Rebecca Traister: Good and Mad: Harnessing the Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger

Phil BPhil B: My 34 year old Daughter could have written this book. Every sentence and paragraph and page echoed her exact complaints to (and against) me, since the 2016 Presidential election. I also saw myself being described as the white patriarchal “problem” —- an old, white, guy —- who still seems to live in the past wrt values, norms, and conservative political beliefs. By definition, I am the arch antagonist for the angry young women of today. That said, I know that we all have to open our minds and our hearts —- plus, get kicked in the butt by our daughters and other women in our lives — in order to embrace some understanding of why the women in our lives are so angry. I recently met a strong (and angry) woman in a discussion class, who impressed me so much that I engaged her consultation services to provide some career mentoring/guidance for my daughter. They were two kindred spirits that were like characters out of this wonderful book. My daughter had read Rebecca’s book and quickly told me that I needed to read it — as well as everyone else in our discussion group. I couldn’t put it down, because I was learning by the minute why my daughter was so made at me (70...

United States on Jul 25, 2019

Leslie Helston: A great, informative read that lays out waves of feminist activism in a very accessible way, using anecdotes and subtle and not so subtle messages that will rule you up and get right mad. You will definitely be ticked off and support change.

Canada on Jul 25, 2019

Pat Bakalian: Rebecca Traister’s very readable book Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger is her best yet!

I have admired Rebecca’s work for years. This book really spoke to me because, not only as a woman was I taught to not show my anger, but my birth family taught me not to speak up.

She explores, in historic detail, the suppression of women of all races, as well as explaining how some white women, who enjoy privileges because of their proximity to white men, support the white male patriarch against their own interests. Her book is beautifully written and researched, exploring how sexism is intertwined with racism, classism, xenophobia including stories of women’s rights and civil rights actions throughout history.

Rebecca does a magnificent job in showing how the main stream media has continued to suppress women’s anger and rage preferring to focus on the so called divisions within progressive movements led by women instead of the work we are doing together. It very timely and gives us some context as to what is happening right now.

This is a must read for BOTH women AND men. For women because we need to see that our anger is justified,...

United States on Jan 30, 2019

S. Freeman: Ms Traister thought she wrote this book for women, to enable women who are angry and feel they are not truly equals in U.S. society to know they are not alone, that they have power, and they CAN bring about change, even transformational change. She is only partly correct. This also is a book for men. As a white male of more years than I care to admit, I found the book to be superb. I have have been a feminist since I first stood up for the rights of a woman when I was 5 years old--honest, 5.

The criticisms of this book, mostly by males (all of whom probably are white) are unfortunate and misguided. I am not going to speculate on what prompted their criticisms given there probably are different reasons--comfort with the status quo, too deeply steeped in the idea anger is bad, sexism, insecure in their masculinity and/or relationships with women to name but 4.

As a (virtually) life long feminist, I wish this book had been written when I was a college student in the 1960's and had been assigned for class to read by one of my professors. Even though I long have been deeply involved in the Women's Rights movement (along with Civil Rights, Immigrant Rights, and Anti War),...

United States on Dec 15, 2018

Viviane Kettermann: A autora explora diversos temas no livro, como sexismo, racismo e xenofobia. Acima de tudo, o livro mostra como a sociedade vê de forma negativa a raiva das mulheres, enquanto a raiva masculina é muitas vezes vista como paixão e devoção.
O livro é voltado mais para a história americana e analisa dois acontecimentos recentes: a eleição dos EUA de 2016 e o movimento #metoo. Porém, em muitos aspectos podemos identificar com a realidade brasileira.

Brazil on Nov 25, 2018

AK: Well thought out and researched book on role of women's anger in wester cultural and political landscape leading to and just after 2016 election in the USA. The expression and driving force behind movement for justice, fairness and equality beyond feminism. Highly recomend it to all who would benefit from normalising their feeling of rage at injustice and more so who would like to chanel it to real life as a force for change and good.

United Kingdom on Nov 22, 2018