Women and Power by Mary Beard

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: I’ve wanted to read this book since its release, and was really excited when a colleague lent it to me last week. I read it in one sitting and really enjoyed it; Beard dealt with a lot of interesting issues facing women today, linking these back to classical Greek and Roman examples as well as examples from later history. This is both fascinating and terrifying; it succeeds in making the reader feel we are not alone, as these attitudes have always been faced by women – but by the same premise, this then horrifies us that we are still facing prejudices that date back to the time of Homer and his Odyssey.

The book consists of two essay-style pieces, which Beard delivered as lectures. The first, ‘The Public Voice of Women’, looks at how women’s voices are suppressed daily in public life, from the culture of mansplaining to the booing and hollering over women MP’s who try to speak in Parliament. The second follows on from this theme, looking more closely at ‘Women in Power’ and how they are judged and treated, their images transformed into something irrefutably masculine in order to make them more acceptable to wider society. I really enjoyed reading this, as I have frequently noticed with anger the attitudes towards female politicians in the news and in headlines, which often tend to focus on their clothing or mock their speeches – I’m by no means the biggest fan of Teresa May, but I was upset on her behalf at how much she was mocked for the terrible cough she suffered from during her party conference speech.

This book is really interesting, and I agreed with all of Beard’s points made in both essays. I both loved and hated the link to Classical times, purely because of the fact that it upset me to realise how little progress in fundamental attitudes towards women has really been made, and therefore how far we still have to go. I would have liked more of an in-depth discussion on mainsplaining, as this is one of my absolute pet hates as a woman and also fits in well with both topics of discussion, yet it was only mentioned briefly. Overall, however, I would highly recommend these essays and am fully supportive of Beard’s point of view and arguments.

S.P.Q.R: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

RATING: 4/5

BLURB: “Ancient Rome matters: we still judge ourselves against its history of empire, conquest and excess, and its debates about citizenship, terrorism and the rights of the individual influence how we think about civil liberty today. Covering a thousand years of Roman history, SPQR reveals in vivid detail how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to the first global superpower. As well as casting fresh light on Roman culture from running water to democracy, and from slavery to migration, Mary Beard shows us how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements”

REVIEW: I have always been interested in Ancient Rome but have never actually read much on it; I love Mary Beard’s documentaries so when I heard about this book, which is an overview of the history of Ancient Rome, I thought it would be the perfect introduction. This book was easy to read, the facts made both interesting and simple so that it was engaging and also the perfect way to be introduced to the complex political, social and cultural history of Ancient Rome. Even the sections on Roman wars, a subject I tend to find quite dull, were written so that I found them much easier to understand and also far more fun to read about than I would normally. The whole book was gripping and fascinating, presenting the facts in a way that linked them to our modern world, which also made it much easier to relate to. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction to the world of Ancient Rome, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.