Vivid.” — New Yorker
“A thorough examination of the life and work of four fascinating women . . . superb . . . Barnet has added greatly to our understanding of the way human beings with a vision can change society for the better by pursuing their dreams. — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Fascinating and deliciously detailed . . . Barnet [makes] clear that women’s history is longer, richer, more important and more interlinked by time and culture than many may have realized.” — Dallas News
“These four gave their moment—and ours—a unique and compelling way to perceive the interconnections within a society, as well as its relationship to its surroundings.” — Bill McKibben, The Nation
“Wide-reaching and exciting . . . Barnet is smart, engaging, and highly-readable. With enthusiasm and eloquence . . . she tells the women’s stories, while making her larger point that each was responsible for helping to change the world.” — The Lakeville Journal
“A rich portrait . . . They didn’t so much break the rules as create and follow their own, and Barnet seems to be doing the same in her deft, quilted treatment of these pivotal women in a pivotal time.” — The Post and Courier
“With both resonant detail and purposeful distillation, Barnet tells their dramatic stories within the context of the counterculture of 50 years ago, charts the ongoing vitality and influence of their compassionate visions, and asks if we will yet accomplish what these four “accidental revolutionaries” call on us to do.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Inspirational. Barnet has written the provocative tales of four women who became moral voices in the 1960s through a passion for truth and a perseverance that defied expectations. They questioned blind faith in technology and the conquest of nature to shape a sensibility that protected our values and our world.” — Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs
“Fascinating, thoughtful, and surprising, Andrea Barnet’s Visionary Women portrays the world we know through four extraordinary women who did so much to shape it.” — Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief
“What a perfect moment for this enlightening book. These quite different women each worked alone. But now that Andrea Barnet has masterfully woven together their stories — four passionate outsiders transforming the world during the 1960s and 70s — I’ll always think of them as a team of superheroes.” — Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland
“Fascinatingly original and enormously timely in this resurgent-feminist moment. Barnet unearths the fact that Jacobs, Carson, Goodall, and Waters improved the way we experience our global home and our daily lives with scintillating clarity. After you read this thought-provoking book, you’ll never think of ‘major pioneers’ as masculine again.” — Sheila Weller, author of Girls Like Us and The News Sorority
“Barnet presents a fascinating cohort of four brilliant, impassioned women who singly and collectively transformed the way we view life on this planet. Sounding the alarm against the culture’s assault on the natural world, each bravely advocated healing and unity. Here are life lessons for today.” — Linda Lear, author of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature
“Barnet interlinks these women and their achievements in a penetrating manner, revealing her subjects’ philosophical connections and the impact their vision had on the culture of the 1960s and beyond. Narrated with an urgent sense of mission, the four stories unfold like a novel. I couldn’t stop reading this book.” — Brooke Allen, author of Benazir Bhutto: Favored Daughter
“Each of Barnet’s beautifully drawn portraits casts a light on the others, but what her shining prose illuminates most of all are the beliefs these women shared about the interconnectedness of the human community, animal species, natural world and built environment, convictions that have transformed the way we live now.” — Akiko Busch, author of The Incidental Steward
“These four remarkable women pioneered practices that have collectively come to shape the world we live in. At a moment in history that will likely be remembered for the hard-won consequences of revelatory truths, Barnet’s magnificent book is a stunning reminder that women are extraordinary—and character is everything.” — Jessica Helfand, author of Design: The Invention of Desire
Fascinating, thoughtful, and surprising, Andrea Barnet’s Visionary Women portrays the world we know through four extraordinary women who did so much to shape it.
With both resonant detail and purposeful distillation, Barnet tells their dramatic stories within the context of the counterculture of 50 years ago, charts the ongoing vitality and influence of their compassionate visions, and asks if we will yet accomplish what these four “accidental revolutionaries” call on us to do.
Booklist (starred review)
A thorough examination of the life and work of four fascinating women . . . superb . . . Barnet has added greatly to our understanding of the way human beings with a vision can change society for the better by pursuing their dreams.
These four gave their moment—and ours—a unique and compelling way to perceive the interconnections within a society, as well as its relationship to its surroundings.
Each of Barnet’s beautifully drawn portraits casts a light on the others, but what her shining prose illuminates most of all are the beliefs these women shared about the interconnectedness of the human community, animal species, natural world and built environment, convictions that have transformed the way we live now.
These four remarkable women pioneered practices that have collectively come to shape the world we live in. At a moment in history that will likely be remembered for the hard-won consequences of revelatory truths, Barnet’s magnificent book is a stunning reminder that women are extraordinary—and character is everything.
Vivid.
Fascinating and deliciously detailed . . . Barnet [makes] clear that women’s history is longer, richer, more important and more interlinked by time and culture than many may have realized.
A rich portrait . . . They didn’t so much break the rules as create and follow their own, and Barnet seems to be doing the same in her deft, quilted treatment of these pivotal women in a pivotal time.
Inspirational. Barnet has written the provocative tales of four women who became moral voices in the 1960s through a passion for truth and a perseverance that defied expectations. They questioned blind faith in technology and the conquest of nature to shape a sensibility that protected our values and our world.
What a perfect moment for this enlightening book. These quite different women each worked alone. But now that Andrea Barnet has masterfully woven together their stories — four passionate outsiders transforming the world during the 1960s and 70s — I’ll always think of them as a team of superheroes.
Wide-reaching and exciting . . . Barnet is smart, engaging, and highly-readable. With enthusiasm and eloquence . . . she tells the women’s stories, while making her larger point that each was responsible for helping to change the world.
Vivid.
Barnet interlinks these women and their achievements in a penetrating manner, revealing her subjects’ philosophical connections and the impact their vision had on the culture of the 1960s and beyond. Narrated with an urgent sense of mission, the four stories unfold like a novel. I couldn’t stop reading this book.
Fascinatingly original and enormously timely in this resurgent-feminist moment. Barnet unearths the fact that Jacobs, Carson, Goodall, and Waters improved the way we experience our global home and our daily lives with scintillating clarity. After you read this thought-provoking book, you’ll never think of ‘major pioneers’ as masculine again.
Barnet presents a fascinating cohort of four brilliant, impassioned women who singly and collectively transformed the way we view life on this planet. Sounding the alarm against the culture’s assault on the natural world, each bravely advocated healing and unity. Here are life lessons for today.
Unburdened by traditional thinking and guided by intuitive insights, four women—Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters—reshaped the public’s thinking on the environment, urban planning, primate behavior, and diet, respectively. This book offers clear and concise yet illuminating biographies of each. Cassandra Campbell offers an easy-on-the-ears reading. Her voice virtually revels in the women’s accomplishments and shares their frustration with outdated thinking, primarily male. The only drawback is in the Goodall section, when numerous letters are quoted. The attributions are awkwardly placed, which makes the reading slightly choppy at times. But this minor flaw doesn’t distract from the overall work. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Unburdened by traditional thinking and guided by intuitive insights, four women—Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters—reshaped the public’s thinking on the environment, urban planning, primate behavior, and diet, respectively. This book offers clear and concise yet illuminating biographies of each. Cassandra Campbell offers an easy-on-the-ears reading. Her voice virtually revels in the women’s accomplishments and shares their frustration with outdated thinking, primarily male. The only drawback is in the Goodall section, when numerous letters are quoted. The attributions are awkwardly placed, which makes the reading slightly choppy at times. But this minor flaw doesn’t distract from the overall work. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
2017-12-19
