Rebecca Traister

Firstly I would like to say - EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ THIS BOOK.

This book was incredibly well researched as well as being nicely written. Each subject often starts with a story about a woman that the author has either met or researched and then weaves supporting studies throughout.

In my opinion Traister does an excellent job of bringing her own tone to the writing and it is especially apparent when she is refuting any long held myths or misinformation that society has been laboring show more under.

This book gave me so much to think about and it definitely offers so many interesting alternatives to the "marriage, babies, housewife" equation that women, and men to a certain extent, are force fed as they grow. I found it particularly great to hear that while this may have been the "main" narrative for most of history - women have also been wandering away from this throughout most of history as well, this is just the first time that we've done it in such great numbers that society has finally had to make room in the main narrative for it (wooo!)

It's great to read a book that offers so many different stories that I'm sure anyone reading this book could find one that resonates with them and it's definitely given me another future to imagine, one that I feel extremely comfortable with. show less

I’ve always considered myself to be a strong feminist, and I’m a political liberal. So Rebecca Traister’s “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger” should have been right in my wheelhouse. The truth is, I had a terrible time finishing it, and after several days of grinding through this disorganized, one-note (okay, two-note) howl, my husband asked me “What is that book about?” And I couldn’t answer him. Oh, I could – “Men are shits”. But there’s more show more than that, and less, in this 250-page screed arising largely from the upwelling of women’s anger at the 2016 elections, given a second wind by the 2017 revival of the #MeToo movement, and fueled by a whole lot of stuff about race-based and class-based schisms within the movement.

See what I mean?

Traister wants to talk about the women’s movement in America, going all the way back to First Lady Abigail Adams’ cautionary advice that “if particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation”, skimming over the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments of 1848 and the fight for women’s suffrage, but at the same time noting that women of color have often been excluded by the movement’s upper-class white leaders who are themselves the recipients of many of the rights and privileges granted them by their affiliation with the very white patriarchal power structure that the movement wants to dismantle.

(And incidentally, that 124-word single-sentence paragraph above is mine, but could have been dropped anywhere into Traister’s manuscript and been indistinguishable from her own prose.)

There’s just too much going on here. Too many “yes, but” moments. Too much roll-calling of powerful men who have been revealed as guilty of everything from thoughtless sexism right up to criminal rape. Too many diatribes by women within the movement calling out others for not being angry enough, supportive enough, politically active enough. And not enough, really, of what to do with your anger beyond “vote, run, and knock on doors for your candidate”.

I saw a review on Amazon.com that rated it “5 stars if you are mad; 1 star if you are tired of mad”. I guess if you’re tired of mad after reading this book but feel guilty about that, you’d have to split the difference. So … 2.5 stars. show less

This book focused on Hilary Clinton's 2008 presidential run, is extra fascinating in the dismal aftermath of her 2016 campaign. As usual, Traister provides compelling analysis, and tells some very good stories. This book is a combination of testimony from a reporter who covered the HRC campaign and the memoir of a young feminist, disappointed in the press (a number of reporters are raked over the coals here, including some lefty darlings) and the electorate but also in HRC the candidate and show more her machine. (Like Traister, I did not support HRC in 2008.)

So much of this is great, but I was bothered by the way the personal bled into the professional, or perhaps that is better stated as the editorial bled into the reporting. It is stated several times, as if fact, that being a centrist is a bad thing. I disagree, I wish there were more centrists, and so this supposition that underlies a lot of Traister"s analysis is, to my mind, flawed. Still absolutely worthwhile for political junkies, 2nd and 3rd wave feminists., and those who want evidence that Palin led directly to Trump. show less

Women, single or formerly single: you need this book in your life. It reinforced all the comforting, realistic things my friends said to me in my worst "my life is not following the Official Path" moments -- with historical context and data! Traister is a real journalist who understands that you can't just tell your story and those of your (also white and well-educated) friends and pretend that it's a book about women in general. She acknowledges that there's a slant towards people who look show more like her, but is scrupulous about including a diversity of stories. Multiple people are getting this one from me for Winter Gift Season. show less