✊🏿 Podcast drop! We read Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Wont the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones. Join Victoria and Katherine as they marvel at the power of Black women, argue about biographies vs thematic histories, and search for Stacy Abrams’ AO3 account.
💊 Let’s close out summer with a bang! For August, we're reading Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America by Stephanie Gorton (@sdgorton). Grab your copy and follow along to discuss!
✊🏿 What a whirlwind! This month we read Vanguard by Martha S. Jones, finishing off with the contemporary narrative of politician Stacy Abrams.
4️⃣ Why doesn’t Jones leave her history in the “past” but brings it right up the “present”? What argument is she making?
🏖️ Swimsuit? Check. Beach? Check! Copy of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones? Oh you betcha!
3️⃣ How does Jones illustrate the challenges of claiming political power at the intersection of race and gender?
🗞️ I have a soft spot for Mary Ann Shadd, journalist and savvy business woman. In 1853, she published the Provincial Freeman, making up two men's names as the editors. It took three years of hustling before she listed herself as an editor!
2️⃣ So far which woman’s story has stood out to you? Why?
📣 Jones highlights the six women who Vice President Kamala Harris credited as her own political foremothers: Mary Church Terrell, Mary McLeod Bethune, Diane Nash, Fannie Lou Hamer, Constance Baker Motley and Shirley Chisholm.
1️⃣ How many of these six women had you heard of before reading?
📞 That’s it - I’m hanging up! We've finished Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt, and I’m crazy curious what you all thought. Since Lovatt is so reflective about this project I've got a Q:
4️⃣ What is Lovatt trying to get out of engaging with this queer history? What are we?
🎙️Podcast Drop! Dial in with Victoria and Katherine as they discuss Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line: A Hidden History of Queer Women by Elizabeth Lovatt, calling up questions around archival ethics, LGBTQ+ politics, and asking what exactly we’re looking for when we read history.
✊🏿It's time to give due deference to the women who made America’s civil rights movement happen! For July, we're reading Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones. This one was a fan favorite in our book poll, so I’m excited to jump in!
📞 Who’s calling? We've been reading Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt following the lives of the volunteers and callers to lesbian hotlines in the 1990s UK, interspersed with Lovatt’s memoirs.
3️⃣ Which calls have been most interesting? Why?
📞 Ring, ring! We’re reading Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line about lesbian hotlines in the 90s, Lovatt chooses to share the stories of the callers through imagined texts about their lives:
2️⃣ What do we think about Lovatt’s approach to writing lesbian experience back into the past?
🏳️🌈 For Pride we're reading Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt, part memoir, part history. Here's our first question to discuss:
1️⃣ What do you think about the ethics of using archival information about peoples’ private lives? What factors might change your opinion?
🇱🇷 This May we read Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper. From mother to bureaucrat, agitator to President. I’m itching to know what you all think:
4️⃣ Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a complicated leader. How does Cooper capture this, and were you satisfied?
🇱🇷 New podcast drop! Join Victoria and Katherine as they interrogate Liberia’s complex politics, Cooper’s framing of her subject, and the challenges of flawed protagonists in historical biographies.
♀️The Hidden Half Book Review is a member of the Remedial Herstory Project podcast network.
🏳️🌈 Pride month is just around the corner, and this June we’re picking up Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line: A Hidden History of Queer Women by Elizabeth Lovatt (@elizabethlovatt). I’m already buzzing about it, so pick up your copy today and let’s explore this poignant history together!
🇱🇷 This month we’re stuck into Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper, following ESJ’s impressive rise to power.
3️⃣ What have you learned about international relations, development finance or West African politics that surprised you?
☀️ Summer is here, so check out our amazing line up for the next few months:
📞 JUNE 2025: Thank you for calling the Lesbian Line (Lovatt) @elizabethlovatt
✊🏾 JULY 2025: Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers (Jones) @marthasjones
💊AUGUST 2025: The Icon and the Idealist (Gorton) @sdgorton
🇱🇷 We’re reading Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. There are a lot of characters, action and horror, but it’s also fascinating. Here’s your weekly question:
2️⃣ What's the picture forming of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf? What insights do we get into her personality?
🏛️ Exercise your democratic rights by voting in our summer book reads ballot below! Comment with your top 3 picks:
🧪Sisters in Science (Campbell)
📞Thank you for calling the Lesbian Line (Lovatt)
💊The Icon and the Idealist (Gorton)
🏳️🌈A Place of our Own (Thomas)
✊🏾Vanguard (Jones)
📓Eve Bites Back (Beer)
🇱🇷 We’ve returned to 20th C Africa to read Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper where we begin with Liberia’s two-tier class system.
1️⃣ How did this class system influence the politics Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born into? How does she fit into it?
🇱🇷 RIP to the Roman Empire, but it’s time to switch tacks! For May, we’re off to West Africa to meet the first female president in African history. That’s right! We’re reading Madame President: The Extraordinary Story of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper.
📘Grab your copy and read with us!
🏛️ From Zenobia to Galla Placidia, we've finished A Rome of One’s Own/A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women by Emma Southon. I was happily surprised to find that I hadn’t heard of the vast majority of the women than Southon showcases.
4️⃣ Which of these women’s stories was your favorite and why?
🏛️ From Julia (Balbilla) to Julia (Maesa) and Julia (Mamaea), we’re reading A Rome of One’s Own /A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women by Emma Southon. Since we’re nearly done, I’ve got a question for you:
3️⃣ How successful is this book as a women’s history vs. a history of the Roman Empire?
🎙️Cry havoc & let slip your love for all things Rome! We’ve read Emma Southon’s A Rome of One’s Own/A History of Rome in 21 Women. Join Victoria & Katherine as they delve into Southon’s adept handling of difficult sources, the beauty of female friendship, & the sweeping drama of grand histories!
🏛️ We’ve been devouring A Rome of One’s Own (A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women) by Emma Southon. Part of the pleasure of this book is Southon’s re: about her approach to historical writing. So...
2️⃣ What are Southon’s stated biases? How do they match up to your own? #ancientrome #romanhistory
📚 Enjoying women’s history, but looking for more ways to connect? Join us over on Goodreads! Check out our bio for Further Links, which will take you to Goodreads, as well as Bookshop.org, the Hidden Half Book Review podcast, and much more!
#womenshistorymonth #womenshistory #bookclub
🏛️ This month we’re reading A Rome of One’s Own (A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women) by Emma Southon. So far I’m happy to go out on a limb: this book is a delight! A smart, funny read.
⚾ To kick off, let me lob you a soft ball question.
#bookclub #ancientrome #romanhistory #romanwomen