Title: Tough Mothers
Author: Jason Porath
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Feminism, History
Pace: Slo
Format: Non-fictional text
Publisher: Dey St.
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: She’d get up at daybreak, work all day long, come back for supper, and then set out again.

50 women from history – Mothers, Grandmothers, and Godmothers – who lived fully, brashly, and boldly and changed the world… these are Tough Mothers

I loved Rejected Princesses. I loved this. There are no other words for my feelings when it comes to this book. Finally, finally there are some great books out there on the many women in history! The fact that this is one about women who are mothers and also completely kick ass makes it much better. It’s a reminder that we can be mothers as well as politicians, doctors, just women of power and change in general. I actually can’t wait to show these books to my future (theoretical) children – to show them the many different things that they can become. And even the women who have helped to pave the way for this.

I had only one small issue (if you can call it that) with this book – there are a lot of American women in these pages. Now, granted, I almost never see an Australian woman in well, anything (unless she’s some random bikini clad surfer, not sure how we got that rep)… so I wasn’t expecting to see anyone from my country in there (there were 2, I danced around my loungeroom when I read about them). But, I swear Rejected Princesses had a lot more people from the international stage than Tough Mothers. I kind of put it down to the fact that the author is American – there is a lot of amazing history there, and, really, you could write a whole book just about some of those women.

This was the perfect book for me to read while I was trying to slog through some articles for my lit review. Each entry was a quick, interesting read that helped to keep my mind engaged. It was also visually engaging and beautiful, so that made it all the more pleasant and pleasing. I’m actually really disappointed that it’s come to an end…

Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Book Review Easy Reading Feminism History Jason Porath