Big Girls Don’t Cry

November 4th, 2010

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: