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A review by tani
Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings by Miriam Schneir
3.0
I got a copy of this book years and years ago, when I was all ambitious about reading nonfiction. Also unrealistic, but whatever. I've finally read it!
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but this was not exactly it. The book is composed of a ton of short essays, speeches, and letters. Each piece is prefaced by an introduction that gives some historical background on the issue. This was really helpful for me, because I don't know a ton about this period of history, which focuses primarily on the latter half of the 1800s. I feel like I have a much better idea of how the struggle for basic rights went now, and I definitely appreciate that.
On the other hand, some of these pieces were very dry. One piece is an excerpt of the property law that gave women the right to own property. There's part of a Senate report on women and work. There are a variety of speeches that I found really hard to read, and some of the pieces are so short that they barely feel like they're worth reading. Also, there's very limited diversity here. I thought pretty seriously about giving this 2 stars, but ending on Virginia Woolf made me happy enough to bump it up.
Of course, keep in mind that I'm not much of a nonfiction reader, so your mileage may truly vary. I do think this was worthwhile for the historical perspective. I would just embark with caution, aware of its downfalls.
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but this was not exactly it. The book is composed of a ton of short essays, speeches, and letters. Each piece is prefaced by an introduction that gives some historical background on the issue. This was really helpful for me, because I don't know a ton about this period of history, which focuses primarily on the latter half of the 1800s. I feel like I have a much better idea of how the struggle for basic rights went now, and I definitely appreciate that.
On the other hand, some of these pieces were very dry. One piece is an excerpt of the property law that gave women the right to own property. There's part of a Senate report on women and work. There are a variety of speeches that I found really hard to read, and some of the pieces are so short that they barely feel like they're worth reading. Also, there's very limited diversity here. I thought pretty seriously about giving this 2 stars, but ending on Virginia Woolf made me happy enough to bump it up.
Of course, keep in mind that I'm not much of a nonfiction reader, so your mileage may truly vary. I do think this was worthwhile for the historical perspective. I would just embark with caution, aware of its downfalls.