Breaking the Ties That Bind ― Popular Stories of the New Woman, 1915-1930

The New Woman-an independent, nontraditional, usually career-minded woman for whom marriage and family were secondary-became a popular heroine in women’s magazine fiction from the time of World War I through the 1920s. During this period, American culture entertained a new, feminist vision of gender roles that helped pave the way for modern images of women in public activity. The stories in this collection are drawn from the biggest periodicals of the day-Ladies’ Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Home Companion, and McCall’s-as well as the African-American magazine The Crisis. Each story is rooted in some dimension of contemporary feminism and explores a topic of continuing importance, such as solidarity among women, the lives of women of color and working-class women, sexual harassment, lesbian love, family and marital bonds, and women’s relation to paid employment.