Having my assumptions fundamentally changed after reading a book is one of my favorite experiences. I have a BFA in design and I’ve always approached my assignments—logos, websites, home renovations—as a problem to be solved. What is a visual and functional solution that fits all the constraints (time, budget, purpose, materials, etc.)? The same part of my brain that likes figuring out elegant solutions to design problems also likes thinking about and re-examining cultural issues. For over 16 years, I’ve written about parenting (I’m a mother of six), design, living in France, and current events on my blog, in my newsletter, in Twitter threads, and on Instagram.
Oh how I love this book! It’s a clear-eyed look at the history of the world, examining when and why women lost their rights and autonomy as governments and societies developed. I think in my head, patriarchy had just always been around; a permanent fixture in our world. Thinking about patriarchy as a system that didn’t exist at one point, and that was created, really helped my brain comprehend the idea that a world that is not based on patriarchy is possible. The book makes clear that patriarchy is not inevitable, but was a deliberate choice, and that we can make another choice.
When precisely did the ideas, symbols and metaphors of patriarchy take hold of Western civilization? When were women, so central to the creation of society, moved on to the sidelines? Where is the evidence to support the notion that male dominance over women is a natural state of things? Gerda Lerner's radical review of Western civilization shows that male dominance over women has nothing to do with biology, and everything to do with cultural and historical habits. Dr Lerner draws her evidence from a host of archaeological, literary, and artistic sources, using them to pinpoint the critical turning points in…
I wish this book was required reading for every American. This book helped me reframe my understanding of racism in the U.S. by contextualizing it in terms of caste systems. It explains and compares three different caste systems—in India, in the U.S., and in the Third Reich in Germany. I had never heard the idea of caste applied to America before, and after reading this, I can’t think of America except in terms of caste. I now realize there are parts of American history and culture where the word ‘racism’ doesn’t quite communicate what’s happening. But understanding and using ‘caste’ in these instances, provides a much more accurate assessment. The better we understand our country’s real issues, the more likely we can address them.
THE TIME NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR | #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"Powerful and timely ... I cannot recommend it strongly enough" - Barack Obama
From one of America's most celebrated and insightful writers, the moving, eye-opening bestseller about what lies hidden under the surface of ordinary lives
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human…
I’ve grown up with assumptions about the constitution that are flat-out wrong. I was taught the constitution was inspired, practically sacred, and that it’s the gold standard for governing documents. But this book shifted my mindset. The author readily acknowledges the strengths of the constitution, but is also unflinching in criticizing its flaws, and pointing out the hypocrisy of what the document says versus how it is interpreted. Can the constitution be improved, definitely yes! And this book gives me hope that it will be.
MSNBC legal commentator Elie Mystal thinks that Republicans are wrong about the law almost all of the time. Now, instead of talking about this on cable news, Mystal explains why in his first book.
"After reading Allow Me to Retort, I want Elie Mystal to explain everything I don't understand-quantum astrophysics, the infield fly rule, why people think Bob Dylan is a good singer . . ." -Michael Harriot, The Root
Allow Me to Retort is an easily digestible argument about what rights we have, what rights Republicans are trying to take away, and how…
I’ve never met an alien like the one in Hail Mary. This book made me rethink what an alien encounter could look like and it also made me shift my perspective on our senses and what it means to be ‘able-bodied’; it made me re-examine how beings relate to each other. For a creature so foreign, I was surprised at how emotionally attached I became to the alien. Bonus, Andy Weir is a master at writing about problem-solving.
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through…
This book blew my mind over and over again. It goes deep into how we use data and numbers to make decisions and policies, but because we don’t take gender into account when we gather or analyze the data, we’ve built sexism and discrimination into our systems. And it’s everywhere! There is sexism in how bathrooms are built, how snowplowing happens, how knee replacements are made. There are so many situations where I’ve assumed something that feels unfair or doesn’t make sense isjust how it is, but this book changed that. At first glance, some of what’s described may seem trivial, but ultimately, these built-in biases cost women time and resources, and put us at significant risk.
Winner of the 2019 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award Winner of the 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize
Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.
In Ejaculate Responsibly, Gabrielle Blair offers a provocative reframing of the abortion issue in post-Roe America. In a series of 28 brief arguments, she deftly makes the case for moving the abortion debate away from controlling and legislating women’s bodies and instead directs the focus on men’s lack of accountability in preventing unwanted pregnancies.
Highly readable, accessible, funny, and unflinching, the result is a compelling and convincing case for placing the responsibility—and burden—of preventing unwanted pregnancies away from women and onto men.
I have been writing for many years, and my main preference is political thrillers with criminal overtones. I first became interested in politics when I worked at several political conferences in the 60’s and 70’s. I have been involved in several criminal cases, including my own, and within my family, I have a nephew in the police force. For many years I have had the opportunity to mix with the upper tiers of society as well as the criminal classes and this has given me great insight into creating my characters and plots.
Pete West, a political columnist, travels to Prague to find a missing diplomat, later found murdered. He attempts to discover more about a cryptic note received from the diplomat and is immediately entangled in the secret Bilderberg Club’s strategy to form a world federation.
Pete meets a Czechian agent who wants asylum. She has a murdered EU Commissioner’s diary containing clues to the civil unrest planned by the club, encrypted in algebraic chess notations. West seeks answers and links up with retired MI6 officer Tosh. While escaping would-be captors, they decode enough chess moves to reveal the anarchy of the…
Pete West, a political columnist, travels to Prague to find a missing diplomat, later found murdered. He attempts to discover more about a cryptic note received from the diplomat and is immediately entangled in the secret Bilderberg Club’s strategy to form a world federation.
Pete meets a Czechian agent who wants asylum. She has a murdered EU Commissioner’s diary containing clues to the civil unrest planned by the club, encrypted in algebraic chess notations. West seeks answers and links up with retired MI6 officer Tosh. While escaping would-be captors, they decode enough chess moves to reveal the anarchy of the…
