Name: We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock
SKU: BRANDATLANTICMONTHLYPRESS-
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The author chronicles the history of women in rock music, taking readers backstage to meet Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Coutney Love, Cher, Lauryn Hill, and many others. 35,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It was the “chick” that came before the “women in rock” tag; and it was the women rockers’ need to break out that made them fly the coop. So argues Rolling Stone road warrior Hirshey (Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music) in this unabashedly subjective history lite. That’s not to say that this study doesn’t serve a purpose. With its rapid-fire alliteration (“Punk poetics were determinedly pustular”), jump-cut transitions and discussion of fashion, this could act as a hip primer for readers new to the field. To her credit, Hirshey also emphasizes deserving hip-hop up-and-comers like Lauryn Hill and Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott. Coverage, however, often favors those whom Hirshey has previously interviewed for Rolling Stone and other publications. Although Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Cher, Madonna and Whitney Houston get their due, on the flip side, people from blues heavyweights (Ma Rainey) to riot grrrls (Kathleen Hannah) get short shrift. Some of Hirshey’s commentary, e.g., her profile of Blondie singer/songwriter Deborah Harry, appeared in Rolling Stone’s 1997 “Women in Rock” issue. Though definitiveness was never her goal, Hirshey’s stab at “women in rock” is neither tough nor substantive enough to satisfy those whose rock reading has moved beyond the pages of glossy mags. Agent, Philippa Brophy at Sterling Lord Literistic. (Apr.)Forecast: While this volume will find its way into the hands of college-age women, it’s unlikely to reach a much wider readership.

From Library Journal

Rolling Stone veteran journalist Hirshey (Nowhere To Run: The Story of Soul Music) tries to pack the history of women in rock into 288 pages; it doesn’t work, and not solely because of the page crunch. To her credit, Hirshey starts with rock’s foremother the blues but she continues down an uneven path. Her lineage of female foundation-layers is scant and scattered. Few pages sometimes just paragraphs are allocated to ground-breakers like Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin. She relies too heavily on her vault of rock interviews to fill pages (some of the information previously appeared in Rolling Stone’s special “Women in Rock” issue in 1997). As a result, those artists she has never met are often slighted. All in all, this effort reads like an informal diary of her relationship with her rock gal pals. Not recommended; instead, public libraries should invest in Gillian G. Gaar’s She’s a Rebel (Seal Pr., 1992) and Barbara O’Dair’s The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock: Trouble Girls (LJ 1/97). Robert Morast, “Argus Leader Daily,” Sioux Falls, SD
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hirshey’s survey of women in rock proves better than most, because it is current enough to cover the ’90s, when the pop music marketplace, always seeking something “different,” decided that “that something was female voices.” So the longtime Rolling Stone reporter recounts the stories of Liz Phair, Polly Jean Harvey, and Bikini Kill, among others; quotes Andrea Juno; calls the Spice Girls “the Village People of our time”; and lets Courtney Love rear her ugly head. She rehearses the history of earlier rockin’ women, too, including especially nice bits on the Ronettes and the importance of physical appearance in many stars’ careers, even before Britney Spears. Hirshey’s writing is vintage RS stuff, full of sprawling perspectives, really long evocative sentences, and a certain jejuneness that makes its thesaurus-mongering wordiness work in a Kerouacish or maybe Hunter Thompsonesque manner. Well-researched and entertainingly edgy, this is pretty much prime stuff for gender-unbiased readin’ rockers. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product information

Author	Hirshey, Gerri	Brand	Brand: Atlantic Monthly Press
Manufacturer	Atlantic Monthly Pr	NumberOfItems	1
Item Weight	1.3 Pounds	ItemDimensions	6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25Inches
binding	Hardcover	Amazon Category	Books » Arts & Photography » Music » Music History & Criticism
Amazon Category	Books » Arts & Photography » Music » Musical Genres » Rock Music	Amazon Category	Books » Politics & Social Sciences » Women’s Studies » Women’s Studies History
ISBN	0871137887	EAN	9780871137883

Weight	1.30 lbs

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We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock