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Women & Power

A Manifesto

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Women & Power

Written by: Mary Beard
Narrated by: Mary Beard
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New York Times Bestseller
One of the Guardian's "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" — "A modern feminist classic."

From the internationally acclaimed classicist and New York Times best-selling author comes this timely manifesto on women and power.



At long last, Mary Beard addresses in one brave book the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Mary herself. In Women & Power, she traces the origins of this misogyny to its ancient roots, examining the pitfalls of gender and the ways that history has mistreated strong women since time immemorial. As far back as Homer’s Odyssey, Beard shows, women have been prohibited from leadership roles in civic life, public speech being defined as inherently male. From Medusa to Philomela (whose tongue was cut out), from Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren (who was told to sit down), Beard draws illuminating parallels between our cultural assumptions about women’s relationship to power—and how powerful women provide a necessary example for all women who must resist being vacuumed into a male template. With personal reflections on her own online experiences with sexism, Beard asks: If women aren’t perceived to be within the structure of power, isn’t it power itself we need to redefine? And how many more centuries should we be expected to wait?

Ancient Gender Studies Social Sciences Women Women's Voices 21st Century

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Wow! This was a very enlightening thing to listen too. I really enjoy anything Mary Beard does.

Good

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Great narration by the author.
This title has inspired me to read more of her work.

Insightful Read

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Enlightening and informative. Dr. Beard wrote this slim book by adapting two of her talks. It is about the nature power and misogyny through the ages, with some deft reference to ancient classical literature. I found the second half of the book fascinating, with frequent links to the past (Ancient Greeks and Romans) compared the current political and celebrity figures.

I have my own copy of the book and felt like I needed to highlight most of it. Powerful. It is not dry or "worthy", but pithy and often humourous (or at least, wry).

BTW: this audible version is an improvement on the published work as it has been updated, twice.

I thoroughly recommend this audible listen as ideal for any Human, especially those interested in History, and Gender Politics. It is not overly academic.

Wry Humour - Enlightening/Informative

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