A HISTORY OF THE WORLD WITH THE WOMEN PUT BACK IN
An encouraging attempt to readdress the gender imbalance in historical writing
Author Kerstin Lücker & Ute Daenschel, translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp & Jessica West Publisher The History Press Price £20 Released Out now
AHistory Of The World With The Women Put Back In was a bestseller in Germany when it was published in 2017 and has now been translated into English, winning the English Pen award last year. Discussing fascinating women from history alongside the history of sexism on a global scale, the book is an impressive 407 pages long and undeniably serves as a starting point for anyone wishing to expand their historical understanding.
While the book is broadly comprehensive, it is understandably impossible to cover all of the women who deserve to be brought back to their rightful place in history. However, it is quite disappointing that some of the ground-breaking women such as Rosa Parks and Jane Austen don’t make the cut, although a quote from Austen’s Northanger Abbey is included in the beginning.
What sets A History Of The World With The Women Put Back In apart from the various other female-centric biographies that have surfaced in recent years, is the fact that it aims to put women back into history alongside the men, rather than just removing the later altogether. While this aim for equality is great, there are several instances where the book fails to do so. For example, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria is given barely a couple of sentences amid a discussion of her male contemporary, Frederick the Great of Prussia, despite the fact that she was a formidable ruler in her own right. As enjoyable as this book is overall, there are undoubtedly points where a better balance could have been made.