Misogyny; The World's Oldest Prejudice (A Review)

Misogyny by Jack Holland was for me, a riveting read, made all the more riveting because it was written by a man with the same vehement passions against misogyny that I myself feel. While there are clearly expressed points of judgment against or in favor of certain actions taken in history by misogynists, I felt that the author in general was able to take a step back and place the actions within the greater framework of history (in a way that I myself probably would not have been able to do). For that alone, I applaud the author of this book.

But equally as impressive was the author's commitment to the facts, as plainly evidenced by the mountains of research done to compile such a complete, if somewhat abridged, history of his subject. I found myself jotting down the names of numerous sources, intrigued by the references he gave and curious to find out more than the abridged history he was able to fit in 300 pages. This is one of the few reads that compelled me to go through the entire "For Further Reading" section to find some more good reads.

What I valued most out of this book, though, was the compassion of the author and the hope that he gave that we can do something about this. Even though the author did not attempt to lay out any clear course of action for the future, examining closely the phenomena of misogynistic practices in our world puts us that much closer to a day without prejudice, hatred, or fear. Excellent book!