The I Index

Off With Her Head: Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power

Bottom of the pile

23

/100

I Index Overall Rating

Readers

28/100

Critics

17/100

Scholars

N/A

Author:

Eleanor Herman

Publisher:

William Morrow

Date:

September 6, 2022

New York Times bestseller Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Kings and Sex with Presidents, returns with another work of popular history, exploring the history of misogyny against women with power from Cleopatra to Kamala Harris.

What The Reviewers Say

Kathleen Townsend,
Booklist
Along with the vitriolic backlash and demonization these largely Western women endured and continue to endure, both past and current treatment of women in positions of power is explored, whether it be the focus on women’s expressions, voices, clothing choices, and children or lack thereof or their misogynistic treatment by other political figures...Though some truly jaw-dropping statistics are mentioned offhandedly with little context, such as King Henry VIII’s 70,000 executions, this is a solid choice for popular-history and social-science collections..

Kirkus
A far-reaching history that directly addresses the 'misogynist’s handbook' that still plagues women in power...From Cleopatra and Anne Boleyn to Theresa May and Hillary Clinton, Herman, author of Sex With Kings and Sex With Presidents, addresses the long history of double-standard practices that troublingly persist today... the text offers a nice balance of serious inquiry and well-placed levity...Timely and politically spot-on, this is sure to be a popular title..

Publisher's Weekly
Bestseller Herman delivers a brisk and witty examination of the 'organized smear operations' aimed at powerful women from ancient Egyptian ruler Hatshepsut to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris...Herman marshals a plethora of evidence in support of her cause and draws incisive connections between the past and the present...This feminist history enrages and entertains..