The imperfect and unfinished story of the battles for women's rights, and of the complicated women who fought them
Well-behaved women don't make history: difficult women do. 'This is the antidote to saccharine you-go-girl fluff.
The imperfect and unfinished story of the battles for women's rights, and of the complicated women who fought themWell-behaved women don't make history- difficult women do.'This is the antidote to saccharine you-go-girl fluff. Effortlessly erudite and funny' Caroline Criado-PerezStrikers in saris. Bomb-throwing suffragettes. The pioneer of the refuge movement who became a men's rights activist.Forget feel-good heroines- meet the feminist trailblazers who have been airbrushed from history for being 'difficult' - and discover how they made a difference.Here are their stories in all their shocking, funny and unvarnished glory. Shortlisted in the 2020 Parliamentary Book Awards 'All the history you need to understand why you're so furious, angry and still hopeful about being a woman now. A book that is part intellectual weapon in your handbag, part cocktail with a friend' Caitlin Moran'Compulsive, rigorous, unforgettable, hilarious and devastating' Hadley Freeman'A great manifesto for all those women who have never been very good at being well-behaved.' Mary Beard'Difficult Women is full of vivid detail, jam-packed with research and fizzing with provocation' Sunday Times
“Whoever said feminists lack a sense of humour has not read enough Lewis... A funny, sparky, wide-ranging account... Her book isn't at all a conventional history. It's a collection of powerful personal essays on the gnarly issues that women continue to face... I read Difficult Women with gratitude. It's an authoritative benchmark of modern feminism, written by someone on top of her game... Hooray for a great book by a clever, clear-sighted, straight-talking, difficult young woman.”
Whoever said feminists lack a sense of humour has not read enough Lewis... A funny, sparky, wide-ranging account... Her book isn’t at all a conventional history. It’s a collection of powerful personal essays on the gnarly issues that women continue to face... I read Difficult Women with gratitude. It’s an authoritative benchmark of modern feminism, written by someone on top of her game... Hooray for a great book by a clever, clear-sighted, straight-talking, difficult young woman. -- Melanie Reid The Times
Difficult Women was a joy to read... I learned so many delicious facts about women whom I thought I knew. In fact, reading Difficult Women felt like sitting down with a friend and gossiping about other women in our circle... It has some howl-out-loud funny moments... Helen Lewis does more than just tell their stories – she allows them to be complicated, something that women are so rarely permitted to be. -- Jess Phillips New Statesman
Difficult Women is smart, thoughtful and rich in detail... Lewis proves an excellent storyteller who seamlessly blends scholarly inquiry and journalistic investigation with autobiographical titbits and flashes of caustic wit (her footnotes are a hoot). -- Fiona Sturges Guardian
A sparkling history of feminism in 11 fights… The book is full of Lewis’ short, sharp political observations…almost always as funny as they are informative… It proves her point; that we all have something to learn from each other, if we can open our minds to the true, complicated nature of humanity. -- Nell Frizzell Daily Telegraph
Difficult Women is full of vivid detail, jam-packed with research and fizzing with provocation. -- Christina Patterson Sunday Times
Inspiriting and energetic…searching, and bracing...clever and compelling... This is a capacious book... I liked this roominess: it speaks of open-mindedness and warmth. But what I loved most of all is her clear respect for those who went before us. -- Rachel Cooke Observer
Difficult Women is a well-researched, lively overview of the history of modern feminism... An important resource on the ongoing fight for equal rights. -- Mia Levitin Spectator
Enthralling... Witty, thoroughly researched and intelligently argued, Lewis's book turns received thinking on feminism on its head: history, like women, is always more interesting when it's difficult. -- Jane Anderson Radio Times
This sensible, forthright personal history of the women who fought for the vote, for equal pay, for women to have control over their bodies, is a breath of fresh air in a feminist climate too often bogged down in petty spats over ideas of privilege and virtue signalling... Lewis’s trenchant, witty voice steers the reader to focus on the details that matter. -- Claire Allfree Metro
This is the antidote to saccharine you-go-girl fluff. Effortlessly erudite and funny, Helen Lewis tackles the great unacknowledged truth of feminist history: no one ever changed the world by being nice. A landmark in modern feminist scholarship, it manages to be important, irreverent and a joy to read. -- Caroline Criado Perez
Helen Lewis is a staff writer at the Atlantic, and a former deputy editor of the New Statesman. She has written for the Guardian, Sunday Times, New York Times and Vogue. She is a regular host of BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster, a regular panellist on the News Quiz and Saturday Review, and a paper reviewer on The Andrew Marr Show. She was the 2018/19 Women in the Humanities Honorary Writing Fellow at Oxford University. She tweets at @helenlewis
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