Earl Barnes

Woman in Modern Society Earl Barnes

This is a new edition of "Woman in Modern Society," originally published in 1913 by B. W. Huebsch, of New York. Part of the project Immortal Literature Series of classic literature, this is a new edition of the classic work published in 1913-not a facsimile reprint. Obvious typographical errors have been carefully corrected and the entire text has been reset and redesigned by Pen House Editions to enhance readability, while respecting the original edition. "Woman in Modern Society" is a book which says a good many things which need to be said and which succeeds in rubbing off some of the artificial glamour with which many are wont to glorify women's present achievements and position. The author subscribes to the belief that the equality of men and women is one of supplementary activities alone; only by recognition of this principle of mutual dependence can the work of either of the sexes be made complete. It is an invigorating book opening to our minds the existing condition of women. Not radical in its purport, it offers a sane presentation of woman with her accumulative powers and a means whereby this power may be increased. "What it Means to be a Woman" is the title of the first chapter. Therein is discussed a fundamental question as to the origin of female life from the protoplasmic germ. Following the formation of sexes, structural and functional differences give rise to distinguishing characteristics. Life in a woman is found to be more constructive, anabolic than in the man. Both physiologically and intellectually, women's conservatism presents a contrast with the spasmodic, destructive, tendencies of man. Bearing in mind these elemental characteristics, the woman race possesses as a heritage complemental sex qualities which properly governed establish a perfect balance in the individual life and that of society. (From Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, 1922; Book News Monthly, Vol. 31, 1912.) About the Author: Earl Barnes was born in Martville, New York, on July 15, 1861. He received an A. B. from Indiana University in 1889 and an M. S. from Cornell University in 1891. He was Professor of History at Indiana University and later Professor of Education at Stanford University, where he (and his first wife and former teacher, Mary Downing Sheldon Barnes-herself a historian and a writer) taught until 1897, when the couple decided to move to Europe. Barnes was later appointed staff lecturer for the London Society for Extension of University Teaching, with which he worked from 1900 to 1901, when he then became a full-time writer. He died in New Hartford, Connecticut, on May 29, 1935. Earl Barnes is mostly known for his publications, "Studies in Education, volumes I and II" (1897); "Where Knowledge Fails" (1907); "Women in Modern Society" (1912); and "Psychology of Childhood and Youth" (1914).