While you may think rampant ageism and sexism hold back older women in today’s world, be thankful you weren’t living in the 19th century, when women giving speeches were considered harlots, and the only reason Elizabeth Cady Stanton made her mark was that no one bothered to take a “grandmotherly” type seriously enough to stop her. In past days, older women were relegated to the sidelines of society and rendered useless, especially post-menopause. If this horrifies you (and it should) get ready to learn more about the past struggles of older women from the wonderful new book by New York Times opinion writer Gail Collins, No Stopping Us Now: The Adventures of Older Women in American History.

Described by Leslie Stahl in her New York Times review as a “chronicle of the herky-jerky nature of older women’s journey to progress in the US over the years,” the book chronicles the lives and struggles of older women over 4 centuries of American history. Some are stories of the famous and some unknown until now. While such first ladies as Mamie Eisenhower and Michelle Obama are profiled, so, too, is Mary Fields, an African-American stagecoach driver (the old-time mail delivery person) who started that job after she turned 50.

As Collins herself states, “This is not… a tale of steady progress toward an age-indifferent tomorrow.” We know the struggles are still not over and that progress remains elusive in many respects. Yet as Collins herself acknowledges, the place of older women in American society has significantly changed just in the last several decades and with the growing number of retired professional women who have yet to write their final chapters, we can assume more progress is to come. So listen to the always entertaining Gail Collins herself discuss her book and her own experiences in this recent audio interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer.