Men Explain Things to Me: And Other Essays

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Description

Rebecca Solnit's essay 'Men Explain Things to Me' has become a touchstone of the feminist movement, inspired the term 'mansplaining', and established Solnit as one of the leading feminist thinkers of our time - one who has inspired everyone from radical activists to Beyonce Knowles. Collected here in print for the first time is the essay itself, along with the best of Solnit's feminist writings.

From rape culture to mansplaining, from French sex scandals to marriage and the nuclear family, from Virginia Woolf to colonialism, these essays are a fierce and incisive exploration of the issues that a patriarchal culture will not necessarily acknowledge as 'issues' at all. With grace and energy, and in the most exquisite and inviting of prose, Rebecca Solnit proves herself a vital leading figure of the feminist movement and a radical, humane thinker.

Reviews

What has always impressed me in Solnit's writing is the simple cadence and timbre of a sentence, a paragraph, the way a whole essay lilts and skips. She is not one of the most important female essayists of her generation. She is one of the most important essayists of her generation. Incendiary, indignant, and true -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *
[A] trenchant collection of essays... an eloquent reminder that we still have some way to go when it comes to speaking of the issues Solnit raises -- Erica Wagner * Financial Times *
Stark and powerful prose... Solnit is a compelling writer with a glorious turn of phrase -- Rosamund Urwin * Evening Standard *
[These essays] are the thin edge of a continuum that reaches from the opening anecdote to the rape and murder statistics that she deploys to such devastating effect. Solnit's book does what the best feminist writing does: it makes me angry. And it makes me believe we can, and we must, fight for change -- Caroline Criado-Perez, feminist activist
Exceptional... The feminist debate has once again exploded into the mainstream over the last few years, and this collection marks Solnit out as among the most thoughtful of many energetic writers leading it -- Jessica Abrahams * Prospect *
Essays on feminism from the consistently wonderful author of The Faraway Nearby. Anything she writes is a must-read * Bookseller *
Solnit is a brilliant essayist... A highly enjoyable and thought-provoking read -- Patrick Neale * Bookseller *
A necessary read... Solnit writes powerfully * Flavourwire *
Essential reading for anyone - feminist or not, male or female - who wants to fight for equality across all fronts * Gazette, Western Mail, Swindon Advertiser and Leicester Mercury *
The essays fiercely confront crime against women... Solnit has a voice of fearless and provocative asperity; she launches a quiverful of aphoristic arrows -- Stevie Davies * Independent *
A revolt championing the cause of women... [Solnit's] work feels both timeless and timely. She argues persuasively, is often funny and is articulate to a fault... [her] writing is its own victory and revolt. An incendiary, inquiring and important work -- Sinead Gleeson * Irish Times *
Essential reading for anyone - feminist or not, male or female * Irish Examiner *
The most clarifying, soothing and socially aware document I've read on the topic this year. Not to mention funny -- Lena Dunham 'Book of the year' * Wall Street Journal *

Author Bio

Rebecca Solnit is author of, among other books, Wanderlust, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, the NBCC award-winning River of Shadows and A Paradise Built in Hell. A contributing editor to Harper's, she writes regularly for the London Review of Books and the Los Angeles Times. She lives in San Francisco.