In my last post, I suggested using Valentine’s Day as a way to start a tradition of “aunt book” purchasing and reading. I even included some recommendations of history books written by women about women.
To help everyone build a list, follow and/or contribute to the Twitter hashtag #readwomenwednesday.
Big thanks to Karin Wulf, who came up with the hashtag.
Join the intellectual exchange on Wednesdays, and start reading different history.
About a month ago, Andrew Kahn and Rebecca Onion published an article on Slate about how most popular history books are written about men by men. They used the phrase “uncle books” to describe the biographies of founding fathers and presidents and the studies of battles and war that are purchased every year as Christmas and Father’s Day gifts.
It’s time to start a trend of “aunt books,” and Valentine’s Day is as good a holiday as any to begin. This year, buy the woman (or women) in your life a book about a woman or women, preferably written by a woman.
If she is interested in the early United States, you could consider, for instance:
Or this:
If she’s more interested in popular culture, how about:
and:
Of course, everyone reading this blog knows about a certain book about American women in the Philippines during World War II.
Read history. Read different history. And give that special someone a truly thoughtful book. That would be really sweet.
Theresa Kaminski 