Review Thursday: New Nonfiction

Daughters of Aquarius: Women of the Sixties Counterculture by Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo (2009)

The images are familiar: Janis Joplin wails to the strains of “Ball and Chain” on the stage at the Monterey Pop Festival. Grace Slick with the Jefferson Airplane adjures the crowd to “feed your head” in her acid-drenched rendition of “White Rabbit.” With all the attention focused on the anniversary of Woodstock, there has been a renewal of interest in the whole countercultural movement of the 1960s. How did women fit into this movement? Where did they come from? What did they experience? And was there any lasting effect from their involvement? These are all questions that Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Professor of History at St. Mary’s College of California tries to address.

It’s easy to think in stereotypes: the sexually-uninhibited, wide-eyed “hippie chick;” the earth mother; the guitar-strumming, sandal-wearing protestor. Professor Lemke-Santangelo gives us the reality based on meticulous research and interviews. For the most part, the women of the counterculture came from middle and upper class families. They joined the counterculture to escape from social strictures and expectations and in search of richer life experiences. The book’s in-depth interviews provide the reader with an opportunity to understand the appeal of sex and psychedelic drugs for these women in their journey to self-knowledge.

One of the interesting discoveries that she reveals is that, notwithstanding the exploratory dynamics of the Aquarian Age, many communes consigned women to traditional roles such as cooking, housekeeping, and raising children. However, as time went on, the women took on the primary responsibility for sustaining the communes. Many of these women explored various religions and philosophies, developing a new, feminist-centered spirituality. Professor Lemke-Santangelo traces many of the manifestations of contemporary New Age culture to these second-wave feminists. Although this book is primarily intended for a scholarly audience, it is definitely worth reading if you want to truly understand these pioneering and brave daughters of Aquarius.