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kukushka's review against another edition
4.0
This is the story of economic theory, tracing it from its pre-enlightment proto-forms, right up into the modern era.
It's also a criticism of that history through a feminist lens. If I had to summarize the main thesis of the whole book in a single sentence, it would be: "But what about the women?"
Over and over again, we see theories of beneficial self-interest and individual economic agency that use the language of universality while, at the same time, footnoting exceptions for women (who, of course, must continue to keep the houses and raise the children of these economists, and to do so for free).
This is a bit of a heavy book, with very few soundbites or easy takeaways. It took me three weeks to read because I had to keep putting it down to process. Because of this, it doesn't work too as a primer (which I think I would have benefitted more from), and it's ideas were sometimes a little inaccessible.
But it's an excellent book full of little epiphanies. And if reading it was a bit of a challenge, the challenge was worthwhile.
It's also a criticism of that history through a feminist lens. If I had to summarize the main thesis of the whole book in a single sentence, it would be: "But what about the women?"
Over and over again, we see theories of beneficial self-interest and individual economic agency that use the language of universality while, at the same time, footnoting exceptions for women (who, of course, must continue to keep the houses and raise the children of these economists, and to do so for free).
This is a bit of a heavy book, with very few soundbites or easy takeaways. It took me three weeks to read because I had to keep putting it down to process. Because of this, it doesn't work too as a primer (which I think I would have benefitted more from), and it's ideas were sometimes a little inaccessible.
But it's an excellent book full of little epiphanies. And if reading it was a bit of a challenge, the challenge was worthwhile.
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