04/10/2023
Journalist Kahn’s sparkling debut profiles young women who have played leading roles in American protest movements and examines “how the tropes of conventional girlhood have made them such able activists.” Focusing on women in their teens and early 20s, Kahn’s time frame spans from 1836, when 11-year-old Harriet Hanson led workers in a walkout at a New England textile factory, to the present day. The narrative touches on the fights for racial progress (Anna Elizabeth Dickinson published her first antislavery piece in The Liberator in 1855 at age 13); bodily autonomy (the Jane Collective grew out of 19-year-old college student Heather Tobis’s efforts to connect pregnant women with trained abortion practitioners in the 1960s); and political equality (18-year-old Charlotte Woodward traveled to Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848 for the first women’s rights convention). Kahn’s tone is breezy but never flippant, and she draws vivid, well-informed sketches of her profile subjects, many of whom are lesser known. Concluding that girls “have pushed this nation and forced it to do better,” Kahn calls on adult Americans not simply to pat “ourselves on the back for inviting them to speak to us” but to “ced power to them.” It’s an inspiring and eye-opening look at how progress happens. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (June)
"This riveting and well-researched book invites us to reexamine the history we’ve been taught and to view teenage girls as a powerful force for change."—NPR —The New York Times Book Review's "Editors' Choice" Young and Restless , Mattie Kahn’s thoroughgoing examination of the role of young women and girls in America’s uprisings." —The New York Times Vanity Fair Glamour's "The 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023, So Far"Young and Restless feels born of the current moment….a look at why and how girls have been sidelined by history in the past—turned into objects cultural fascination while simultaneously being denied agency and power, especially in the historical record.”—Vogue's " Best Books of 2023 (So Far)" Young and Restless for its tales of teenage girls who have changed the world...' The process of writing this book has filled me with hope and admiration,' Kahn writes, and it will do the same for any reader."—InStyle —New York Journal of Books Town & Country's " The 41 Must-Read Books of Summer 2023"Booklist Young and Restless ...[looks] at American history and progress through the lens of teen girls — an often overlooked or dismissed demographic that's had a huge impact on our world, in the civil rights movement, early labor strikes, women's suffrage, and more."—Powell's 2023 Book Preview, Vol. 2 —Harvard Magazine The New York Times. First-time author Mattie Kahn does just that in her inspiring survey of the girls and young women who have fought for political and social change in America.”—The Week —The Philadelphia Tribune Publishers Weekly Kirkus Reviews Young and Restless is inspiring without being sentimental, a lively and engaging read that nonetheless challenges and complicates dusty narratives. It’s for anyone who cares about girls and a more just world. You wish this is what you’d learned in history class."—Irin Carmon, co-author of the New York Times bestselling Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Young and Restless , Mattie Kahn treats girl activists with rigor and curiosity, and is clear-eyed in her examination of how we too often erase their social and political contributions from the historical record, iron over the ways their youthful preoccupations shape their engagement, and fetishize their girlhood in a way that makes their growth into adults more challenging. This is a really smart book."—Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad “Young and Restless honors the ferocious power of teenage girls. In this bracing retelling of the social movements, Mattie Kahn celebrates girls not as saviors, but as leaders and visionaries deserving of our recognition.”—Billie Jean King, New York Times bestselling author of All In Young and Restless , Mattie Kahn captures the unique, irrepressible brilliance of girls who have shaped every modern movement for social progress. This book is a vital primer on decades of abolitionists, environmentalists, and other unsung heroines who challenged the powers that be and demanded change. Audacious and often irreverent, the girls of Kahn’s mighty sisterhood will inspire you to action and leave you shouting: 'Long live girl power!'"—Cecile Richards, New York Times bestselling author of Make Trouble and former President of Planned Parenthood Young and Restless is a remarkable debut and a landmark work that has earned its place on the history shelves. With vivid clarity, rigorous research, and trenchant commentary, Mattie Kahn chronicles the potency of female adolescence, exploring with nuance what it means to bear witness to the young women transforming America. Their contributions to American history are invaluable and the nation is forever indebted to them. This book, like the girls whose stories it chronicles, is not to be ignored. —Aminatou Sow, New York Times bestselling co-author of Big Friendship Young and Restless , Mattie Kahn challenges the dismissive societal attitudes consistently pointed at the concerns and contributions of teenage girls, and proves that we are and always have been, at the heart of revolution. Everybody should read this book and understand that who we are taught to look to for leadership has been upside down for a long long time. Luckily, books like this move us closer to that world with every reader."—Ashley Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter
05/01/2023
Award-winning writer/editor Kahn writes about teenagers who helped foment change during critical eras in United States history. The book profiles Harriet Hanson, who at age 10 started working at Tremont Mills in Lowell, MA, to help with her family's financial needs. At age 11 in 1836, it was Hanson who helped lead her older coworkers in a strike for better treatment. The book also portrays Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, who was 13 when her anti-enslavement article was published in an 1856 edition of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper owned by William Lloyd Garrison. In 1912, more than 10,000 women determined to gain voting rights lined up for a parade down New York's Fifth Avenue behind Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a Chinese American teenager who rode atop a white horse. This book has catchy chapter titles, such as "Material Girls," "The Mouth on That Girl," and "Stream of Consciousness," and some readers may be put off when the author questions what turns girls into women. Both aspects undermine the book's scholarship and serious intent. VERDICT Kahn covers history up to the present and considers the role of social media for young women engaging with today's challenges. Best suited for school and large libraries.—Ellen Gilbert
2023-03-14
In 2017, while writing an article about the possibility of a women’s museum opening in Washington, D.C., journalist Kahn, the former culture director at Glamour and staff writer for Elle , learned for the first time about Sybil Ludington. During the Revolutionary War, 16-year-old Ludington allegedly “outrode Paul Revere” when she warned her community about the impending British invasion. Although the veracity of Ludington’s story has since been questioned, the idea of a young girl taking on responsibilities that frightened the adults around her spurred the author to explore the world of historically verified Americans whose heroism has, in the modern era, remained unsung. Kahn profiles girls from a variety of backgrounds and historical eras, including striking millworkers in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1800s; Black girls Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith, who refused to give up their bus seats long before Rosa Parks did; and Greta Thunberg, “who turned student strikes for climate into a worldwide phenomenon” when she was only 15. At its best, this well-researched book delves deeply into the lives of girls like Alice de Rivera, who, at age 13, sued Stuyvesant High School in New York for only admitting boys. At times, though, the chapters are so crammed full of information that they feel disjointed or contradictory. In one chapter, for example, Kahn argues that activism both enhances and is detrimental to girls’ mental health. Another limitation of the book is the author’s almost exclusive focus on cisgender White and Black girls. She only briefly mentions Latine girls demanding immigration reform, trans activists protesting anti-trans laws, and Indigenous activists resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Overall, though, the book is thoughtful and compassionate.
A critical, informative, not-quite-comprehensive analysis of girls’ activism in the U.S.
Eunice Wong perfectly delivers this powerful biography. Author Mattie Kahn has a simple goal: to bring attention to the teenage girls throughout history who have sparked protests and social justice movements. She infuses these stories with a conversational tone that matches the well-researched stories of girls we know (like climate activist Greta Thunberg) and those we don't (like education activist Fay Ordway and women's rights activist Alice de Rivera). The girls profiled were integral in fights for voting rights, abortion, climate change, racial justice, and more. This audiobook shares stories of these girls who refused to be silent, obedient, and remain on the sidelines. Their contributions are often erased, and they deserve to have their stories told. A compelling, inspiring listen. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2023 - AudioFile
