“Women have been seen and understood and misrepresented and misunderstood for a long time in journalism.”
Brooke Kroeger
Don’t miss this new episode of The Women’s Eye Podcast as Stacey Gualandi chats with fellow journalist Brooke Kroeger, author of the very timely and well-reviewed Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism.
The Guardian newspaper calls the book “eye-opening,” while The Wall Street Journal says, “[Written] with refreshing positivity…Kroeger is a great champion of women, and she is a preserver of the long, rich historical record.”
As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, Undaunted takes us on a decade-by-decade exploration of exceptional female journalists, starting in 1840 through to the present. It includes everyone from (Brooke’s idol) Nellie Bly and Ida B. Wells; to Cokie Roberts and Lynn Sherr, both of whom I’ve had the honor of chatting with on The Women’s Eye!
With her extensive background — Brooke is a professor emerita at New York University and founding director of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute; former UN correspondent for Newsday; division chief for United Press International; and author of five previous books — there was no one better suited to write Undaunted.
“The entire media industry is in a crisis mode, and that’s been true for I don’t know how many years now. That’s just a fact.” —Brooke Kroeger
Equal parts history book and career manual, Brooke examines “the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten women journalists” as they fought and continue to fight for equality in a profession still dominated by men.
She also highlights the challenges and changes, including #MeToo, and the current climate of horrific internet abuse against women.
“Of course, men suffer the same sort of nasty abuse online, but for women it gets physical. It gets personal. It gets sexualized. And then you have to ask, ‘What are the roots that cause that to happen? Why?’”
Brooke also shares stories about many of the fascinating females in her book; how they thrived, survived and broke barriers, and what cautionary tales many of these women can teach us.
As a female journalist, I think all young, up-and-coming women—and men!—should keep a copy of this book on hand. I only wish I had Undaunted when I was in college!!
Be sure to tune in!
To follow Brooke Kroeger:
Website: brookekroeger.com
Facebook: @brooke.kroeger
Instagram: @brookekroeger
Some links in this post may be “affiliate links,” meaning TWE receives a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.
Check out these books by Brooke:
Leave a Reply