She's the Boss

Reviews / Votes

"From home-based businesses to multi-million-dollar firms, this compelling history shows how some women in the mid-twentieth century opted out of discrimination and glass ceilings to combine work and family, make an income, and express creativity by becoming their own boss. Attentive to women of color and lesbians, with an eye on exemplary biographies and shifting political economy, Michals explores the possibilities and limits of small business, including feminist and civil rights enterprises, under capitalism." - Eileen Boris (author of Home to Work: Motherhood and the Politics of Industrial Homework in the United States) "In less than half a century, women have gone from owning 7 percent of all businesses in the U.S. to nearly half of them. How? Michals has gifted scholars with an illuminating, deeply researched, and much-needed history to explain this remarkable but still overlooked transformation." - Joshua Clark Davis (author of From Head Shops to Whole Foods: The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs) "This terrific and timely book not only tells the history of women's entrepreneurship since World War II in all its breadth and diversity but also makes you think 'Gee, maybe I should start my own business.' If so, you will be in excellent company." - Susan Ware (author of Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote) "Michals offers a lively account that reshapes our understanding of women, business, and twentieth-century America. She's the Boss examines an astonishing range of female-owned businesses-mail-order houses, frozen food suppliers, beauty salons, feminist credit unions, soul food restaurants, and more-enterprises that flourished despite stubborn gender ideologies and persistent discrimination. Indeed, Michals shows, business ownership provided women with a viable alternative to a labor market that continually refused to accommodate them. A must-read for anyone curious as to why women account for more than 40 percent of America's business owners today." - Wendy Gamber (author of The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860-1930) "She's the Boss chronicles the history of U.S. women's entrepreneurship across the decades following World War II, emphasizing the distinct social, cultural, and political moments that led to the growth of female founders. By highlighting examples of successful women entrepreneurs in each decade starting in the 1940s, Michals brilliantly captures the voices, accomplishments, and challenges of founders who are often missing from entrepreneurship and business history. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of women's entrepreneurship in the U.S. and understanding the current state of the field as women founders continue to strive for recognition and success." - Banu Ozkazanc-Pan (founder and director, Venture Capital Inclusion Lab at Brown University's Nelson Center for Entrepre) "Intermixing deep archival research with vivid anecdotes of women's lives, She's the Boss elegantly captures the persistence and complexity of American women's business ownership in the postwar era. Michals keenly traces variations by race, family, marital status, and social climate to show how much changed over those years for female entrepreneurs. Smoothly written and clearly organized, She's the Boss is a signal accomplishment in women's and business history." - Roger Horowitz (director, Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Libra) "Michals crafts a lively and timely tale of women entrepreneurs from midcentury through the 1980s that fills an important chapter in business history and women's history. The diverse entrepreneurs she profiles are dynamic and daring, pushing for women's economic independence and a greater market presence as their circumstances changed before and after the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The makers and innovators of today who dare to dream up their own businesses are now not alone in history." - Leandra Zarnow (author of Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug)