If you're someone who claims the mantel of feminism, who believes in the innate equality of all genders, who thinks that solidarity among communities of women is a core component of the world you want to live in, I strongly encourage you to read Mikki Kendall's debut essay collection.

... bracing.

... powerful and timely.

There will be no reverence here, no tiptoeing around mainstream feminism’s dreams, no grateful acceptance of a black space that is in the gift of white proprietors.

Whether she’s discussing pop music, her patriarchal grandfather, or the number of women of color who go missing, Kendall combines her personal experiences with data and statistics to create a compelling narrative and call to action and change.

The author frankly highlights how issues like race, food insecurity, gun violence, and poverty, among others, are all feminist issues, with many of them overlapping or serving to exacerbate others. Using history, pop culture, and statistics along with personal stories, Kendall demonstrates the problems with mainstream feminism’s lack of consideration of intersectionality. She purposefully shifts the focus to women who are generally treated as a footnote and holds up a mirror to feminism’s usual spokespeople by pointing out blind spots in a movement that claims to be for all women but which has shown itself to be exclusionary of most.

... searing.