While wandering the Upper West Side of Manhattan this weekend, we happened upon two of our favorite local stores carrying Quite Literally Books: The Strand Bookstore at Lincoln Center and More & More on the Upper West Side.
Small businesses are the heart of our economy. Every time you purchase from one of these shops, or from a small business like ours, you’re helping real people keep doing work that matters. We truly cannot tell you how much we appreciate you. Herland is a book we have been seeing a lot of in stores and it is one we think you will love.
But what’s Herland about? So glad you asked.
Welcome to a world without men. In this delicious early 20th-century satire by the famed writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman (known for the widely read “The Yellow Wallpaper”), three hapless male archaeologists attempt to “discover” a mythical civilization of women, assuming the women will be helpless, haughty, and primitive. Once they arrive they learn that the civilization is efficient, streamlined, and technologically advanced.
In Herland, clothes have perfectly placed pockets, roads are expertly engineered, and the cities lack noise, dirt, and smoke. There’s no toxic masculinity and no impossible standards of femininity, because there’s no male gaze to satisfy, no male egos to soothe.
Everybody wants to rule the world…but women might actually be better at it.
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on this one.