Twentieth Century – Page 45 – History in the Margins

Talking About Women’s History: Three Questions and An Answer with Andrea Friederici Ross

By Pamela | March 7, 2022 |

Andrea Friederici Ross is the author of Edith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick and Let the Lions Roar! The Evolution of Brookfield Zoo. Bearing a degree in German Language and Literature from Northwestern University, Andrea put that knowledge to unconventional use in her zig-zag career path ranging from the administration of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, to working…

Finding the Narrative Thread in History. A Guest Post by Kathleen Stone

By Pamela | February 25, 2022 |

Last year, as part of my annual Women’s History Month series, I interviewed Kathleen Stone about her forthcoming book They Called Us Girls: Stories of Female Ambition from Suffrage to Mad Men, which is due out on March 1st. (You can read the interview here.) This year I asked her to lead us into March…

What Do You Get When You Cross a Boy Scout with a Hippie?

By Pamela | February 22, 2022 |

In the 1890s, a grass-roots movement of young men came into existence in Germany. A cross between Boy Scouts and hippies,* they called themselves the Wandervögel, literally the “wandering birds.”** They rejected the strict class system, materialism, and urban life of Germany under the Kaiser and embraced a romanticized ideal of a simpler time when…