Hidden Half Book Review: from the Remedial Herstory Project

From the feminist bookstore to the lesbian cruise, this June we’re hanging out in the hippest spots! For Pride Month, we’ve read A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture by June Thomas. Join Victoria and Katherine as they grapple with the fight between community and capitalism, commiserate with Land Lesbians who refuse to do dishes, and admire Thomas’ approach to tricky top...

Grab your sword and grab your shield; it’s time for Vikings! This month we read Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir. Join Victoria and Katherine as they wrestle with 10th C revenants, debate the limits of literary sources, and compare women to tadpoles. Join the virtual discussion at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988750844311 Check out the Hidden Half Book Clu...

This month we’ve trudged into the heart of the world’s largest country with Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russian, From Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe. Grab a bottle of vodka and hold back your tears with Victoria and Katherine as they follow the arc of modern Russian history, consider parallels to America’s “masculinity crisis,” and remind themselves that you never NEED to marr...

From Bombay (Mumbai) to Calcutta (Kolkata), this month we went on a journey with She-Merchants, Buccaneers & Gentlewomen: British Women in India 1600-1900 by Katie Hickman. Fit your 26 pairs of travelling boots, and set sail with Victoria and Katherine as they unpack the changing mores of British India, grapple with sexist arguments about the memsahibs , and consider how we address the role of...

Set your sights on the Golden Gate Bridge in this month’s read, The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown by Julia Flynn Siler. Get stuck in the fight while Victoria and Katherine discuss the impacts of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, consider the conflation of saving souls and saving women, and meditate on how sources constrict the P.O.V. of immigra...

Put down your vacuum and take to the streets with our first book of the year, Wages of Housework: The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise by Emily Callaci! Kick back and enjoy a little leisure while Victoria and Katherine tally up their unpaid working hours, see welfare in a new light, and consider the political ramifications of the invisible work of women. Check out the Hidden Half Book Club...

Holiday air travel getting you down? Join us for our December read, The Great Stewardess Rebellion: How Women Launched a Workplace Revolution at 30,000 Feet by Nell McShane Wulfhart. Jump into the cockpit with Victoria and Katherine as they buckle up for some labor history, unpack the unexpected queer story of flight attendants, and learn about the indignities that inspired stewardesses to fight b...

Let’s talk about historical narratives of gender and economics! Join us this November as we discuss Economica: A Global History of Women, Wealth and Power by Victoria Bateman. Unpack stories of women’s work with Victoria and Katherine as they interrogate Bateman’s core theses, consider whether the Dutch nuclear family invented capitalism, and outline some of the difficulties with making historical...

Ready to dive headfirst into African history? Join us this October as we discuss When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors by Paula Akpan. Watch bloody (pre-)colonial history unfold with Victoria and Katherine as they admire Apkan’s deft handling of complicated women, become overly invested in Madagascar’s 19th C isolationism, and deepen their understanding of African...

Want all the hottest gossip from 112 BCE? Join us this September as we discuss The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. Read all the latest (ancient) goings-on with Victoria and Katherine as they gloss over all the incest, admire the agency of murderous royals, and question how we handle biased sources in pop history. Trigger Warning: for discussion of sexual assault...

Concerned that the 1873 Comstock Act feels too relevant in 2025? Join us this August as we read The Icon & The Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America by Stephanie Gorton. Dive in with Victoria and Katherine as they denounce liberal in-fighting, continue Victoria’s obsession with the 19th C free love movement, and unpack the historica...

Bring on the ballot box! This July we’re reading Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Wont the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones. Like drinking from a firehose, this is an absolute whirlwind of names, dates and politics. Educate yourself with Victoria and Katherine as they marvel at the power of Black women, continue their age-old argument about biographies vs thematic...

Happy Pride! This June we’ve read Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line: A Hidden History of Queer Women by Elizabeth Lovatt, part memoir, part history of Lesbian call lines in 1990s London. Dial in with Victoria and Katherine as they call up questions around archival ethics, LGBTQ+ politics, and ask what exactly we’re looking for when we read history. Check out the Hidden Half Book Club socials...

Great man narratives of complicated women this month! This May we read Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf by Helene Cooper, so we’re all up to date on the fascinating history of Liberia, its horrifying civil wars, and Johnson Sirleaf’s political rise. Join Victoria and Katherine as they interrogate Liberia’s complex politics, Cooper’s framing of her subject, and t...

Cry havoc and let slip your love for all things Rome! For April 2025, we’ve read Emma Southon’s A Rome of One’s Own (US), otherwise known as A History of Rome in 21 Women (UK). Join Victoria and Katherine as they delve into Southon’s adept handling of difficult sources, meditate on the beauty of female friendship, and convert biography-lovers to the sweeping drama of grand histories! Donate to the...

Grab this one for your fiber arts circle! For Women’s History Month 2025 we’re reading the feminist classic Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. Join Victoria and Katherine as they piece together the history of fabric, weigh the merits of various disciples (ethnography, linguistics, archaeology and more!) and consider what Barber still has to contribute to the ongoing...

We’re on the cusp of current events with Leslie Chang’s Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China this month. Join Victoria and Katherine as they struggle along with the migrant women that formed the heart of industrial China at the turn of the 20th C, discussing work, family and the purpose of history. Donate to our partner, the Remedial Herstory Project at https://www.remedialherstory...

It’s a new year and we’re ready to jump back to the Medieval Period with Poet Mystic Widow Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women by Hetta Howes. Join Victoria and Katherine as they contemplate the purpose of studying history, accidentally unearth Margery Kempe/Julian of Norwich fanfiction, and indulge in some brief 2024 reflections. Check out the Going Medieval blog: https://going-mediev...

This month, step into the shoes of Hilda Bernstein, anti-Apartheid activist and writer, as she recounts the horrors of the 1963-4 Rivonia Trial in her memoir The World That Was Ours . Join Victoria and Katherine as they unpack how memoirs function as historical source, become fans of Nelson Mandela (60 years late), and maybe get a little emotional about the details. We’re not crying, you’re crying...

This month we’re digging into A History of Islam in 21 Women by Hossein Kamaly. Pop on your explorer’s cap as Victoria and Katherine traverse these rich and varied biographies of muslim women from West Africa to the West Indies, from the birth of Islam to the modern award-winning scholars and artists that shape our world. We’ve got our fair share of thoughts - as usual - so buckle up! Donate to ou...

Join us this month as we discuss our October pick, Messalina: The Life and Times of Rome’s Most Scandalous Empress by Honor Cargill-Martin. Don your togas and enter the toothless Senate as Victoria and Katherine opine on the horrific ideal of Roman womanhood, the author’s deft handling of sources, and the value of finding women’s agency in historical narrative. If you haven’t picked this one up ye...

Join us this month as we discuss our September read, The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria Smilios. Hosts Victoria and Katherine will unpack the challenges of science narratives, the various shapes of racism in 20th C America and our love of medical horror. Whether you’ve had a chance to pick up this excellent book yet, or are waiting for it to arri...

In this super-special August episode of the Hidden Half Book Review, Victoria and Katherine congregate, confabulate and converse about all things Bluestockings: The First Women’s Movement with its author, Susannah Gibson! We’ll unpack the stories of the wondrous women, from Elizabeth Montagu to Hester Mulso to Catherine Macauley, exploring the 18th C intellectual history that laid the foundations...

In our July episode of the Hidden Half Book Review, join Victoria and Katherine as we talk all things Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan by Ruby Lal. We’ll dig into the missing Gulbadan at the center of this biography, the historical context of harems, and reflect on the power of women’s stories as history. Check out the Women's and Gender History Book Club socials at https://...

In our June episode of the Hidden Half Book Review, join Victoria and Katherine as we explore Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion. An excellent scholarly addition to our shelf of trans histories, we’ll recount the stories that touched us, consider the linguistics of transing gender, and get a little bit sentimental about the importance of seeing ourselves in history. Check out the Women...