Kindle
$9.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$13.40
Buy new:
$13.40
FREE delivery Thursday, May 2 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
List Price: $15.95 Details

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Save: $2.55 (16%)
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Thursday, May 2 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 41 mins
In Stock
$$13.40 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$13.40
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Thursday, May 2 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Used: Good | Details
Sold by Jenson Books Inc
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: This item shows wear including moderate wear to edges and cover.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Mary Beard
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Women & Power: A Manifesto Hardcover – Illustrated, December 12, 2017

by Mary Beard (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,337 ratings
Editors' pick Best History
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$13.40","priceAmount":13.40,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"40","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"oeyaBWYUc1CGzj1uVGT6G%2BuE%2FZtY17X4xkj%2BJGhn9NIRpWuE1%2BqRqFCS4nAC7YS1Nglr7Y%2FEqzfdflduambv2aSDn9EFdT%2BH%2B2gaArkqdranagDcoJU4HU7zXHY4cgQ9oOXZa5HxB3Y1371nvOwexg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$7.11","priceAmount":7.11,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"11","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"oeyaBWYUc1CGzj1uVGT6G%2BuE%2FZtY17X4drstAatQntOVFNCmMJRSrEI47YbZdSNH3O1JKAmmqXlo2mX%2FAPEgoxB1e4PYefD6YM3%2Fi4OVtm%2BCia6FDy4IQgKwfCn%2Fs53cNTXn3Ra%2FCXlZ%2FBHYN0OMFQSHhw6zYJ0dQlPvMRop2Km4vWdjez2%2B54yAJq50P2Ks","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

New York Times Bestseller
One of the Guardian's "100 Best Books of the 21st Century" ― "A modern feminist classic."

From the internationally acclaimed classicist and New York Times best-selling author comes this timely manifesto on women and power.

At long last, Mary Beard addresses in one brave book the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Mary herself. In Women & Power, she traces the origins of this misogyny to its ancient roots, examining the pitfalls of gender and the ways that history has mistreated strong women since time immemorial. As far back as Homer’s Odyssey, Beard shows, women have been prohibited from leadership roles in civic life, public speech being defined as inherently male. From Medusa to Philomela (whose tongue was cut out), from Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren (who was told to sit down), Beard draws illuminating parallels between our cultural assumptions about women’s relationship to power―and how powerful women provide a necessary example for all women who must resist being vacuumed into a male template. With personal reflections on her own online experiences with sexism, Beard asks: If women aren’t perceived to be within the structure of power, isn’t it power itself we need to redefine? And how many more centuries should we be expected to wait?
Previous page
  1. Print length
    128 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Liveright
  4. Publication date
    December 12, 2017
  5. Dimensions
    4.8 x 0.6 x 7.6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781631494758
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1631494758
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

Women & Power: A Manifesto
$13.40
Get it as soon as Thursday, May 2
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
$13.69
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 1
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World
$24.33
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 1
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Based on Beard’s lectures on women’s voices and how they have been silenced, Women & Power was an enormous publishing success in the “#MeToo”’ year 2017. An exploration of misogyny, the origins of “gendered speech” in the classical era and the problems the male world has with strong women, this slim manifesto became an instant feminist classic."
― The Guardian, "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century"

"[A] sparkling and forceful manifesto…The book is a straight shot of adrenaline."
― Parul Sehgal, New York Times

"Beard's thrilling manifesto turns to ancient times to find the seeds of misogyny, beginning with Homer's Odyssey (the first instance of a woman told to shut up) and continuing through Elizabeth Warren's 2017 silencing in the Senate. An irresistible call for women to speak up, act and redefine their power."
― People

"Beard is our most famous classicist, with a gift for bringing ancient Greece and Rome alive on the page like no one else. She is a writer of exceptional erudition and biting wit, and reading her is always a pleasure. This latest manifesto...is no exception…Beard has written an indictment, perhaps her most uncompromising to date, of an ancient past that she is hardly asking us – has never unequivocally asked us – to celebrate. As far as women are concerned, in relation to this ancestral legacy, there is very little to be proud about…The question I finally take from this brilliant book is: what would such power – no rape, no guns, no shutting up of women – look like?"
― The Guardian

"There’s something about Women & Power that ensures it stands out from the rest though. Beard’s is a manifesto firmly grounded in rigorous academic study made legible for the masses, and her proposal for change as radical as it is reasonable and – we can but hope – realistic."
― The National

"A pithy exploration of misogyny’s tangled cultural roots. Based on a series of lectures, this slim volume draws on Beard’s deep knowledge of the classical world and her personal experience as a target of online sexist abuse. She reflects on the gendered structures of power, from voiceless women in Ovid’s Metamorphoses to feminists “reclaiming” Medusa. With clearsightedness and wry humour, this self-described “gobby woman” proves public speech is no longer the preserve of maleness. More power to her."
― Financial Times

"An urgent feminist cri de coeur, spot-on in its utterly reasonable plea that a woman ‘who dares to open her mouth in public’ actually be given a hearing.'"
― Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Mary Beard is a fearless writer with the gift of writing the right book at the right moment, and I’ve been emboldened by her brilliant analysis of women’s voice and role in society since antiquity, Women & Power."
― Diana Athill, The Guardian

"At just a little over 100 pages, Women & Power: A Manifesto may seem slight, but don't let its size fool you. This book speaks volumes and will not be silenced by Telemachus or anyone else."
― Sarah E. Bond, Forbes

"A clear, rich, subversive and witty argument about what power has meant to Western civilization from ancient times, and how its meaning could be changed in the future."
― Anita Felicelli, San Francisco Chronicle

"Beard always fights back, with humor and the confidence of intellectual authority…It’s fun to read Women & Power. Beard’s slim, elegant, well-illustrated book would fit nicely into a Christmas stocking."
― Elaine Showalter, The Washington Post

About the Author

Mary Beard is the author of the best-selling The Fires of Vesuvius and the National Book Critics Circle Award–nominated Confronting the Classics and SPQR. A popular blogger and television personality, Beard is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. She lives in England.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1631494759
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright; Illustrated edition (December 12, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781631494758
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631494758
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.8 x 0.6 x 7.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,337 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Mary Beard

Mary Beard

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,337 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mary Di Valerio
5.0 out of 5 stars Short, Punchy, & Impactful Read
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
Verified Purchase
After reading some positive remarks made by Hillary Clinton about this book, I impulsively ordered it & I am so glad that I did! The book is short, powerful & incredibly interesting. Beard is an incredible teacher & her exploration of the cultural underpinnings of misogyny in modern society is riveting. The concept of a person's voice, who is allowed to have a voice & how society reacts to women using their voice vs. how they react to a man using his voice was central to the book. Beard starts off by exploring gendered voices in Greco-Roman societies, showing how oppressive ideas and norms from these classical cultures continue to influence society in the present day.
The book itself has wide margins, which is great if you like to annotate text like me. There's also a number of historic artifacts and illustrations included in the book which had an enriching, positive effect on the text as a whole.
Beard's writing style is magnetic & her story-telling abilities are profound. You won't want to stop turning the pages! I definitely recommend this book to men and women alike!
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Charlotte W.
4.0 out of 5 stars POWERFUL
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
Mary Beard is a proven resource: classicist, feminist, and very clear, engaging writer. In deceptively simple easygoing language she teases out complex notions, places them in a historical timeline and context, and on the whole simplifies a discussion that really IS simple but has been made complicated by being fragmented and politicized. Beard is also humane and has a wry sense of humor. So if you are looking for a quick review of the basis for much confusion and rage around "the woman question," this book is easy to hold, easy to read, easy to absorb. The 4 instead of 5 stars I gave (I'd give it 4.8 stars if I could) reflect a wish at the end of the book that she would look into the present and future with wise advice and, I guess, some comfort for the reader. Classics light? Perhaps. But she does that better than anyone else.
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, informative, very readable!
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
A masterpiece, cleverly written, entertaining, an incisive look into a time and people whose lives and decisions influence our present! Highly recommended for scholars and those interested in commoners and the elite of Roman history
Helpful
 Report
John P. Jones III
5.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, still topical…
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2018
Verified Purchase
Mary Beard is a Professor at Cambridge in the UK, specializing in the study of the Greek and Roman classics. One of her most famous works is “SPQR – A History of Ancient Rome,” which has been on the Best Seller Lists. Regrettably, I have yet to read it, but hope to soon. Beard provides some perspective from the ancient world to reflect on the on-going issue of women’s access to power, which would hopefully include power over their own bodies. This work is a collection of two separate lectures that she has given: “The Public Voice of Women” and “Women in Power.”

Of late, I’ve found myself referencing “The Odyssey” a lot, with the portrayal of the bad homecoming Odysseus experienced when he returned from Troy. Beard, in her first lecture, also draws a lesson from this work, specifically when the son of Odysseus and Penelope, Telemachus, essentially tells his mom to shut up, get back to the loom, ‘cause the men are speaking. And things have not changed much in two and a half millenniums, a point Beard underscores with a cartoon from “Punch,” in which Mrs. Triggs makes a point in a Board meeting, and the Chairman asks if another male would be willing to make the same point (with the idea that then it would be “heard.”) Beard goes on to ruminate on exactly what must occur for women to be “heard,” particularly in public, besides speech lessons to emulate a deep gravelly voice.

In the second essay, Beard introduced me to “Herland,” by Charlotte Gilman, first published in 1915, about a land that contained only women, a marvelous utopia that was tidy and peaceful, and “even the cats had stopped killing the birds!” I had to chuckle, regrettably, as she documents the negative reactions, seemingly unconsciously, in the main steam media when a woman assumes a position of power, noting that it was called a “power grab.” Yes, women are making substantial progress in acquiring elective offices, and perhaps a better, and maybe fairer world will result. Yet there is definitely a backlash. I had not seen it before, but there was a cartoon of Trump as Perseus, who had decapitated Hillary Clinton, who was portrayed at Medusa. Wow!

I’ve read my share of “feminist classics,” starting with Betty Frieden’s “The Feminine Mystique” in the ‘60’s, followed thereafter in 1970, by Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal work, “The Second Sex.” As with some other issues from back then (like no more war!), I really thought we’d be much further along in developing fair and equitable relations between men and women, involving power, and yes, changing the diapers. Two steps forward, and one step back, or is it the other way around, as Susan Faludi has argued in “Backlash”.

Beard presents not a hint of what I would consider the next level of evolution: once one has power, and one is conscientious in its use, one finds it an utter relief to give it up and let someone else do it and concentrate on “smelling the roses” instead! Nonetheless, for Beard’s ability to use the classics to provide perspective on the on-going contemporary dilemmas involving women’s efforts to obtain fairer and more equitable relations (coupled with some male allies), she deserves 5-stars.
26 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Alex
3.0 out of 5 stars I was disappointed about that because Mary Beard is a famous scholar
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
You will learn that Western culture at least since the ancient Greeks has systematically excluded women from public, political speech. However though in the second part, the author Mary Beard says she is interested in distinctively female sources of power, she is woefully unable to actually name these sources and types of power. Somehow for Beard the only power that is interesting is political power. Women have wielded power throughout human history, even if their lack of political power has always made them susceptible to marginalization.
This is a very slim volume with absolutely no documentation. I was disappointed about that because Mary Beard is a famous scholar. She is selling a product meant for the mass market, not for scholars. But is it really the case that the general public will gasp & wither at the site of even one footnote?
For a book on women & power for the popular market, Mary overlooks rather too much for my taste-- contemporary culture has revamped a lot of the negative mythic images of women. Like the way the Medusa's snakes are wrapped into a very established new representations of Goddesses and mythic women. There's a huge community that has done that already. So when Hillary Clinton or Angela Merkel are depicted w/Medusa's snakes, we should be able to turn that quickly into acknowledgement of women's wisdom.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Linei Matz
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must-read!
Reviewed in Brazil on August 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
Beard clarifies why so few women 'take the risk' to try to reach higher positions in politics and claims that power (and our view of women in power) must change if we really want more of them as presidents and congresspeople. Excellent reading!
Customer image
Linei Matz
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must-read!
Reviewed in Brazil on August 6, 2023
Beard clarifies why so few women 'take the risk' to try to reach higher positions in politics and claims that power (and our view of women in power) must change if we really want more of them as presidents and congresspeople. Excellent reading!
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
Report
Laís
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in Canada on February 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is a simple book with a great central point: how the concept of power is based on men’s realities and how it should be redefined and amplified. With a new conception of power, it would be possible to reach more women.

Great book with interesting ideas. The author does not give us specific and detailed answers to issues related to sexism. Actually, she helps us to see things in a different perspective.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Personaymedia
5.0 out of 5 stars SABIDURIA Y LUCIDEZ FEMINISTA
Reviewed in Spain on February 11, 2018
Verified Purchase
El libro recoge dos discursos de Mary Beard sobre cómo la historia ha apartado reiteradamente a la mujer del discurso público y cómo esos esquemas persisten en nuestros dias. Es un libro breve y divertido, ni dogmático ni populista. Mary Beard es una historiadora de primera cuyos documentales sobre Roma y el mundo antiguo, producidos por BBC han dado la vuelta al mundo. En España se pueden encontrar en Movistar+.
Report
DE A
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
Reviewed in France on January 13, 2018
Verified Purchase
This book is simply written but the content is very witty and educative. We still have a lot to learn on women's condition and it is always useful to go back to the roots of the problem to understand its consequences in modern times
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Bobbie
5.0 out of 5 stars Hey, I'm a woman. Listen to me!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2018
Verified Purchase
Thought-provoking, humorous, engaging, fewer than 100 pages with fascinating illustrations, based on two lectures the author gave in 2014 and 2017. Her thesis (developed with reference to Western culture starting with the ancient Greeks and Romans, and, among other things, to the virulent sexist abuse she receives on social media each time she speaks on the telly) is that, while some women (including herself) may smash some glass ceilings, and even if gradually there is better childcare provision, equal wages, etc, women in general won’t achieve equal power and respect until we all (men and women) disentangle and discard maleness from our understanding of what ‘power’ is.
Here’s a quote from her peroration: “What I have in mind is the ability to be effective, to make a difference in the world, and the right to be taken seriously... It is power in that sense that many women feel they don’t have – and that they want. Why the popular resonance of ‘mansplaining’ (despite the intense dislike of the term felt by many men)? It hits home for us because it points straight to what it feels like not to be taken seriously...”
She deals among many topics with the way that some women, famously Margaret Thatcher, have lowered their voices. This had me wondering – is the increasingly common habit of “vocal fry” (see Wikipedia article) among women on the radio, particularly American women, a bid for “masculine” authority? Are they damaging their vocal chords (and paining my ear) in order to be taken seriously? I (a woman) find it so hard to listen, I press the off button.
One person found this helpful
 Report