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Big Bosses shows the importance of female subcultures among women workers, the significance of personal bonds of female friendship. It shows how challenging it was for women to forge lives of their own in an era when the vote was newly secured but when other basic rights for women, such as credit and property ownership in their own names, would be contested for decades to come. . . . Big Bosses stands as a real contribution to our understanding of the history of working women in Jazz Age America. --Wall Street Journal Lively and enchanting. . . . Her tales [are] dishy, witty and a ton of fun. . . . It's unclear what Altemus intended for this manuscript, which she wrote in 1932, but never released. What is clear is that, thanks to the efforts of her descendants, Hoffman, and Bachin, we are lucky now to have this remarkable--and remarkably written--document of everyday life and work in 20th century America from a perspective that is all too rarely seen. --Chicago Tribune In her remarkable memoir, originally written under the pseudonym 'A Private Secretary, ' Altemus recounts the wildest indiscretions of her employers between 1918 and 1925. . . . Altemus' stories expose the challenges for young working women in the 1920s, when employers could fire secretaries for being married, a mother, or blonde. The annotations and afterword by historian Bachin provide context that enriches and clarifies the narrative. --Booklist

Lively and enchanting. . . . Her tales [are] dishy, witty and a ton of fun. . . . It's unclear what Altemus intended for this manuscript, which she wrote in 1932, but never released. What is clear is that, thanks to the efforts of her descendants, Hoffman, and Bachin, we are lucky now to have this remarkable--and remarkably written--document of everyday life and work in 20th century America from a perspective that is all too rarely seen. --Chicago Tribune Big Bosses shows the importance of female subcultures among women workers, the significance of personal bonds of female friendship. It shows how challenging it was for women to forge lives of their own in an era when the vote was newly secured but when other basic rights for women, such as credit and property ownership in their own names, would be contested for decades to come. . . . Big Bosses stands as a real contribution to our understanding of the history of working women in Jazz Age America. --Wall Street Journal In her remarkable memoir, originally written under the pseudonym 'A Private Secretary, ' Altemus recounts the wildest indiscretions of her employers between 1918 and 1925. . . . Altemus' stories expose the challenges for young working women in the 1920s, when employers could fire secretaries for being married, a mother, or blonde. The annotations and afterword by historian Bachin provide context that enriches and clarifies the narrative. --Booklist

Author Information

Althea McDowell Altemus (1885 1965) was born into a family of factory workers in Woodstock, Illinois. She was married in 1910 and divorced in 1917, prompting her to work as a secretary in the years that followed. Robin F. Bachin is the Charlton W. Tebeau Associate Professor of History and assistant provost for civic and community engagement at the University of Miami. She is the author of Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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