Women’s Story of the Beatles

In the early 1960s, the rock band The Beatles gained immense popularity in Europe and America. This period was also marked by another important social trend—the rise of the second wave of feminism. These two global cultural phenomena directly influenced each other: the music of the Liverpool quartet inspired the women of their generation to find self-identity, while the biographies and works of the 'Beatles' always featured significant female presence. In her book, Kristina Feldman-Barrett analyzes the personal and mediated (through music, television, and other media) relationships that women of different generations developed with this group. The author gives voice to the band's fans—from girls from Merseyside who tried to attend The Beatles' concerts in the 1960s to modern-day women—as well as addressing the stories of wives, mothers, and other women surrounding the musicians. Thus, the researcher proposes to reassess the traditional approach to the historiography of the 'Beatles' and to place this cultural phenomenon within a broader socio-historical context related to women's emancipation. Kristina Feldman-Barrett is a Doctor of Philosophy and teaches at Griffith University, Australia.