Post Grad Book #7

The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties by Judith Nies
Finished: May 8, 2011
Page Count: 303
Why I read it:
I was killing time at the library before meeting a friend for lunch and this book was on display in the adult non-fiction section.  The cover caught my eye and with my background in women & gender studies, I figured it would be a good addition to my vast reading list from the past few years.


Booklist review:
Nies, author and activist, offers a refreshingly candid look at her own life as a product of the 1960s and 1970s. After completing graduate school overseas in international affairs, Nies returns to the U.S. in 1966 to race riots and the burgeoning antiwar movement. She marries a Treasury Department employee, then lands “the most interesting job in Washington,” working as an aide to a group of 10 liberal congressmen. Against the familiar backdrop of assassinations, the Chicago Democratic Convention riots in 1968, and the invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State shootings in 1970, Nies outlines her own hostile work environment during those years. After writing an article on the “institutionalized sexism prevailing on Capitol Hill,” she lands a new job working for a congressman’s wife. At the same time, her own marriage is disintegrating due to the chasm between her activism and her husband’s administration job. Nothing really new here, but Nies’ personal take on the ripple effects of the women’s movement—both on those involved directly and those who followed—is honest and engaging. --Deborah Donovan


What I thought:
This was a fantastic read after all the articles, anthologies and books I read in my WAGS courses.  I love that I knew what she was talking about, who people were, and that I'd read some of the things she had read (though she was reading the articles in the middle of the feminist movement while I was reading them thirty years later).  I always love a good account of what it was like for a woman living in the sixties and seventies during the changing times of our country.  Nies' experiences were very different from that of the typical housewife of the time- she held several jobs on Capitol Hill where women were still meant to be seen and not heard.  She did a lot of important work and I'm sure never got the recognition she deserved.  She mentioned a lot of people from Minnesota (senators, activists) that I've never heard of so it was cool to have that "hometown" connection.  She talked a lot about the Vietnam War and made occasional connections to the current war in Iraq.  It was just a really interesting book about her life and the girl she had to leave behind in order to conform into the rigid roles of marriage and womanhood in the sixties.  She ends the book saying she's happy with the life she ended up leaving, even having to leave a lot of her goals and ambitions behind.  I guess my reaction now is of disappointment for her having to push some of her ambitions aside- I hope to never face a situation where I have to give up something I love.