Jessica Mann
Will Appeal Even to Anti-Wimmin Readers
A History of Women in the West Vol IV: Emerging Feminism from Revolution to World War
By Geneviève Fraisse & Michelle Perrot (edd)
Harvard University Press 660pp £23.95
Long preceding the expression ‘politically correct’, the etymologically incorrect herstory became the extremist feminist substitute for history. More howler than neologism, the objectionable word never caught on, but it did neatly express the fact that most so-called history was in fact the story of men’s lives.
Adjusting that imbalance has been a growth industry during the last twenty-five years, as the bibliography of this book reveals. Almost every reference in its sixty-four pages, other than those to the original documents, is to a book or article published after 1970. These are the result of the realisation, during the revival of feminism in the 1960s, that history as we knew it was defined and written by men; even social history (as opposed to political history, which must inevitably be dominated by Dead White European Males) was based on the assumption that men’s experiences were more significant than those of the female majority of the human race.
Here is an authoritative corrective. This is volume IV of A History of Women in the West, the first volume of which was called From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints. It contains twenty-two articles by different authors and covers the period from the French Revolution to the outbreak of the
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk