The Great Stewardess Rebellion

I’ve spent so much of my life on the road that stewardesses have always been my friends in the sky. Now I am glad to see The Great Stewardess Rebellion, a book that finally honors these brave and skilled workers! It’s the true story of women who stood up to huge corporations and won, creating momentous change for all working women.”

–Gloria Steinem, New York Times bestselling author of My Life on the Road

“The Great Stewardess Rebellion should be required reading for anyone entering the modern job market–to remind them how the workplace used to be, and to honor the heroic people who stepped up and made progress possible. A fascinating, well-researched and important read.”

–Lisa Napoli, author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie

“Put aside any preconceived notions you might have about flight attendants. Wulfhart’s uniformed women battled the airlines’ sexist policies and lurid advertising, forging a feminist revolution along the way.”

–Paulina Bren, author of The Barbizon

“Working as a stewardess was by far the most sexist occupation. They were advertised as sex objects and subjected by their employers to limits on their age and weight as well as their marital and child bearing status. In this entertaining page turner, Nell McShane Wulfhart vividly chronicles the stories of the personalities, obstacles and ultimate victories of this most iconic and aggrieved group of women. It is a little known but important chapter in the history of the women’s movement and a powerful story of personal and political transformation.”

–Lynn Povich, author of The Good Girls Revolt

“A riveting, tour de force story of women’s fight for justice on the job. Wulfhart tells an incredible story of workplace justice and the women who made it. In the age of #MeToo, Wulfhart reminds us of the women who put up with so much on the job and finally said “NO!” to their employers, to their male coworkers, and to a union that didn’t care about their needs as women workers.”

–Erik Loomis, author of A History of America in Ten Strikes

“Nell McShane Wulfhart brings us face to face with the atrocious status quo that stewardesses fought to overturn: the eye-popping sexism, racism, and homophobia that pervaded the airline industry from boardrooms to cockpits. Stewardesses filed lawsuits, ran for union office and went to the bargaining table themselves, launched a women’s rights organization that specifically targeted the airlines, and eventually replaced male-dominated unions with new unions of their own. Wulfhart chronicles the movement’s expansion in sparkling detail and delivers uncommon insight into the personal dynamics of social movements. Read this book!”

–Priscilla Murolo, co-author of From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: An Illustrated History of Labor in the United States