A little inside publishing baseball: the “first and goods” just came back from the printer. The book isn’t bound yet, but these loose pages are finished. The striking illustration is by Kimberly Glyder.
#inpraiseofdifficultwomen
Sneak Peek inside In Praise of Difficult Women
Simone de Beauvoir: Iconoclast
Difficult Woman N°25 Simone de Beauvoir 1908 – 1986 Who: Glamorous intellectual and writer. Shaper of contemporary feminist theory and feminist existential philosophy. Helped popularize writing in cafés. Made it safe for tall woman everywhere to take a much shorter lover. Signature Difficult Moves: Authored The Second Sex (1949), groundbreaking and controversial book on the status…
Ann Richards:
Sassy
Difficult Woman N°23 Ann Richards (1933 – 2006) Who: 45th governor of Texas, and first women to be elected in her own right. Thought by President Clinton to be the wittiest person he’d ever met. Passionate film buff. Signature Difficult Moves: Snappy one-liners. During keynote at 1988 Democratic National Convention, of then-VP George H.W….
Shirley Chisholm: Groundbreaker
Difficult Woman N°22 Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) Who: Politician. Author. Educator. Presidential Medal of Honor Recipient. Unbought and unbossed. Signature Difficult Moves: First African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, where she served for seven terms (1969-1983). In 1972, first African-American and first woman to run for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination. What People Said…
Katharine Hepburn: Irritable
Difficult Woman N°21 Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) Who: Four-time Academy Award winner for Best Actress. Freckled Yankee bisexual firebrand who refused to suffer fools gladly or otherwise. Star of one of my favorite movies, Bringing Up Baby. Signature Difficult Moves: Pretty much everything she did. At a time when every actress was required to wear…
Freya Stark: Intrepid
Difficult Woman N°20 Freya Stark (1893-1993) Who: Explorer. “Poet of travel.” Best-selling travel writer. Awarded Cross of the British Empire, named Dame of the British Empire. Lived to be a hundred. Signature Difficult Moves: Taught herself Turkish and Arabic. First westerner (male or female) to travel to many parts of the Middle East, including the…
Josephine Baker: Visionary
Difficult Woman N°19 Josephine Baker (1906-1975) Who: American born “erotic” dancer, singer, and actress. French Resistance Fighter. Civil Rights Activist. Recipient of the Croix de Guerre, Légion d’Honneur and Rosette of the Résistance. Taught herself French by reading her own press clippings. Animal lover. Signature Difficult Moves: During World War II, snuck encoded information out…
Janis Joplin: Gutsy
Difficult Woman N°18 Janis Joplin (1943-1970) Who: American Blues singer/”Queen of Rock and Roll.” Fashion icon. Southern Comfort aficionado. Tattoo-getter long before it was trendy. Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius. Signature Difficult Moves: Ridiculed in high school for her weight and bad complexion, she fled her native Texas for California and Haight-Ashbury where…