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Women & Power
Book

Women & Power

A Manifesto

Profile Books, 2018
First Edition: 2017 more...


Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eloquent
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Classics scholar and Cambridge professor Mary Beard explains that the misogyny women face today – from anonymous social media threats of violence to subtle acts of exclusion from systems of power – trace back to classical antiquity. Writing in an academic, yet lively and accessible style, she details how society constructed power to exclude women. Beard’s rousing survey of history urges readers to re-imagine what power could look like today.

Take-Aways

  • Ancient examples of men silencing women relate to contemporary events.
  • The ancient Greeks viewed women who spoke publicly as androgynous and monstrous.
  • People often don’t regard feminine-sounding voices as authoritative.

About the Author

Mary Beard, the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, is a classics professor at the University of Cambridge, an ancient literature professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, and a Newnham College fellow.


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