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Undaunted is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism’s most valued work. From Margaret Fuller’s improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women’s rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today’s racial and gender disparities.
Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 16, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593664971
- File size: 476319 KB
- Duration: 16:32:19
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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March 27, 2023
NYU emerita professor of journalism Kroeger (The Suffragents) delivers a sweeping history of female journalists from the mid-1800s to the present. Focusing on women at the top of the profession, Kroeger spotlights transcendentalist writer Margaret Fuller, who landed a job as the New York Tribune’s literary editor and front-page columnist in 1844; crusading investigative journalists Nellie Bly and Ida B. Wells; and WWII reporters Martha Gellhorn and Marguerite Higgins. In the 1960s, female journalists tapped into civil rights legislation and second-wave feminism to boost gender equity in the profession, enabling more women to move into top management positions. Yet overall progress proved “lackluster” in the face of sexual harassment, ageism, and other discriminatory beliefs and practices. A revitalized “feminist discourse” in the 2010s led to renewed efforts to diversify newsrooms, while the #MeToo movement empowered reporters like Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey to break stories about Harvey Weinstein and other serial abusers. Kroeger more than proves that women have “faced down and overcome all manner of impediment to become integral to this enterprise,” but the jumble of names, dates, and events can be dizzying at times. Still, it’s a solidly researched and fluidly written overview of an important chapter in women’s history. Illus. -
Maggi-Meg Reed performs this detailed history of women in American journalism with intelligent restraint. She narrates in a forthright style that fits stories that are fraught with challenges. The audiobook illuminates a profession with a pantheon of great female nonfiction writers and reporters. Their paths were typically one step forward, one step back. Poised for the same position, women were hired for "experience" and men for "potential." Sexism prevailed in the upper echelons of management jobs. Despite the insightful and meaningful work of Ida Tarbell and Ida Wells, the flash and swagger of the stunt journalist Nellie Bly, the detailed war stories from Martha Gellhorn, and the epoch-making achievements of Rachel Carson, Joan Didion, and Gloria Steinem--women journalists over the years have struggled to compete. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine -
June 10, 2024
Starting in the 1840s and continuing through the #MeToo Movement, this ambitious undertaking by NYU Professor Emerita and award-winning journalist Kroeger (The Suffragents) chronicles the experiences of women in journalism, a field historically dominated by men. Kroeger emphasizes that her book is not all-inclusive but instead showcases the women who achieved extraordinary success and whose careers included challenges that were typical of their times. Weaving together biographical details with significant cultural and historic events, Kroeger firmly places women journalists' fight for fair treatment into the broader contexts of the women's and civil rights movements. Maggi-Meg Reed's even, crisp delivery and smart cadence help listeners absorb Kroeger's incredibly detailed history while keeping the narrative moving nicely along. With just a hint of exasperation in her tone, Reed relays the sexist barriers these remarkable women journalists faced, then she warmly celebrates their courage, determination, and many successes. VERDICT Both an intriguing social history and collection of well-drawn, necessarily short biographical sketches of fearless women such as Nellie Bly, the Idas (Tarbell and B. Wells), Gloria Steinem, and Nikole Hannah-Jones, Kroeger's inspiring account of how women significantly influenced a misogynistic industry should be welcomed by history and journalism buffs.--Beth Farrell
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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