Christina Baker Kline
© Copyright 2009 Christina Baker Kline. All Rights Reserved.
Remarkably candid, The Conversation Begins is an examination of one of the most intimate,
complicated relationships of a woman’s life, and a portrait of the changing feminist movement.
In the questions they pose, Baker and Baker Kline attempt to identify the particular stresses and
rewards of feminist motherhood, and to chart a path for future generations. “By inviting real-life
mothers and daughters to tell the story of their relationship to feminism and to each other, we
sought to explore how women who have profoundly affected their generation have influenced the
next at this most personal level,” the authors write. A landmark book, it not only reports from the
front lines of both Second and Third Wave feminism, but also bridges the gap between them.
The main criterion for participants in this study was that either the mother or daughter (or both)
has made a public contribution to the contemporary women’s movement. Some are well known
because of their involvement on a national level; others who are working at the grassroots level
will mainly be known in their communities. Nearly half of the women identified themselves not only
as Americans, but also by their Native American, African, Latin American, Asian, or Eastern European
ethnic heritage. The ages of the participants range from seventeen to eighty-four, spanning
virtually the entire twentieth century. The narratives are arranged chronologically from oldest to
youngest mother to give a sense of the evolution of the women’s movement.
Of note, in the end, the feminist mothers in this book have, for the most part, raised feminist
daughters. Few of the daughters have rejected their mother’s political beliefs. Feminism has
become the fabric of their lives. The main difference is that the world the daughters live in is a
world transformed, thanks to their mothers. “What I had to fight for,” one mother writes, “my
daughters can assume.”
Baker and Baker Kline write, “As mothers and daughters in our book talk to and about each other,
many conversations emerge across the pages. They reflect upon the nature of modern feminism,
its promises and costs, its successes and failures, its personal impact as well as its public agenda.
Ultimately, we hope, our readers will join the discussion too.”
complicated relationships of a woman’s life, and a portrait of the changing feminist movement.
In the questions they pose, Baker and Baker Kline attempt to identify the particular stresses and
rewards of feminist motherhood, and to chart a path for future generations. “By inviting real-life
mothers and daughters to tell the story of their relationship to feminism and to each other, we
sought to explore how women who have profoundly affected their generation have influenced the
next at this most personal level,” the authors write. A landmark book, it not only reports from the
front lines of both Second and Third Wave feminism, but also bridges the gap between them.
The main criterion for participants in this study was that either the mother or daughter (or both)
has made a public contribution to the contemporary women’s movement. Some are well known
because of their involvement on a national level; others who are working at the grassroots level
will mainly be known in their communities. Nearly half of the women identified themselves not only
as Americans, but also by their Native American, African, Latin American, Asian, or Eastern European
ethnic heritage. The ages of the participants range from seventeen to eighty-four, spanning
virtually the entire twentieth century. The narratives are arranged chronologically from oldest to
youngest mother to give a sense of the evolution of the women’s movement.
Of note, in the end, the feminist mothers in this book have, for the most part, raised feminist
daughters. Few of the daughters have rejected their mother’s political beliefs. Feminism has
become the fabric of their lives. The main difference is that the world the daughters live in is a
world transformed, thanks to their mothers. “What I had to fight for,” one mother writes, “my
daughters can assume.”
Baker and Baker Kline write, “As mothers and daughters in our book talk to and about each other,
many conversations emerge across the pages. They reflect upon the nature of modern feminism,
its promises and costs, its successes and failures, its personal impact as well as its public agenda.
Ultimately, we hope, our readers will join the discussion too.”
The Conversation Begins: Mothers and
Daughters Talk about Living Feminism
Sisterhood, not motherhood, has been the focus of American
feminism for the past twenty-five years. In fact, during the 70s
many feminists viewed motherhood as a hindrance to women's
progress toward equality, an attitude that alienated legions of
potentially feminist women by ignoring -- even disparaging -- the
needs and concerns of those who were mothers.
Nevertheless, many of those women had daughters who now have
come of age and are reshaping the women's movement to suit their
needs. The passing of the torch has not been entirely smooth,
however. As young women define an agenda of their own, they
also find themselves having to assess the legacy of their
foremothers -- for better and for worse.
In The Conversation Begins (Bantam, 1996), Christina Baker Kline
and her mother Christina Looper Baker draw on talks with a diverse
range of over sixty women of both generations, asking provocative,
often painful questions. Revealing first-person narratives based on
interviews with twenty-two sets of mothers and daughters --
including Paula Gunn Allen, Letty Pogrebin, Naomi Wolf, Barbara
Ehrenreich, Tillie Olsen, Joy Harjo, Eleanor Smeal, Nkenge Toure,
Patsy Mink, Helen Rodriguez-Trias, and many others -- comprise the
heart of this magnificent testament to the strength of American
feminism and the bond between feminist mothers and daughters.
Daughters Talk about Living Feminism
Sisterhood, not motherhood, has been the focus of American
feminism for the past twenty-five years. In fact, during the 70s
many feminists viewed motherhood as a hindrance to women's
progress toward equality, an attitude that alienated legions of
potentially feminist women by ignoring -- even disparaging -- the
needs and concerns of those who were mothers.
Nevertheless, many of those women had daughters who now have
come of age and are reshaping the women's movement to suit their
needs. The passing of the torch has not been entirely smooth,
however. As young women define an agenda of their own, they
also find themselves having to assess the legacy of their
foremothers -- for better and for worse.
In The Conversation Begins (Bantam, 1996), Christina Baker Kline
and her mother Christina Looper Baker draw on talks with a diverse
range of over sixty women of both generations, asking provocative,
often painful questions. Revealing first-person narratives based on
interviews with twenty-two sets of mothers and daughters --
including Paula Gunn Allen, Letty Pogrebin, Naomi Wolf, Barbara
Ehrenreich, Tillie Olsen, Joy Harjo, Eleanor Smeal, Nkenge Toure,
Patsy Mink, Helen Rodriguez-Trias, and many others -- comprise the
heart of this magnificent testament to the strength of American
feminism and the bond between feminist mothers and daughters.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| The Conversation Begins |
|
“One feminist goal is for women to raise daughters with a sense of their own power. The knotty
challenge for the daughters is how to rebel against the moms without drowning feminism. In
their revealing exploration The Conversation Begins, mother/daughter Baker and Kline chart
the third wave of activism, scoping out how feminist moms have stood up and their daughters
have flown.”
-- The Village Voice
“Absorbing … A thoughtful account of the complicated way a mother’s struggle with her role as
a woman played out in her daughter’s life. For those still interested in rational discussion, “The
Conversation Begins” personalizes the sacrifices and anxieties and confirms the struggle is not
over.”
-- Newark Star-Ledger
“A revealing yet comforting overview of the generational passage of feminism that discloses as
much about elemental family conflicts as about the future of the women’s movement. As a
collection of discrete stories of a social movement and of the eternal bond of mother and child,
this is an impressive book.”
-- Kirkus Reviews
“These candid stories move beyond rhetoric to real life.”
-- Ms. Magazine
“These stories alone make fascinating reading, but the book goes deeper … Unsettlingly
revealing.”
-- The Women’s Review of Books
“Compelling … As a multicultural, cross-generational study, The Conversation Begins avoids
both the nostalgia-fests most books by ex-‘60s radicals turn into, and the maddening
generalizations of Gen-X anthologies, as well. Through individual stories, the reader begins to
see, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, how each mother’s politics caused ruptures in the
daughter’s world.”
-- New York Newsday
“A provocative series of narratives… These stories are ripe with challenges, frustrations, rage
and love.”
-- The Kansas City Star
|
|
Blog