Big Sister: Feminism, Conservatism, and Conspiracy in the Heartland By Erin M. Kempker

Abstract

Erin Kempker set out to write a singular history of midwestern feminism in the modern era,  only to discover a rich history of anti-feminism that coexisted alongside it. She realized that she could not tell one story without the other. The end result—Kempker’s deeply researched Big Sister: Feminism, Conservatism, and Conspiracy in the Heartland—is a riveting history of how opposing movements shape one another. Kempker focuses on the development of feminism and anti-feminism in Indiana from the 1950s to the 1980s, with special attention to the federally funded National women’s Conference in Houston in 1977.