Big girls still don't cry

Back in November of 2010 I spoke with Rebecca Traister about her book Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women.  The irony of the election of 2008 is that it did change everything, but not in the ways we expected.  For all the drama, and cultural upheaval caused by the election of the first African American President, it was perhaps Clinton’s 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, and Palin's attempt to co-opt it,  that may have had the more far reaching impact on our politics and our culture.  

Rebecca Traister's book is one of the most insightful and thought provoking about that 2008 campaign and it's just out in paperback at a time when Sara Palin and Michelle Bachman are redefining our politics.  

My recent conversation with Rebecca Traister:

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Big Girls Don't Cry

The 2008 Presidential election may have changed the political landscape for generations. Hillary Clinton's 18 millions cracks in the glass ceiling, Barack Obama’s transcendence of race and Sara Palin’s emergence as a political force, all shape our politics today. The irony is, that for all the drama and cultural upheaval caused by the election an African-American President, and the splendor of that election night speech in Grant Park, it was perhaps Clinton's loss and Palin's attempt to co-opt it, that may now have the most far reaching impact on our politics and our culture.

How did this happen? How did all of the primary campaign's angst and tension between Obama and Clinton supporters lead to John McCain’s spawning of Sara Palin, which has in turn lead directly to this weeks elections and will politics or feminism ever be the same?

This is the backdrop for Salon's senior writer, Rebecca Traister's eye opening new book Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women. Even if you were paying close attention, Traister brings us up close and personal with people and ideas we probably missed and should be thinking about.

My conversation with Rebecca Traister:

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