“An engaging study of the ways women and machines have been represented in art, photography, advertising, and literature.” —Arwen Palmer Mohun, University of Delaware From sexist jokes about women drivers to such empowering icons as Amelia Earhart and Rosie the Riveter, representations of the relationship between women and modern technology in popular culture have been both demeaning and celebratory. Depictions of women as timid and fearful creatures baffled by machinery have alternated with images of them as being fully capable of technological mastery and control—and of lending sex appeal to machines as products. In Women and the Machine, historian Julie Wosk maps the contradictory ways in which women’s interactions with—and understanding of—machinery has been defined in Western popular culture since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Drawing on both visual and literary sources, Wosk illuminates popular gender stereotypes that have burdened women throughout modern history while underscoring their advances in what was long considered the domain of men. Illustrated with more than 150 images, Women and the Machine reveals women rejoicing in their new liberties and technical skill even as they confront society’s ambivalence about these developments, along with male fantasies and fears. “Engaging and entertaining . . . Using illustrations, cartoons and photographs from the past three centuries, Wosk delineates shifts in social acceptance of women’s relationship to technology . . . her work is complex, comprehensive and highly readable.” —Publishers Weekly “Art historian Wosk analyzes the overt and covert messages in depictions of women and machines in an array of fiction and, more impressively, in some 150 visual images.” —Booklist

“Individual women’s stories enliven almost every page” of this comprehensive illustrated reference, now updated, from the National Air and Space Museum (Technology and Culture). Women run wind tunnel experiments, direct air traffic, and fabricate airplanes. American women have been involved with flight from the beginning. But until 1940, most people believed women could not fly, that Amelia Earhart was an exception to the rule. World War II changed everything. “It is on the record that women can fly as well as men,” stated General Henry H. Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces. Then the question became “Should women fly?” Deborah G. Douglas tells the story of this ongoing debate and its impact on American history. From Jackie Cochran, whose perseverance led to the formation of the Women’s Army Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II to the more recent achievements of Jeannie Flynn, the Air Force’s first woman fighter pilot and Eileen Collins, NASA’s first woman shuttle commander, Douglas introduces a host of determined women who overcame prejudice and became military fliers, airline pilots, and air and space engineers. Not forgotten are stories of flight attendants, air traffic controllers, and mechanics. American Women and Flight since 1940 is a revised and expanded edition of a Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum reference work. Long considered the single best reference work in the field, this new edition contains extensive new illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography.

Dancing Women: Female Bodies Onstage is a spectacular and timely contribution to dance history, recasting canonical dance since the early nineteenth century in terms of a feminist perspective. Setting the creation of specific dances in socio-political and cultural contexts, Sally Banes shows that choreographers have created representations of women that are shaped by - and that in part shape - society's continuing debates about sexuality and female identity. Broad in its scope and compelling in its argument Dancing Women: * provides a series of re-readings of the canon, from Romantic and Russian Imperial ballet to contemporary ballet and modern dance * investigates the gaps between plot and performance that create sexual and gendered meanings * examines how women's agency is created in dance through aspects of choreographic structure and style * analyzes a range of women's images - including brides, mistresses, mothers, sisters, witches, wraiths, enchanted princesses, peasants, revolutionaries, cowgirls, scientists, and athletes - as well as the creation of various women's communities on the dance stage * suggests approaches to issues of gender in postmodern dance Using an interpretive strategy different from that of other feminist dance historians, who have stressed either victimization or celebration of women, Banes finds a much more complex range of cultural representations of gender identities.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling, award-winning author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments, a dazzling collection of short stories that look deeply into the heart of family relationships, marriage, loss and memory, and what it means to spend a life together "If you consider yourself an Atwood fan and have only read her novels: Get your act together. You’ve been missing out.” —The New York Times Book Review, Rebecca Makkai, best-selling author of The Great Believers Margaret Atwood has established herself as one of the most visionary and canonical authors in the world. This collection of fifteen extraordinary stories—some of which have appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine—explore the full warp and weft of experience, speaking to our unique times with Atwood’s characteristic insight, wit and intellect. The two intrepid sisters of the title story grapple with loss and memory on a perfect summer evening; “Impatient Griselda” explores alienation and miscommunication with a fresh twist on a folkloric classic; and “My Evil Mother” touches on the fantastical, examining a mother-daughter relationship in which the mother purports to be a witch. At the heart of the collection are seven extraordinary stories that follow a married couple across the decades, the moments big and small that make up a long life of uncommon love—and what comes after. Returning to short fiction for the first time since her 2014 collection Stone Mattress, Atwood showcases both her creativity and her humanity in these remarkable tales which by turns delight, illuminate, and quietly devastate.

Award-winning journalist Sharon Wright presents a fascinating account of the fabulous eighteenth and nineteenth-century female pioneers of balloon flight. More than a century before the first airplane took flight, women were heading for the heavens in crazy, inspired contraptions that brought both danger and glory. Women were in the vanguard of the “Balloonomania” craze that took hold in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, sweeping across Europe and then the world. Their exploits were a vital element of our first voyages into the sky. In a time when women’s lives were often severely limited by law and convention, these intrepid pioneers took on an exhilarating quest for spectacle, adventure, and danger. From the perilous ascent in 1784 by feisty French teenager Elisabeth Thible, female aeronauts have never looked back . . . or down. But who were these brave women who fearlessly—and scandalously—took to the air? In Balloonomania Belles, journalist Sharon Wright reveals the hair-raising adventures of the first flying women in a book that celebrates the brightest stars of an extraordinary era in human achievement.

IN THIS GROUNDBREAKING WORK, covering thousands of years of history and spanning the globe, Linda Grant De Pauw explores the varied roles women have played in war. De Pauw depicts women as victims and as warriors; as nurses, spies, sex workers, and wives and mothers of soldiers; as warrior queens leading armies into battle, and as baggage carriers marching in the rear. Her historical survey provides context for current public policy debates over women in the military.

This heart-warming historical fiction debut about a female pilot is “like reading a personal diary of the brave women who were unsung heroes of WWII” (Rhys Bowen, New York Times–bestselling author of the Royal Spyness mysteries). During World War II, farmer’s daughter Rosalie Wright becomes a pilot assisting the RAF. But will a romantic rivalry send her aerial dreams plummeting to earth? Ever since she was 10 years old, Rosalie Wright’s eyes have been on the skies. But at the age of 18, on the verge of earning her pilot's license, the English farmer’s daughter watches her dreams of becoming an aviatrix fly away without her. Britain's entry into World War II brings civilian aviation to a standstill. Then, Rosalie's father dies, leaving her, her mother, and her brothers to run the farm. Everything changes when she learns that the Air Transport Authority is recruiting women pilots to ferry warplanes across Britain to RAF bases. Despite her mother’s objections, Rosalie cannot resist the call of her country—and the lure of the skies. During her training on Gipsy Moth aircraft, Rosalie forms a fast friendship with fellow flyer Caroline Andrews. Her trusty Ferry Pilots Notebook by her side, Rosalie delivers to five airfields in a day—while fighting an endless battle against skeptical male pilots and ground crews. She would much rather spend her time on the wing than on the arm of any man...until she meets gruff pilot Snug Durrant and RAF squadron leader Alan Chersey. Snug is a cynical, wisecracking playboy, and Alan is every WAAF’s heartthrob...and Rosalie catches both their eyes. As the war drags on, and casualties mount, will love and tragedy send Rosalie’s exhilarating airborne life crashing to the ground?

“A simply brilliant history that rescues from undeserved obscurity a roster of pioneering women in the very beginning of the age of aviation.” —Midwest Book Review From have-a-go Georgians to emancipated Edwardians, the lady aeronauts were actresses, writers, heiresses, scientists, engineers, explorers, showgirls and suffragettes. These unsung trailblazers for female freedom enjoyed lives shot through with sheer courage and joie de vivre. Yet they were all but forgotten. Hold on tight for a white-knuckle balloon ride through their remarkable real-life stories . . . “You couldn’t want for a better antidote to pinkness than these tales of girls and women unleashing their pluck and inventiveness in the unregulated age of balloonomania . . . This is history at its most satisfying.” —Damesnet “Sharon Wright tells a fabulous tale, and has uncovered some terrific stories of long forgotten heroines of the air. Some stories are comic, many are tragic, many are a bit of both, and she tells it brilliantly.” —Bristol Post “History has never been so much fun!” —What’sHerName Podcast

The objective of this book is to present a number of related chapters on the subject of gender issues in the workplace of the aviation industry. More specifically, the chapters address the continuing shortfall in the number of women pilots in both civilian and military aviation. Considerable research has been carried out on gender issues in the workplace and, for example, women represent about 10% of employees in engineering. This example is often used to show that the consequences of gender discrimination are embedded and difficult to overcome in masculine-dominated occupations. However, women represent only 5-6% of the profession of pilot. Clearly there are many factors which mitigate women seeking to become pilots. The chapters within this volume raise both theoretical and practical issues, endeavouring to address the imbalance of women pilots in this occupation. Absent Aviators consolidates a diverse range of issues from a number of authors from Australia, Austria, the United States, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Each of the chapters is research-based and aims to present a broad picture of gender issues in aviation, gendered workplaces and sociology, underpinned by sound theoretical perspectives and methodologies. One chapter additionally raises issues on the historical exclusion of race from an airline. The book will prove to be a valuable contribution to the debates on women in masculine-oriented occupations and a practical guide for the aviation industry to help overcome the looming shortfall of pilots. It is also hoped it will directly encourage young women to identify and overcome the barriers to becoming a civilian or military pilot.