The Five Books That Changed Our Lives

Of all the millions of books that have been published, only a very few have had the capacity to change our outlook, and thus our lives. Whether they focus on big-picture or personal issues, such books stay with us long after we’ve read them, and even today, they remind us of how we were touched, provoked or comforted by reading them. Here are five books that led Boomer women to look at the world in new ways:

Fear Of Flying, by Erica Jong

The Pill had been around since 1960, but it wasn’t until 1973 that there was a novel that celebrated the liberated woman’s appetite for sex for its own sake, not for love or commitment. Jong, who turns 70 on March 26th, liberally tossed the f-word around, and described her ideal unattached sexual encounter as “zipless.” Writers like Henry Miller and John Updike praised the book’s skill and exuberance.

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson The next time you take a reusable bag to the supermarket, think of Rachel Carson. A marine biologist, Carson is credited with beginning the modern environmental movement with the 1962 book that documented the toxic effects pesticide had on birds, animals and human beings. The book has reverberated down the decades, ultimately leading to global environmentalism and the “green” movement. One of the very few books that has affected your life whether or not you’ve read it.

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee This 1962 book, which, like “Silent Spring,” is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, chronicles an unsettling episode of racial bigotry in a small Southern town. The story is rooted in a very specific place and time. But the clear, calm voice of Scout, the 10-year-old tomboy narrator, has touched readers worldwide who identify with her search for meaning and integrity. "Mockingbird," the only novel Lee ever published, is still controversial with people who object to its use of racial epithets and depiction of rape. There’s probably no better proof of a book’s ongoing relevance than that.

The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan Sociologist Alvin Toffler said that this 1963 book “pulled the trigger on history,” and that’s probably not an exaggeration. In the book, Friedan chronicled what she called “the problem that has no name” – the vague, persistent dissatisfaction stay-at-home wives feel when they’d rather be out working. And she coined the term “The Feminine Mystique” in discussing the relentlessly girly, dependent image foisted upon such women by society and women’s magazines. Friedan was rightly criticized for a few things – she focused on white, middle-class women; she was homophobic – but what’s indisputable is that modern feminism would look very different without her, if it even existed at all.

First You Cry, by Betty Rollin Back in the 1970s, there were no pink ribbons, no Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and, in fact, barely any mention of cancer at all. Just a few brave women had spoken about their battle with breast cancer, most notably First Lady Betty Ford in 1974. And then two years later Betty Rollin, an NBC News correspondent, published her own story of battling breast cancer and made hundreds of thousands of women suffering the same ordeal realize that they were not alone. Since then, awareness and treatment of cancer have radically changed, thanks in part to the book’s openness. And the book still packs a powerful emotional punch. One amazon.com commenter wrote, “Yes, the treatments and options for women today are 100 times better, but the feelings you go through are still the same.”