A Women's History of the Beatles - by Christine Feldman-Barrett (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A Women's History of the Beatlesis the first book to offer a detailed presentation of the band's social and cultural impact as understood through the experiences and lives of women. Drawing on a mix of interviews, archival research, textual analysis, and autoethnography, this scholarly work depicts how the Beatles have profoundly shaped and enriched the lives of women, while also reexamining key, influential female figures within the group's history.

Organized topically based on key themes important to the Beatles story, each chapter uncovers the varied and multifaceted relationships women have had with the band, whether face-to-face and intimately or parasocially through mediated, popular culture. Set within a socio-historical context that charts changing gender norms since the early 1960s, these narratives consider how the Beatles have affected women's lives across three generations. Providing a fresh perspective of a well-known tale, this is a cultural history that moves far beyond the screams of Beatlemania to offer a more comprehensive understanding of what the now iconic band has meant to women over the course of six decades.

Review Quotes

A Women's History of the Beatles illuminates and stresses that how we tell stories matters, and the positions from which we tell them can affect the narratives that come forth ... [It's] historically minded, drawing on recollections from women whose lives both shaped and were shaped by the band, as well as forward-looking, considering the careers of women in various parts of the globe for whom The Beatles became a starting point for their own life's work.
Louder Than War

From fans to female Beatles-inspired bands, we see the powerful exchange of energy between the Beatles and the women who engaged with them internationally. Original interviews are interleaved with significant moments in the Beatles' history, giving a unique perspective into the way the band 'worked' as cultural figureheads.
Helen Reddington, Senior Lecturer in Music Production, University of East London, UK

With A Women's History of the Beatles, Christine Feldman-Barrett has authored arguably the most significant title in Beatles scholarship since Tune In (2013), the first volume in Mark Lewisohn's groundbreaking biographical study of the group. ... A Women's History of the Beatles represents a fundamental, albeit long-neglected aspect of Beatles scholarship that, thanks to Feldman-Barrett's trailblazing work, will be the fount of a host of new inquiries to come.
Rock and Music Studies

About the Author

Christine Feldman-Barrett is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Griffith University, Australia, and is a member of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research. She is the author of 'We are the Mods': A Transnational History of a Youth Subculture (2009), the first scholarly book dedicated to the history and global reach of Mod culture, and the editor of Lost Histories of Youth Culture (2015). She has published on topics of youth culture history in various collected volumes and in the Journal of Youth Studies, Space and Culture, Feminist Media Studies, and Popular Music and Society.