Another book for ya!

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Wordsgood

Another book for ya!

Post by Wordsgood »

I am currently re-reading a great book I must tell you all about. It is called "A Brief History of Misogyny - The World's Oldest Prejudice" and is written by, are you ready for this...A MAN!

This is not a patronizing or feminist rant book. The author, who sadly passed away a couple a years ago from a rare cancer shortly before publication, is Jack Holland, author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, and a journalist known for his commentary about Northern Irish politics. He was a husband and the father of one daughter who wrote the forward for his last book, Misogyny.

Holland, a history buff, did extensive research for the manuscript. Using everything from the bible, to historical research, to Plato's works, to modern headlines, he creates an accurate, compelling argument showing that misogyny has always, and continues to be, a major human rights abuse. Below is an excerpt from the forward written by his daughter, which explains the concept of this book far better than I could:

We now live in an age that is relatively enlightened, when finally the phenomenon of misogyny has been identified not only as a source of oppression and injustice, but also as an obstacle to human development, and to social and economic progress. Yet on the whole women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts, and in the United States reproductive rights won decades ago are being eroded. True sexual equality still eludes us. And in many parts of the world, where issues of gender are compounded by poverty, ignorance, fundamentalism and disease, women's lot has scarcely improved over the centuries.

Jack Holland, my father, was acutely aware that such problems could not be solved by a single book, or indeed by many. But this book, his last, shall stand as an important tool in the struggle against the world's oldest prejudice.


Below his a link to the website created by his family in Holland's honour.

http://www.jackholland.net/bio.php

I hope some of you pick up this book and enjoy it as much as I do. It makes you think, that's for sure. At times, when reading it, I am out-raged at the things he draws attention to, at others I am just plain sad, and sometimes I can't stop laughing at the absurdity of some of history's "greatest" characters!

Cheers.
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sleepydumpling
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Post by sleepydumpling »

I will keep my eye out for this one - I had a very similar conversation after watching The History Boys (there is an interesting scene where the female history teacher has a wee rant about men throughout history) with a male friend, and he seems to... get it!
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Stunt Penguin
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Post by Stunt Penguin »

Sounds interesting! I'll definitely try to get my hands on this one!
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Post by Scott »

It does indeed sound interesting. When was it written?
"That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess." - Henry David Thoreau

"Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." Virgil, The Aeneid
Wordsgood

Post by Wordsgood »

Scott Hughes wrote:It does indeed sound interesting. When was it written?
The manuscript was finished just before his death in 2004, but published by his wife and daughter in 2006. :)
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