A History of Women in 101 Objects : A walk through female history

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023This is a neglected history.Not a sweeping, definitive, exhaustive history of the world but something quieter, more intimate and particular.A journey, picked out in 101 objects, through the fascinating, too-often-overlooked, manifold histories of women. Open up this cabinet of curiosities and you'll find objects that have been highly esteemed and others that are humble and domestic.Some (like a sixteenth century glass dildo) are objects of female pleasure, some (a thumbscrew) of female subjugation.There are artefacts of women celebrated by history and of women unfairly forgotten by it; examples of female rebellion and of self-revelation; objects that are inspiring, curious or (like radium-laced chocolate) just fundamentally ill-conceived.In this compendium, Annabelle Hirsch reveals a new history - teeming, unexpected, witty and always illuminating.