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jodiekirschner's review against another edition
medium-paced
I appreciated the global perspective in the beginning but was disappointed that the lens narrowed and ended on white supremacy.
aelyas's review against another edition
2.0
Still on the process of reading this book, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so.
Aside from her painful writing style; the author barely tries to hide her biases and does little to conceal her lack of education in the realm of race and other cultures. I can only speak to the intersections in which I exist, but her sections on Islam were laughable. I wouldn’t even consider myself particularly textbook religious, but having engaged with Islamic texts my whole life and having exposure to the nuances of Islam (and it’s seemingly infinite manifestations around the globe), Miles comes up short in her quest to somehow prove misogyny as an inherent tenet of the faith. This is not to say that misogyny within Islam, Muslim communities, or Muslim countries does not exist. It does and it’s rampant- as it is just about everywhere else on planet earth. She also speaks of Islam as though it is uniformly practiced everywhere when that can’t be further from the truth.
Overall, the whole book screams of “yeah all women have it tough but damn it must suck to be a woman from [insert name of non-white country]!”
Africa was also referred to as a country. Yikes.
Aside from her painful writing style; the author barely tries to hide her biases and does little to conceal her lack of education in the realm of race and other cultures. I can only speak to the intersections in which I exist, but her sections on Islam were laughable. I wouldn’t even consider myself particularly textbook religious, but having engaged with Islamic texts my whole life and having exposure to the nuances of Islam (and it’s seemingly infinite manifestations around the globe), Miles comes up short in her quest to somehow prove misogyny as an inherent tenet of the faith. This is not to say that misogyny within Islam, Muslim communities, or Muslim countries does not exist. It does and it’s rampant- as it is just about everywhere else on planet earth. She also speaks of Islam as though it is uniformly practiced everywhere when that can’t be further from the truth.
Overall, the whole book screams of “yeah all women have it tough but damn it must suck to be a woman from [insert name of non-white country]!”
Africa was also referred to as a country. Yikes.
spacespy44's review against another edition
I thought this book was supposed to be a survey of women and their impact on history. It sorta, sorta is, but it's really more a polemical anthropology survey about how wrong a lot of descriptions about early societies are. Some of that was quite compelling and very interesting - that women gatherers raised 80% of the food to the men's 20% from hunting - or about how various unfamiliar cultures operated. But it was moving so fast and so sweepingly, that her quotes and examples felt cherry-picked, like one could easily tell the opposite story. The author comes across as though she's one of those people who reject religion in favor of some sort of female mysticism based on blood and the magical power of being able to give birth. She lumped most of the world's major religions together in ways that were unhelpful and rang false or over-simplified. She talked about them as unified in their theology when I know for a fact that Christian theology has tons of splits in it. She keeps talking about "female power of menstruation" in these glowing terms. That mysticism made it difficult to take her scholarship seriously. Also, the book was super depressing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Minor: Pedophilia
jenniferkat's review against another edition
2.0
It’s an okay place to start, but definitely not an all encompassing history.
elizabethtoppin's review against another edition
5.0
I haven’t been able to stop talking about this audiobook, inserting it whenever I can. Starting with 40,000-20,000 AD I have been captivated and want to learn more of each mass- and micro- history referenced. Published in 1988, it’s history stops at 1970, and the thought of the proceeding 50 years slap you in the face.
kmcbear's review against another edition
I've just started this and already I'm fascinated. One thing I'm chewing over is how we as a society will turn a blind eye and raise up sexist men in our histories. However, if those same men had been racist they would instead be scorned. Why do we as a society allow that?
Anyway, just getting started but already fascinated.
Anyway, just getting started but already fascinated.