By: Izabella Engelbrink
In light of Gloria Steinem’s passing, here’s four female authors ranging from journalists, activists, and artists who embody the 1960-1970s cultural landscape.
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellion by Gloria Steinem
A short collection of essays written by activists and journalist Gloria Steinem. Steinem is recognized for her activism during the feminist movement, ranging from late 1960-1970. In Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellion, Steinem gives a glimpse of her life and encounters during the feminist movement. Steinem’s writing is incredibly witty and compassionate; she reflects on time spent with other renowned activists such as Angela Davis and Florynce Kennedy. Steinem gives social commentary on the feminist movement, in essays “Campaigning” and “I Was a Playboy Bunny”, and many more. Steinem is very respectable in her writing, she continually writes about her privilege as a white feminist, and shares her enlightenment of the different perspectives of feminism while campaigning. The overall pace is very quick and straight to the point. For those who love to read nonfiction, feminist literature, or interested in the zeitgeist of the 70’s, then Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellion is a perfect educational read.
The White Album by Joan Didion
Writer and journalist Joan Didion is an observer on the sidelines of the social and political landscape of the 1960-1970, in her novel The White Album. The White Album contains a collection of essays that range from the Manson Family Murders, The Doors, the Black Panthers Movement. As well as Didion’s career as a journalist and personal life, letting readers into her marriage and health complications. Didion perfectly captures the tensions and headlines of the decade. The White Album is a short novel, however the pace is quite slow, at times Didion writes leisurely and keeps readers in her every thought. However, she puts readers on the sidelines with her, when she visits The Doors recording studio, you’re in the room with her. In reading The White Album you read everything through the eyes and strong opinions of Didion (i.e. Didion’s strong critique of the feminist movement), reading this novel is to read every news headline from the 1970s. For readers who enjoy nonfiction, journalistic writing, and personal essays, then The White Album is an insightful read.
Sex and Rage by Eve Babitz
Sex and Rage is a fictional novel that follows main character Jacaranda Leven from Los Angeles to New York City, as the young flower child finds her identity. Jacaranda embodies the glamorized culture of 1970s Los Angeles, she’s bounces from man-to-man and party-to-party and is full of sex and rage. Behind the glitz and glam Jacaranda is a lost soul who’s filled with discontent and slowly realizes her bohemian life is fruitless. On a path of growth, Jacaranda starts writing articles for magazines and eventually is recognized by a publishing company, which leads to the long anxious process of Jacaranda writing her first book and flying to New York City. In the end she eventually finishes her books, faces her fear that is New York City, and finds the fulfillment she was once lacking. The once confused young woman found herself amongst the haze of 1970’s culture. For readers who love coming of age stories, or anything 1970s, then Sex and Rage is an exciting pick.
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Just Kids by singer-songwriter Patti Smith is an inimitable novel, only a poet like Smith can write such wistfulness. Patti Smith’s writing is deeply nostalgic and bittersweet, she writes of a New York that no longer exists and perfectly encapsulates the rock’n roll of the 1970s. The crux of the novel is Smith’s time spent with lover, friend, and muse Robert Mapplethorpe who died of HIV in 1989. The bittersweet memoir reflects on Mapplethorpe and Smith’s life while living together; they’re simply Just Kids. Smith sets the framework of New York’s culture from 1960-1970, with her personal anecdotes of staying in the same hotel as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and interactions with poet Allen Ginsberg, as well as descriptions of Robert Mapplethorpe’s experimental art. Just Kids is deeply personal, but any young empathetic reader can resonate strongly with Smith’s egocentric confused nature; she is simply just a kid trying to comprehend life. For those who enjoy coming of age, then Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids is a perfect pick.
