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Women Writing about Anger
by Lilly Dancyger
A rich, nuanced exploration of women's anger from a diverse group of writers.
Women are furious, and we're not keeping it to ourselves any longer. We're expected to be composed and compliant, but in a world that would strip us of our rights, disparage our contributions, and deny us a seat at the table of authority, we're no longer willing to quietly seethe behind tight smiles.
We're ready to burn it all down.
In this ferocious collection of essays, twenty-two writers explore how anger has shaped their lives: author of the New York Times bestseller The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison confesses that she used to insist she wasn't angry--until she learned that she was; Melissa Febos, author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning memoir Abandon Me, writes about how she discovered that anger can be an instrument of power; editor-in-chief of Bitch Media Evette Dionne dismantles the "angry Black woman" stereotype; and more.
Broad-ranging and cathartic, Burn It Down is essential reading for any woman who has scorched with rage-and is ready to claim her right to express it.
"Dancyger collects essays from 22 female writers contemplating (and unleashing) anger, continuing the #MeToo ethos of emotional transparency and righteous indignation, to bracing and powerful effect. The writers are a diverse group and cover a wide range of experiences....[Burn It Down is] a cathartic and often inspiring reading experience." - Publishers Weekly
"Powerful and provocative, this collection is an instructive read for anyone seeking to understand the many faces—and pains—of womanhood in 21st-century America." - Kirkus Reviews
"These powerful essays strike a balance between memoir and theory and will be useful in courses on feminist theory as they provide highly individualized accounts of women's experiences." - Emily Bowles, Library Journal
"Burn It Down is a potent literary offering--a revolution born within the collective rage--expressed, unleashed, sublimated, and capsuled to honor our feminist legacy. Scorched earth speaks through these brilliant women who teach us that vulnerability and ire writ large will save those who have been shamed and condemned. Glorious, punk as hell, and utterly necessary." - Sophia Shalmiyev, award-winning author of Mother Winter
"Burn It Down is deeply affirming for any woman who has struggled with anger in this difficult world. There is no judgment here; only alchemy." - Kelly Sundberg, author of Goodbye, Sweet Girl
"The twenty-two essays collected in Burn It Down are a gift of sanity and clear-eyed moral vision in an increasingly degraded moral world. This book galvanizes women's collective and individual rage, even as it redefines how we could and should understand that anger--and ourselves." - Lacy M. Johnson, author of The Reckonings and The Other Side
This information about Burn It Down was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lilly Dancyger is the memoir editor at Narratively, a contributing editor at Catapult, and assistant books editor at Barrelhouse. Her essays and journalism on sex, politics, and culture have appeared in Rolling Stone, the Rumpus, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, and more. Dancyger is at work on a memoir about her father's art and heroin addiction and the legacy of both in her life. She lives in New York.
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