"Equal offers a compelling account of America’s leading women’s rights cases. Through painstaking research, Strebeigh gives us the "story behind the story" of the lawyers, litigants, and judges who made history. With its sharp insight, telling details, and humorous commentary, this book belongs both in law school curricula and on bedside tables. It is a great read and a major contribution to our understanding of women’s rights and constitutional law."
"Beautifully written and assiduously researched, Fred Strebeigh’s book puts a human face on the movement toward legal recognition of sex discrimination. Equal gives us an unprecedented view into the minds of the plaintiffs, lawyers, and judges who brought about a seismic shift in the law. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in how each individual can improve our society through compassion, drive, and creativity. This book is both inspired and inspiring."
"Both a compelling read and a meticulously deeply inspiring account of the varied cases through which American women have fought to gain equality under the law. It will fascinate general readers and specialists alike."
"Could America really have been so sexist only four decades ago? In this groundbreaking book, Fred Strebeigh reminds us that from the office to the bedroom to the Supreme Court, the answer is yes. Case by case, character by character, detail by detail, he traces how far we have come. When I reached the last page, I wanted to stand and cheer both the intrepid lawyers who changed our country and the author who has so richly, clearly, and memorably chronicled their achievements."
"The stories Strebeigh tells in this readable and engaging book are riveting. They are also inspiring. All of us are indebted to the women he profiles for having changed our world for the better—and we are indebted to Strebeigh, as well, for being such a lucid guide to how they did it."
"An ambitious and admirable contribution to the annals of American justice. The mixture of Strebeigh’s ardent curiosity about his momentous subject and the freshness of the battles that he chronicles make the book a revealing work of living history."
"Fred Strebeigh’s book is wonderful. It reminds us that the advance toward treating women as equal human beings in this country has been astonishing—and it didn’t just happen. Concerned, creative lawyers made it happen. Strebeigh tells us how by the dramatic story of individuals: women, men, and their cases. I found it thrilling."
"We can’t really understand where law and society are going unless we understand where they have been. Fred Strebeigh brings us that history, combining crack investigative reporting, gripping narrative, and moving character portraits. In so doing, he shows us how the law has influenced the lives of women, and how women have shaped the law of the land. Strebeigh gives us heroes and villains, and above all he shows us the price—and the human stakes—of the struggle for equality."
Beyond the hot-button issue of abortion, feminist lawyers and scholars have worked a quieter but equally far-reaching revolution in law and jurisprudence, argues this fascinating history. Strebeigh, a journalist who teaches nonfiction writing at Yale, chronicles 40 years of changing law on employment discrimination, sexual harassment and rape, as a growing movement of women lawyers, professors and judges challenged a primordial legal sexism. (Courts, for example, used to insist that rape victims fight their attackers almost to the death to prove lack of consent.) The author lucidly explains the intricacies of evolving legal doctrine (the federal Violence Against Women Act hung awkwardly from the Constitution's commerce clause) and the devilishly complex litigation strategies lawyers pursued to insinuate new concepts into case law. But his account is really the story of an insurgency-percolating up from consciousness-raising groups and feminist law school seminars; pioneered by theorists like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Catharine Mackinnon; fought out by plucky, underpaid lawyers working in hostile courts; and climaxing in constitutional and political showdowns deep inside the Supreme Court. The result is a keen assessment of how far the law has come-and of the struggle that propelled it. (Feb.)
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Determined women attorneys like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Harriet Rabb, and Catherine MacKinnon and their allies fought to improve women's rights from the 1960s to the present. Much like the civil rights cases of the 1950s, they strategically selected cases for courts to examine certain issues, develop standards of scrutiny for gender, and thereby advance women's rights incrementally. They also worked to pass legislation, taking on issues like discrimination in social security and disability benefits, sexual harassment, discrimination in law schools and the legal profession, and violence against women. Journalist Strebeigh describes the people, cases, triumphs, setbacks, and behind-the-scenes strategizing and decision making in organizations and courts. This is eye-opening stuff-the situations many women plaintiffs faced are astounding from the perspective of 2009. Strebeigh's book is accessible for undergraduates and nonspecialist readers and a good selection for university or public libraries.
—Mary Jane Brustman
