics. 330 $aIn a compelling approach structured as theme and variations, the author offers insightful profiles of a number of accomplished women born in Americas Gilded Age who lost and found themselves in books, and worked out a new life purpose around them. Some women, like Edith and Alice Hamilton, M. Carey Thomas, and Jane Addams, grew up in households filled with books, while less privileged women found alternative routes to expressive literacy. Jewish immigrants Hilda Satt Polacheck, Rose Cohen, and Mary Antin acquired new identities in the English-language books they found in settlement houses and libraries, while African Americans like Ida B. Wells relied mainly on institutions of their own creation, even as they sought to develop a literature of their own. It is the author's contribution to show that however the skill of reading was acquired, under the right circumstances, adolescent reading was truly transformative in constructing female identity, stirring imaginations, and fostering ambition. With Little Women's Jo March often serving as a youthful model of independence, girls and young women created communities of learning, imagination, and emotional connection around literary activities in ways that helped them imagine, and later attain, public identities. Reading themselves into quest plots and into male as well as female roles, these young women went on to create an unparalleled record of achievement as intellectuals, educators, and social reformers. This study reveals the centrality of the eras culture of reading and sheds new light on these women's Progressive-Era careers. 606 $aWomen$xBooks and reading$xSocial aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aGirls$xBooks and reading$xSocial aspects$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aWomen and literature$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 615 0$aWomen$xBooks and reading$xSocial aspects$xHistory 615 0$aGirls$xBooks and reading$xSocial aspects$xHistory 615 0$aWomen and literature$xHistory 676 $a028/.9082 700 $aSicherman$b Barbara$01644301 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910822406903321 996 $aWell-read lives$93990093 997 $aUNINA