Lucindy A. Willis’s Voices Unbound: The Lives and Works of Twelve American Women Intellectuals discusses the educational backgrounds and works of some of American history’s most influential female thinkers. As Willis explains in the introduction, most of Western history’s most celebrated intellectuals have been white males, obscuring the contributions of minorities and women. Through Voices Unbound, Willis hopes to establish a foundation upon which the works of women intellectuals in America might further be explored and appreciated. While classified as a work of women’s history, this book proves itself important to the study of American
Intellectual history as well, in that it provides readers with an array of writings and
ideas that would have a tremendous impact on social and political ideas and would shape American views and policies into what they are today. Proceeding chronologically, Willis provides biographiesand writings of twelve women, from Margaret Fuller and Lydia Maria Child during the pre-Civil War era to more contemporary writers like bell hooks and Gloria Anzaldúa.Willis also provides glimpses at the oppositions these women faced to their desire to express themselves. And ultimately, this book is a celebration of the American woman’s determination to express herself, whether it is through speech or writing, through voting, or through politics. Through the example of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one sees that Willis is careful not to glorify these women to the point that she ignores their faults. Although Stanton’s fight for women’s suffrage may have been a noble one, Willis points out Stanton’s blatant racism following the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Through this, Willis helps the reader to recognize the irrational dichotomy of fighting for the rights of one’s own group, but denying those rights to another. In doing so, one essentially turns into the oppressive force against which he or she is simultaneously fighting. At the same time, Willis argues against those whom she feels unjustly trivialize the contributions of these women. While she presents the views of other critics on the works of the writers she portrays, she is also unafraid of presenting her own ideas about their intentions and impacts. In discussing Jessie Redmon Fauset, for example, Willis describes how critics censured Fauset’s work for being either “accomodationist” by present-day critics or “propaganda that promoted white middle-class values” by her contemporaries. Willis rejects both views, stating that Fauset’s true intention was to depict the ongoing conflicts with which black artists had to deal during the Harlem Renaissance. The writings that Willis includes for each woman intellectual she discusses demonstrate the kinds of thinkers that they were and how they went about conveying their arguments and ideas to the public. For anthropologist Margaret Mead, readers find a pair of anthropologically-based writings. For journalist Dorothy Thompson, there is a pair of editorials renouncing the United States’ vow of neutrality and refusal to acknowledge the evils of Nazism. Many of these women wrote in multiple styles in order to appeal to a variety of audiences, and it is unfortunate that examples of this diversity could not be fully depicted in a single volume. But then, for an introductory and foundational
anthology, the works Willis chose serve her purpose well, through the diversity of these women’s backgrounds and in the diversity of their ideas and modes of expression between them. The main thing one might wish to see, which is not found in this book, is a piece by a woman with more conservative views regarding gender roles in the social and political realms. By discussing women from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, Willis broadens the scope of this book, which makes it a richer and more revealing look at American history. Fauset, Anzaldúa, and hooks illustrate not only the struggles of being females in America, but also how the struggle is compounded by their racial backgrounds. Cynthia Ozick exposes the struggles of being Jewish in a predominantly Christian nation. Through their words, one gets a more personal look at the struggles they experience as a result of their race and background, and how minorities in general were--and sometimes still are--treated, particularly in academia. Simultaneously, the reader is forced to take a step back and look at the broader picture of American culture and society, rather than focusing on one aspect. While each group faces its own set of struggles, other groups throughout the country struggle as well, and sometimes those problems prove interrelated. So even though
Voices Unbound is a book intended to put a spotlight on America’s women thinkers, it also shows that while people might look different or come from differing circumstances, these conditions are not enough to suppress the abilities of a well-cultivated mind. The women in this book embody the attainment of the American dream…intellectual style.
Voices Unbound is a book intended for the general audience, and the writing style Willis employs makes it accessible to readers from a variety of backgrounds. A reader does not need a dictionary in order to understand the author’s language, merely a general knowledge of American history in order to follow the book’s progression and the motivations for the ideas presented. By providing a brief background to each time period covered, she allows readers to put the writers’ thoughts in context so that they might understand them better. These attributes make this book a solid foundation upon which to delve into further study of American women intellectuals.
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