A humorous and provocative account of being a female undergraduate at Dartmouth College in its turbulent first years of co-education.

Offering a frank and observant look at gender, education, and identity at a critical juncture in the author’s--and America’s--development, Babes in Boyland brings to life a pivotal moment in the history of co-education. It was a time in which hostility to women was still rife (fraternity house banners at Dartmouth read “Better Dead than Co-Ed”), but one that promised equal education to promising young women.

In retrospect, I think I both exploited and evaded the confines of the role of working-class-kid on campus. True, I saw social and economic spikes everywhere and rushed to impale myself on them, but I also, in time, came to accept that the education and experience were mine for good . . . A good education can be subversive, even when it apparently endorses conventional moral and cultural doctrines. I suspect, therefore, that only a very good education could have prepared me to be a troublemaker. I came to Hanover fearing trouble. I left looking for it. --From the Book