An invitation to eavesdrop on a remarkable group of women who in their eighth and ninth decades reflect with candor and insight on the common threads in their well-lived lives

The Wisdom Trail follows the life trajectories of extraordinary women, now in their seventies and eighties, who share to a remarkable extent a set of qualities that produced their successful lives. The vital women whose voices are captured in this book look back with well-earned perspective on the crises and opportunities, the decisions and accidents that marked their varied but ultimately satisfying paths.

In listening to the lively and candid recollections of these women, Janet Lieberman and Julie Hungar offer stories that have value for women and men alike. From the heyday of Good Housekeeping—the era of the silent majority—to World War II, when the absence of men at home set a new measure of independence for women, through the sexual revolution and the civil rights and women’s movements, these women have accumulated powerful stories that address the essential facets of women’s lives: family, work, and love. As Lieberman and Hungar lead readers along The Wisdom Trail, they identify a set of characteristics these women share that has relevance for men and women of all generations, and which make them worth pondering and reflecting on today. Flexible pragmatism gave them the ability to maneuver their way around constraints that at the time appeared insurmountable. Deep personal courage enabled them to leap into risky personal career decisions and face down bias at home and in the workplace. All of them displayed the love and care to form and nourish deeply satisfying relationships. Their capstone quality was a lifetime commitment to serving the community and the world beyond.

The Wisdom Trail is a journey into a world where women share their triumphs and their tragedies with equal parts generosity and instruction. It is also an examination of the arc of American life—from hardship to boon years—and the effect that has had on the character of women and their families. The value of the lessons contained in The Wisdom Trail is perhaps never more useful than it is today as women continue to struggle with balancing work and home and all Americans face the challenge of doing more with less.

For the past thirty years, Dr. Janet Lieberman has believed that you should never underestimate the power of an idea. This belief, combined with the faith that all students can achieve, led her to originate new solutions to old problems resulting in expanded academic opportunities for minority and under privileged students.

In 1974, Dr. Lieberman designed the first public high school college collaborative model to help underserved students graduate from high school and go to college. Her vision of placing a high school on a college campus with smaller classes, committed teachers, intensive counseling and high expectations would keep students in school and encourage them to go on to college. Starting with 100 high school sophomores, Dr. Lieberman proved that students who were placed in a college environment could achieve academically.

Thirty years later, the Middle College High School serves more than 500 students a year. According to recent studies, 80 percent of Middle College High School seniors graduated with high school degrees and 65 percent were expected to attend college.

In 2000, the power of an idea expanded as Dr. Lieberman, collaborating with Cecilia Cunningham, then principal of Middle College High School, created the Early College High School model. This program enables previously underachieving students in grades 11 and 12 to take college courses and complete an A.A. degree in a shortened time frame.

Dr. Lieberman is a special assistant to the President for Educational Collaboratives at LaGuardia Community College. She received her B.A. degree from Barnard College after attending Vassar, her M.A. from City College of NY, and her Ph.D. from New York University. Dr. Lieberman has written two books on creating educational pathways and she is the winner of the Charles A. Dana Award for Innovation in Higher Education in 1989 and the New York University Distinguished Award in 2003. Dr. Lieberman resides in New York City.