A review by maisiewrites247
A History of the World in 21 Women: A Personal Selection by Jenni Murray

4.0

A history of the world in 21 women follows the lives of 21 women throughout history, including Coco Chanel, Toni Morrison, Hilary Clinton, Madonna, and Frida Kahlo. It details their lives and how their experience was shaped by their gender, as well as race and sexuality. It discusses women’s rights, sexism, misogyny, intersectionality, objectification, the patriarchy, and sexual harassment and assault. It’s hard to choose a favourite, but Coco Chanel, Frida Kahlo, and Madonna stood out to me the most. I always admired Coco Chanel as a designer growing up, and Frida Kahlo is one of the most well known queer women of colour, and Madonna always stayed true to herself and that’s where her success came from. I recommend this book because I think it’s important to learn about women in history, because we’re always learning about men in history, but women existed and overcame a lot, too. My only issue is that some of the women featured were quite problematic, but at the same time I think it’s important to celebrate the good someone has done without ignoring the bad. ‘But a woman prevented from walking out in the world has no opportunity to make her way.’