*Updated with a new introduction*
Journalist Rebecca Traisterâs New York Times bestselling exploration of the transformative power of female anger and its ability to transcend into a political movement is âa hopeful, maddening compendium of righteous feminine anger, and the good it can do when wielded efficientlyâand collectivelyâ (Vanity Fair).
Long before Pantsuit Nation, before the Womenâs March, and before the #MeToo movement, womenâs anger was not only politically catalyticâbut politically problematic. The story of female fury and its cultural significance demonstrates its crucial role in womenâs slow rise to political power in America, as well as the ways that anger is received when it comes from women as opposed to when it comes from men.
âUrgent, enlightenedâŠrealistic and compellingâŠTraister eloquently highlights the challenge of blaming not just forces and systems, but individualsâ (The Washington Post). In Good and Mad, Traister tracks the history of female anger as political fuelâfrom suffragettes marching on the White House to office workers vacating their buildings after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Traister explores womenâs anger at both men and other women; anger between ideological allies and foes; the varied ways anger is received based on whoâs expressing it; and the way womenâs collective fury has become transformative political fuel. She deconstructs societyâs (and the mediaâs) condemnation of female emotion (especially rage) and the impact of their resulting repercussions.
Highlighting a double standard perpetuated against women by all sexes, and its disastrous, stultifying effect, Good and Mad is âperfectly timed and inspiringâ (People, Book of the Week). This âadmirably rousing narrativeâ (The Atlantic) offers a glimpse into the galvanizing force of womenâs collective anger, which, when harnessed, can change history.