Public Relations Review GenevieveG. McBride On Wkmsin Womfm Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press $43.00 cloth, $19.95 paper, 1994 Whatever it took to win s&i-age, women did it-and well. The author takes us through two generations of Wisconsin women dedicate to reform, including abolition, the temperance movement, the right to vote, and to hold jobs that challenged their intelligence rather than their cooking and child- rearing abilities. These women managed to rally enough force and influence finally to achieve what they set out to do. It was no easy task, and the tactics they developed in the 1800s surely are as viable as any currently used to publicize and promote diverse causes. Certainly the information is thoroughly researched, and presented in an impressive amount of detail. For my taste, entirely too much detail. As a reference, however, scholars no doubt will be able to access information on the women’s rights movement probably not available elsewhere. But as a book to just sit down and read, it’s close to impossible. The topics I found interesting, such as how women broke barriers to become working journalists, to forming activist women’s groups, and the early methods of developing public relations techniques, were obscured by lengthy sentences, and an overkill of minutiae. This is unfortunate, because how these women worked through nearly insur- mountable obstacles to eventually gain their rights is a compelling story. As John Buenker, co-editor of the Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era comments, “McBride has undertaken the task of considering feminist reform as a conceptual whole, demonstrating the links among temperance, prohibition, women suffrage, and social reform and showing how they ultimately became part of the 1910-1920 campaign for equal suffrage.” In attempting to do all that, McBride may have taken on too much. Readability may have been sacrificed for historical thorough- ness. Gloria Gordon Vice President, IABC Editor, Communication World Leslie Kanes Weisman Discrimination by Des&a: A Feminist Critique of theMan- Maa2 Environment Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 190 pp., $11.95, 1994 With today’s emphasis upon employee empowerment, Dis- crimination by Des&p presents insights that should be understood by public relations professionals who are interested in making their organizations more sensitive and socially responsible. 402 Vol. 20, No. 4

On Wisconsin women: Genevieve G. McBride Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press $43.00 cloth, $19.95 paper, 1994

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Page 1: On Wisconsin women: Genevieve G. McBride Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press $43.00 cloth, $19.95 paper, 1994

Public Relations Review

Genevieve G. McBride On Wkmsin Womfm Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press $43.00 cloth, $19.95 paper, 1994

Whatever it took to win s&i-age, women did it-and well. The author takes us through two generations of Wisconsin women dedicate to reform, including abolition, the temperance movement, the right to vote, and to hold jobs that challenged their intelligence rather than their cooking and child- rearing abilities. These women managed to rally enough force and influence finally to achieve what they set out to do. It was no easy task, and the tactics they developed in the 1800s surely are as viable as any currently used to publicize and promote diverse causes.

Certainly the information is thoroughly researched, and presented in an impressive amount of detail. For my taste, entirely too much detail. As a reference, however, scholars no doubt will be able to access information on the women’s rights movement probably not available elsewhere. But as a book to just sit down and read, it’s close to impossible.

The topics I found interesting, such as how women broke barriers to become working journalists, to forming activist women’s groups, and the early methods of developing public relations techniques, were obscured by lengthy sentences, and an overkill of minutiae.

This is unfortunate, because how these women worked through nearly insur- mountable obstacles to eventually gain their rights is a compelling story. As John Buenker, co-editor of the Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era comments, “McBride has undertaken the task of considering feminist reform as a conceptual whole, demonstrating the links among temperance, prohibition, women suffrage, and social reform and showing how they ultimately became part of the 1910-1920 campaign for equal suffrage.” In attempting to do all that, McBride may have taken on too much. Readability may have been sacrificed for historical thorough- ness.

Gloria Gordon Vice President, IABC Editor, Communication World

Leslie Kanes Weisman Discrimination by Des&a: A Feminist Critique of the Man- Maa2 Environment Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 190 pp., $11.95, 1994

With today’s emphasis upon employee empowerment, Dis- crimination by Des&p presents insights that should be understood by public relations professionals who are interested in making their organizations more sensitive and socially responsible.

402 Vol. 20, No. 4