RECENT REVIEWS
Femininity in Flight has appeared in the New Yorker, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, and other national publications
in the United States and Great Britain. Below are highlights and links to full reviews, where available.
“Barry shows how ‘pink-collar’ activists among the ranks of flight attendants worked to improve the status of their profession. . . . Barry argues that the
struggle to win professional respect was made particularly difficult by the conflict between the effortless glamour that attendants were expected to
project and the tedium and difficulty of their actual responsibilities.”
The New Yorker, April 16, 2007
see full review
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"The story of those once known as hostesses or stewardesses, who came to be known as flight attendants, is a microcosm of the world of work in the
last century. Women were policed by the airlines into slim glamour and an aura of sexual availability, and learned quickly the importance of
organization and autonomy: Barry's well-documented history spends more of its length on union charters and test cases than it does on hemlines.
One of its strengths is a demonstration that cultural history does not have to be impressionistic, and that economic imperatives and consciousness-
raising can be as entertaining to read about as exploitation movies."
Roz Kaveney, Times Literary Supplement, April 27, 2007
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“[Femininity in Flight] combines all the strengths of a scholarly monograph—extensive archival research, a solid historiographical framework—with the
kind of stylish layout and eye-catching illustration more common in books for the general reader. And Barry writes with clarity and wit. She tells a
complicated story, but engrossingly.”
Joshua Zeitz, American Heritage, March 22, 2007
see full review
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“Soar through the pleasures and plights of females in flight with this highly informative read. . . . With a no nonsense writing style, well-documented
evidence, and telling photos (marvel at the hot pants uniform on page 183), Barry demonstrates how flight attendants’ long history of organizing and
fighting for their rights made them crusaders for all women and key contributors to second-wave feminism. After reading this you’ll step on a plane
wanting to salute any veteran attendants for their journey as you embark on your own.”
Paula Wehmeyer, Bust, April/May 2007
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"One of the great strengths of Femininity in Flight is the broad context within which Barry views flight attendants' struggles, in terms of women's work,
union organisation and second-wave feminism. By contextualising her study so well and drawing out the parallels between stewardesses and other
pink-collar workers, Barry has produced a book with wide appeal and relevance to many interested in labour history, the women's movement, and the
growth of service work."
Rosie Cox, Times Higher Education Supplement, March 23, 2007
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"Barry’s feminist analysis is clever and somewhat poignant, for it sees that in the role of the air hostess a vision of female selfhood and freedom has
been forced to rub, rather uncomfortably, against a rather ogling set of corporate requirements."
Andrew O'Hagan, London Review of Books, February 8, 2007
see full review
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“Femininity in Flight tells a fascinating story of how technology and femininity appropriated each other’s glamour—and how aviation and its
handmaidens eventually descended from the clouds to become an ordinary industry and an ordinary group of workers.”
American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Spring 2007
see full review
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“This well-researched book traces the evolution of flight attendants from glamorous sky queens to cabin safety experts and members of trade unions.”
Air & Space, April/May 2007
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"There was a time when flight attendants were required to wear mini-skirts and were fired if they married, passed the age of 32, or exceeded a strict
weight limit. This book tells the fascinating story of how the way flight attendants have seen themselves, been marketed, and have organized has
reflected shifting social trends regarding the role of women in American society."
World Wide Work, April 2007
see full review
