First, the positives...

Enstad does an admirable job of presenting the cultural influences of the three F's: fashion, fiction, and film in the formation of what she calls female workers' "subjectivities" that they used to claim some semblance of formal political status. Througout the next few chapters she supports her major thesis that it was not their identities as workers that shaped their political actions, but rather the "...very contradictions they experienced as they found themselves excluded or only provisionally included in powerful cultural categories such as 'worker,' 'lady,' or 'American.' (p.5, intro) The author ties all this together as she describes the failure of labor leaders to effectively exploit the power of these subjectivities to the advantage of the striking workers; instead, labor leaders presented the women within the socially prescribed norms of the era, catering to middle-class pity/charity, and forced a public image of them as "serious and thinly-clad" that they had already rejected en-masse. Enstad calls this a "sub-altern counterpublic" (p.154) - a sub-culture of politics and exchange that existed in the U.S. culture, but was largely invisible to the public. Good point, and germaine to her thesis.

What I could have done without was the endless repetition of nearly identical phrases throughout the book. Of course, this is merely an editing detail, (and pardon the fraternity reference) but if I had to do a shot of whiskey each time she said "most women's clothing was purchased ready-made from pushcarts" I would have been drunk by chapter 2.