Praise for My Songs of Now and Then

""This is a smart, moving and unpretentious memoir of a long life lived with vigor and strength. The biographical narrative touches on important 20th century events in Europe but the real story is the author's humanity, her womanhood, and her connection to others as she made a life in America.

At a number of points, I stopped reading to shed a tear. When I was done, I wished, most of all, to have the same kind of equanimity and grace in old age."" Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Prof. emerita, Cornell University Author of the award winning books: Fasting Girls: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease, and The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls.

The essays in this book are fragments of my truth, to share with loved ones, perhaps to make you laugh, or cry, to let you glimpse into my life, my family, my memories, my dreams and my accomplishments. I write of how it all got started, of belonging and not belonging; the journeys of my life, journeys in space and in personal development, growing up and growing old and older yet. I explore my Jewish identity as it evolves through the seasons of life, beginning with family wanderings in pre-war Western Europe, becoming an American Jewish mother and grandmother, embracing a mid-life career in psychotherapy, and examining the joys and challenges of late life, all leading to my Ethical Will.

Family recollections and photographs are interspersed with brief poems.

Women in Uzbekistan have been labeled as victims of patriarchy and submissive, voiceless bodies who lack agency and decision-making power. They are also often symbolized as preservers of rituals and culture and also the victims of socio-economic transformations. During the years of land tenure changes from collectivization to de-collectivization, World War II and the five-year plan economy, women played a vital role in pursuing a diverse range of livelihood opportunities to sustain their families and communities. But what kind of livelihood activities do women pursue in rural areas in Uzbekistan? What do they think about themselves? Do they exercise agency? What are their values, desires, dreams, and inspirations in the post-Soviet period in Uzbekistan? Women's Lives and Livelihoods in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan presents women's voices and their experiences of carrying out livelihood activities such as farming, trading, baking, sewing, building greenhouses, and establishing furniture workshops. In a major contribution to the study of post-Soviet transformations, Zulfiya Tursunova demonstrates how women exercise multi-dimensional empowerment by joining social and economic saving networks such as gap and chernaya kassa. These networks represent a collective movement and action against economic dependency of women on men and the state micro-loan bank system. The networks that do not require external donor interventions have been able to empower women for social justice, knowledge, redistribution of resources, and conflict resolution in ways that are vital to community development. Tursunova provides accounts of such ceremonies as mavlud, ihson, Bibi Seshanba, and Mushkul Kushod. These ceremonies show the ways the conflict resolution practices of women are woven into their everyday life, and function autonomously from the hierarchical elite-driven Women's Committees and state court systems established in the Soviet times. Many local healers and otins (religious teachers) use their discursive knowledge, based on Islam, Sufism, shamanism, and animism to challenge and transform women's subordination, abuse, and other practices that impinge on women's needs and rights. These female religious leaders, through different ceremonial practices, create space for raising the critical consciousness of women and transform the social order for maintaining peace in the communities.

The surreal life and bizarre times of a college-educated career call girl. A brave new look at the oldest profession, A Roaring Girl is, without a doubt, the most unusual book of its kind ever written. Part edgy, x-rated memoir; part sex-positive, pro-prostitution polemic, H. A. Carson's 400-plus page interview with an anonymous "escort" known as "The Thinking Man's Hooker," is an unflinchingly honest presentation of one woman's professional life and Weltanshaung in all its sordid/surreal, gonzo/glamorous glory. From start to finish, the book is, much like the subject herself, intelligent, outrageous, relentlessly "in your face," and utterly unique. A Roaring Girl presents a prostitute who is neither gilded angel nor fallen victim nor pseudo-sexy, "nymphomaniacal" sophisticate. She is the sex worker as female outlaw/entrepreneur; the prostitute as world-class iconoclast. Perhaps most intriguing of all, A Roaring Girl lays bare the surreal world of pay-for-play psychopathia sexualis with humor and compassion as well as the unflinchingly analytical insight of a "happy hooker" swapping stories with Kinsey or Havelock Ellis. Raw, irreverent, visceral, disturbing, and funny, A Roaring Girl is, above all, a "roaring" good read It is astonishingly literate, unabashedly erotic; flawlessly analytical; shockingly explicit, and surprisingly (and often darkly) humorous. Carson's mystery woman turns a phrase as effortlessly and as expertly as she formerly turned tricks. Whatever else can be said of her, the whore can write. A Roaring Girl is a revolutionary work. It is also fascinating, You will try, unsuccessfully, to put it down.

"Scholars of American political thought have often failed to appreciate the significance of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Scholars of Stanton have often not been deeply immersed in broader studies of American political thought. Sue Davis's outstanding book rectifies both these deficiencies in ways that will have enduring value."
--Rogers M. Smith, author of "Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership"

aSue Davis admirably succeeds in this book that integrates the conceptual and political legacy of Elizabeth Cady Stanton with current scholarship on heritage of the American liberal state. A must-read for students of American political development, womenas rights, and legal theory.a
--Eileen McDonagh, author of "Breaking the Abortion Deadlock"

aElizabeth Cady Stanton was open to any idea she encountered--old or new, conventional or innovated--except male supremacy. Sue Davis's admirable book shows that this great feminist's adaptability was both her best and worst characteristic.a
--Judith Baer, author of "Our Lives before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence"

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was not only one of the most important leaders of the nineteenth century womenas rights movement but was also the movementas principal philosopher. Her ideas challenged the conventions of the time period that so severely constrained womenas choices and excluded them from public life.

In The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sue Davis argues that Cady Stanton's work reflects the rich tapestry of American political culture in the second half of the nineteenth century. Consequently, as Davis demonstrates, Cady Stanton deservesrecognition as one of America's major political thinkers. Davis reveals the way that Cady Stanton's work drew from different political traditions ranging from liberal egalitarianism to radicalism. Although Cady Stanton's arguments for women's rights combined what have come to be conflicting versions of feminism, her ideas are reflected in late twentieth and early twentieth century feminisms.

Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, The Political Thought of Elizabeth Cady Stanton draws on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, and promises to fill a gap in the literature on the history of political ideas in the United States as well as womenas history and feminist theory.

Alisha Thomas Morgan made headlines in 2005 when she challenged the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives in a heated debate over voting rights - an unprecedented rebuke of the status quo turning the political landscape on its head. As some legislators shunned her, others demanded a public apology and some called for her expulsion, Morgan stood firm on her convictions, making no apologies for standing up for what was right. Emerging victorious from this and similar political and personal challenges, Morgan has built a successful career and life. She continues to make no apologies and shares the lessons she has learned along her journey of trial and triumph in "No Apologies: Lessons in Life, Love & Politics." Whether you're looking for practical and honest advice to help you navigate your personal or professional trajectory, a dynamic tool to help focus your life, an inside look at politics, or some inspiration to get involved in your community, "No Apologies" gives you an unfiltered look into Morgan's life experiences teaching us lessons that transcend life, love, and politics.

Much more has been written about Charles Warren Fairbanks than about his wife, Cornelia Cole Fairbanks. Documents in archives and libraries, historical records, newspapers of the time, and personal letters from Mrs. Fairbanks to her husband have made it possible to learn more about this fascinating woman. Writings of historians about the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries put her story in the context of her times. She had been among one of the early generations of women to graduate from college. She married an ambitious young lawyer and read law to help and advise him as he built his practice as a railroad lawyer in the Gilded Age. Throughout his life, he read his speeches to her for her comments before he delivered them. She raised their five children as he was investing in business and becoming involved in politics and was an important advisor to him as he campaigned successfully to become Senator from Indiana and later, Vice President with President Theodore Roosevelt. She became one of the most popular hostesses in the nation's capital and was the only woman who could enter a drawing room without immediately seeking out the most influential persons in the room. Gracious and charming, she treated all with equal respect.

Many of the available resources for teaching courses on feminist spirituality either come from the 1980s to 1990s or are written by the same authors as those earlier texts, thus showing us a progression of spiritual beliefs and practices of 'second-wave' feminists. This is useful, but when addressing this topic with university students it is also important to show the ways in which spirituality has been rethought by 'third-wave' feminists. This rethinking can be found in various small circulation 'zines, but these are not always accessible to a wide audience. This anthology addresses the experiences of third-wave feminists in the construction and reformulation of spirituality. It examines the experiences of young feminists and others who have been influenced by second-wave feminist spirituality and engaged in developing and critiquing themes of Goddess religion, queer theory, protest movements, and popular culture.

In Authenticating Whiteness: Karens, Selfies, and Pop Stars, Rachel E. Dubrofsky explores the idea that popular media implicitly portrays whiteness as credible, trustworthy, familiar, and honest, and that this portrayal is normalized and ubiquitous. Whether on television, film, social media, or in the news, white people are constructed as believable and unrehearsed, from the way they talk to how they look and act. Dubrofsky argues that this way of making white people appear authentic is a strategy of whiteness, requiring attentiveness to the context of white supremacy in which the presentations unfold. The volume details how ideas about what is natural, good, and wholesome are reified in media, showing how these values are implicitly racialized. Additionally, the project details how white women are presented as particularly authentic when they seem to lose agency by expressing affect through emotional and bodily displays. The chapters examine a range of popular media-newspaper articles about Donald J. Trump, a selfie taken at Auschwitz, music videos by Miley Cyrus, the television series UnREAL, the infamous video of Amy Cooper calling the police on an innocent Black man, and the documentary Miss Americana-pinpointing patterns that cut across media to explore the implications for the larger culture in which they exist. At its heart, the book asks: Who gets to be authentic? And what are the implications?

Seguramente, una nueva mama se siente preparada con guias, manuales, conferencias y cursos. Pero quiza aun asi, los cambios que llegaran a su vida la tomaran por sorpresa. Ha cambiado su papel en el mundo, y tambien lo que el mundo espera de ella y eso es lo que no te dicen en los otros libros sobre la maternidad: al convertirse en madre, la mujer pasa de ser hija, hermana, esposa, amiga o companera para volverse la cuidadora del bienestar no solo de un bebe, sino de toda la familia. Que ocurre entonces con la persona que eras antes? Este es un libro de compania, con los testimonios de muchas mujeres que nos cuentan sus experiencias, en un momento en el que probablemente vas a necesitar compania, comprension y por supuesto, reirte un poco.

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"The result of Miller's information lode is aa]sometimes uplifting book. It is possible for government and private-sector programs to alleviate the violence against females, Miller believes--but not if those in charge lack the will and refuse to allocate the resources."
--"St. Louis Post Dispatch"

aMiller gives us a detailed examination of the violence experienced by Black inner city girls whose victimization is based on multiple dimensions of their lives: because they are Black, because they live in extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods, and because they are women. Milleras careful, rich, detailed field work documents and analyzes the complex realities of these young womenas lives that set the context for the struggles they routinely contend with. The voices of these young people have been ignored for too long. Getting Played has given them an opportunity to be heard that is long overdue.a
--Robert Crutchfield, University of Washington

aGetting Played shows powerfully how gender, class, and race inequality expose girls in disadvantaged urban communities to violent and sexual victimization, both in neighborhoods and in schools. Miller expertly analyzes how extreme social and economic disadvantage combine with pervasive normative codes to create a context in which girls face high risks of victimization at the hands of boys and men. Getting Played is masterful.a
--Karen Heimer, co-editor of "Gender and Crime: Patterns in Victimization and Offending"

aBy giving us a better understanding of how the neighborhoods and the peer culture of poor African American youth increase the risk of agendered victimization, a GettingPlayed challenges both academics and policymakers to face the role of structured discrimination in the perpetuation of violence toward women.a
--Candace Kruttschnitt, co-author of "Marking Time in the Golden State: Womenas Imprisonment in California"

aThis is a significant and timely book. Miller has taken on a vitally important, but understudied, topic--violence against young Black girls in economically depressed urban settings.a
--Dana M. Britton, author of "At Work in the Iron Cage: The Prison as Gendered Organization"

aMiller grabs readers' attention with the stark reality of the widespread occurrence of violent victimization among the girls she studies.a
--From the Foreword by Ruth D. Peterson, Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The Ohio State University

Much has been written about the challenges that face urban African American young men, but less is said about the harsh realities for African American young women in disadvantaged communities. Sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and even gang rape are not uncommon experiences. In Getting Played, sociologist Jody Miller presents a compelling picture of this dire social problem and explores how inextricably, and tragically, linked violence is to their daily lives in poor urban neighborhoods.

Drawing from richly textured interviews with adolescent girls and boys, Miller brings a keen eye to the troubling realities of a world infused with danger and gender-based violence. These girls are isolated, ignored, and often victimized by those considered family and friends. Community institutions such as the police and schools that are meant to protect them often turn a blind eye, leaving girls to fend for themselves. Miller draws a vivid picture of the race and gender inequalities that harm these communities--and how these result in deeply and dangerously engrained beliefs about gender that teach youths to see such violence--rather than the result of broader social inequalities--as deserved due to individual girlsa flawed characters, i.e., ashe deserved it.a

Through Milleras careful analysis of these engaging, often unsettling stories, Getting Played shows us not only how these young women are victimized, but how, despite vastly inadequate social support and opportunities, they struggle to navigate this dangerous terrain.

For the first two years of her life she feels love, but suddenly her protector is gone She's too young to even know her Mother is gone. From the innocence of childhood, to the growing sickness and abuse in her life, she is confused and full of fear

How will she ever make it when there is no time to wonder-only time to survive?
She wants to be the "good little girl," and please her family; she wants to be loved
She wants to be right with God

The confusion, pain, and abuse are unbearable The family sickness is more than one can comprehend

What she is asked to do is impossible-for the sake of her siblings-she MUST do it, but is she strong enough?

Walk through the journey with her from her earthly father to her heavenly Father.