I have a wee obsession with Cambridge, Massachusetts, and I loved learning more about the Radcliffe Institute and how it was founded along with all the history around the times. This read tried to focus on five women, but I'd say it was mostly a book about Anne Sexton, then a bit of Tillie Olsen and a bigger smidge of Maxine Kumin. Still appreciated learning about amazing women I hadn't heard of before, and this also has a stellar notes section for further studying. ( )

In 1960, Radcliffe College launched a pioneer program , the Institute of Independent studies. It's goal was to foster the talent of those women who were stuck at home, raising children, without a space to call their own. It offered these women a stipend for childcare or household help, a office of their own at the institution and free access to the library. These five women, Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, posts, Barbara Swan a painter, a sculptor, Mariana Pineda and Tillie Olsen, a writer. Although it was stated that this program was for women with degrees, it was also stated that the equivalency in work or talent could also apply. These five women were without official college credentials and hence were known as the Equivalents.

I loved this book, a cultural biography of the times but also an in-depth look at these women and their lives, prior to the program and after. It focuses quite often on the complicated friendship between Anne Sexton, Kumin and Olsen. There are many different women mentioned in this book, Virginia Woolf of course and her Room of my Own, Sylvia Plath, whose talent was astonishing but not enough to overcome life's obstacles. The groundbreaking Feminine Mystique, trailblazers all, some successful, some not. It is a wonderful look at women who transcended their expected roles and wanted more. Not all would find it, but many did. ( )