This was a really comprehensive and educational book! There are gaps on my understanding with feminism and its history so reading such an accessible material is really helpful and amazing. Thank you so much for the advanced copy!

This was a really fascinating look into feminism and themes in relation to it. Of course Lucy Delap couldn't encompass every movement pertaining to feminism in history, but she did a really great job at keeping this book informative without making it a monotonous tome. I learned quite a bit from reading this and I am so thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

A very dense (both in writing style and content) history of feminist thought. The plural of the title alludes to one of of the most important aspects in Delap's work - it shows that feminism, just like any other movement, is and has never been a single monument, but rather a diverse (and diverging) tree of movements and ideas. And that is what makes it valuable.

I don't know if this was something to do with the kindle edition, but I couldn't PHISICALLY read this book. I tried and made it through the first 50 pages or so and then I had to dnf it.
That being said, the flow of the prose was dense and unattractive, even for a nonfiction book.
I was left with the sensation that this book didn’t want to be read.

The 2020s will turn out to be a crucial decade for many things, one of them without a doubt will be that it constitutes a crossroads, an upheaval in the world of feminism brought about by the social and legal social and legal revindications made in the name of transgender people and their consequences for all women. In this of all years, this text presents a much-needed trot through of the history of feminism. Here, for example, the reader will discover the origin of, and the different meanings given to terms like “patriarchy”, why feminists have always placed special significance on spaces, and the views and concerns of prominent feminists on women as consumers.

A special strength of this book is the effort it makes to present the feminisms in different continents, the reader will be exposed to the ideas of Japanese, Brazilian, Nigerian, and Indian, feminists among many others. This gives the lie to the frequently made accusation that feminism is an exclusively Westernised movement formed by white women.

The illustrations deserve a paragraph on themselves they are not only biographical, but cultural. It is interesting for example to see a portrait of a gathering of Japanese feminist group in the early 20th century.

All in all I could not recommend this more highly. It is interesting, it is engaging and once you finish it you will have a better idea of the many forms that feminism has taken, in both space and time, and may yet take.

Once again, many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an early version of this text.

Lucy Delap is a historian who looks to the global past to give us a history of the movement against gender injustice. This book was such a needed resource for me thanks to all those insights on the global history of feminism. I agree with the fact that you may feel a bit overwhelmed due to the amount of information, in fact, I ended up reading it with some breaks in between! Definitely an interesting read that helped me shine lights on some aspect of Feminism.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A fascinating yet informative reality with the personal touch displayed in each word and reflection. The writing is good in that it is complex yet remains accessible for a non expert reader.
A good read.

I would like to thank Lucy Delap and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Feminisms in exchange for an honest review. It has been a while since I read a textbook, let along one centered on women’s studies. I will admit that at first I was a bit intimidated by the idea of tackling this text, but quickly found myself falling into the narrative. Delap’s voice and writing is clear and precise and allows any reader to follow along. One aspect that I really loved about this book is that it explained how the “waves” of feminism have actually been caused by historical moments,

My only concern about this book is the lack of discussion on gender. More discussion on trans women would have been significant.

Feminisms by Lucy Delap offers a global history of the feminist movement of the years. It talks about the origin of feminism, the different meanings of patriarchy, the special significance on spaces, idea of gender, men as feminists, variants of feminism, feminism in politics, women’s culture, the history of female empowerment, the fight for justice, and also shares the views and concerns of prominent feminists⁠
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It was a little hard to get into for me, maybe because it had an overwhelming amount of information. And I feel there are still a lot of gaps in there given the book has the POV of a white feminist- but it can be a good starting point for those interested in learning more.⁠
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Thank you netgalley uchicagopress for this e-ARC.⁠

“Feminisms” gave me a lot of new insights on the global history of feminism. At times I felt quite overwhelmed with information as this book contains a lot of it, but reading it with some breaks in between really helped keeping it interesting!
The book kind of reads like a textbook, so it’s harder to really delve into, but nevertheless it is really interesting!

Pretty tough read because of the overwhelming info, but here's one favorite quote: "Claiming and creating spaces has been a core feminist activity, though the spaces that resulted have not been free of boundary work and policing."

I read about Feminism for my own knowledge and this book gave me a global history of the feminist movement that is required. The fact Lucy Delap is. White feminist academic was not lost on me as being the author of a book examining the global perspective. It will lead be to more resources to broaden my reading.

It is a book that reads as. textbook, it is set out in chapters relating to Feminism in relation to Dreams, Ideas, Space, Objects, Looks,, Feelings, Actions and Songs, rather than a chronological history. This style worked well for me and you could dip into the areas of your interest for research.

Overall I enjoyed the book and gained insight. I do feel that it could be more diverse with regards transwomen to be discussed within the text. I would recommend as a history of feminism to anyone interested in a starting point to develop their understanding.

I was gifted an eARC of the book University of Chicago Press via NetGalley for an honest review.

Feminism: A Global History tells the story
of feminisms that are not defined by one single type of feminism, which is the eurocentric, acknowledging many other types of feminisms and gender equality fights. About how we can gather all these feminisms into one purpose: to achieve gender justice

She talks about a lot of things inside the feminist movements: idea of gender, if men can be feminists, the variants of feminism, the ‘woman question’, feminism in politics, feminism as capitalism material, women’s culture and the history of female empowerment and fight for justice, besides other topics.

Lucy Delap really committed to study for this book, and I have so much respect for it. Except that maybe she did exclude some narratives, which I’m not in place to talk about, although she did dug out more than a lot of other white-straight-centered feminist books. The author could’ve brought more trans and non-binary representation, for sure.

I did wish she could focus a little more on fewer topics; there was just so much information.

Overall, it taught me a lot. A nice read to know more about feminism all around the world.

This book gives a global perspective of feminism, which is sorely needed when white western feminist perspectives have been amplified for so long. That said, I didn't find it as engaging as I would've liked. I think the best nonfiction books have a way of hooking the reader, and really can be page turners in the same way as fiction, but for some reason this one missed the mark on that front. I think reading this right after reading some of my favorite nonfiction books of all time is making me unfairly compare them. I do know that it's impossible to write a book that is deep and broad and intersectional, but I would have liked to see trans/nonbinary/intersex perspectives amplified further as well.

plot: a history of feminisms from all around the world is depicted.

2/5🌟: everyone needs to be a feminist. i hope if you're reading this you know that. because i'm a feminist, i really wanted to like this book. but, how ironically, i didn't find this book about feminism feminist at all. if you're writing a book about feminism, how can you exclude trans and non-binary people for most of the way? how can you use the word "transwomen", when we've established for a long time that trans is only to be used as an adjective. it's transphobic. how can you mention hundreds of feminists throughout the book, but only give one example of a few sentences of a trans person? how can you acknowledge the existence of non-binary people in one sentence and forget it in the next 50 again? how can you speak of "two sexes" when intersex people exist? even for a book that's not dealing with the topic of feminism itself i would have criticized these things, but reading it from a scholar who literally wrote this book about feminism, i'm kind of grossed out. why is no one proof reading these book for these kind of things? it's. a. book. about. feminism. it. should. inherently. be. feminist. the only good aspect was that the author tried to include her so called "feminisms" from all around the world, meaning it wasn't all white-washed.

thanks to netgalley i received an early digital access copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Unlike earlier books that traced the origins of feminism to a small group of white women from Western Europe and the United States, this book offers a truly global history of feminisms. The "s" at the end of feminism is a critical inclusion by Lucy Delap, a reader of British and Gender history at Cambridge University, as it attests to the author's awareness of the ambivalence of the term and the problematic content of past and present feminist agendas that have demanded "the radical transformation of exclusionary structures" even as those agendas have advanced their own forms of marginalization. It also highlights the author's commitment to avoiding the trap of assuming that feminism should and did look the same in all places at all times. Because the book is organized thematically, rather than by geographic space, the reader is treated not only to a "pluralized picture" of feminism movements, but one in which the "discrepant histories of different women's movements" in for example Russia, India, England, and Brazil are juxtaposed.and the points of contact and conflict between them exposed.

My one critique is that on rare occasions the author drew conclusions that did not necessarily follow from the evidence. This was particularly the case in the first chapter in which the author offered interpretations of the nocturnal dreams of feminists as if no other interpretation was possible. But this one critique should not detract from what is otherwise a very readable and thought-provoking global account of women's struggles since the nineteenth century.

*This book was received as an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley.

Feminist literature is one of those things I delve into ever so often; particularly if there's a book that catches my eye that I think might be informative/interesting and offer some new perspectives. This is one of those books; what really made me want to read it, was its focus on global feminism, versus the standard we see reflected in media much of the time.

Broken out into several chapters; Dreams, Ideas, Spaces, Objects, Looks, Feelings, Actions, and Songs, this book kind of runs the gamut on different aspects of feminism (aside from just the ideals) that various movements, cultures, and individuals have raised forth. It also set about to show how feminism frequently intersects with other movements (labor rights) and also dispel some myths about feminism (women are not violent in their pursuits). Lastly, it looks at everything globally; whereas a lot of feminism most are familiar with is generally of Western, white women, and very rarely shares the voices of other cultures.

Probably the most interesting person I learned about in this book was Tanaka Mitsu. She had a very eloquent way of putting things and all of the quotes attributed to her really cut deep. My curiosity was piqued enough I will probably be researching her later. That's not to say there weren't other interesting people outlined in this book though; it's well worth a read for figures you might not have heard of in feminism.

This book reads very much textbook like and I wouldn't suggest it as an intro to feminism. The jargon, concepts, and other views in the book may not be as approachable for someone not familiar with them, and make understanding of the content more difficult for someone starting out. But if you're familiar with the terminology frequently used, the concepts that feminism looks at, and are looking to expand, this book is a great resource.

Review by M. Reynard 2020

(From the book) - Feminism - Best understood as an overlapping, internally complex set of actions, questions and demands that has been in formulation since the 18th Century or even earlier. It concerns change over time.

Feminism is an ongoing story of profound transformation. Despite it being devalued, it still strongly advocates women's rights on the grounds of equality of sexes.

In this much needed book, the author takes us through a wonderful and unique look on Feminism. It not only covers the entry point but it also throws light on limits.

Covers examples from various countries including Japan, Egypt, Germany and Russia to name a few.

- What is Feminism?
- How and Why was it developed?
- Journey of Feminism
- What does Feminism mean Globally?

A very well written and enlightening book.

This is a book I didn't know I needed. And I needed so bad.
Non-fiction books rarely keep my attention but this book got me so interested I couldn't stop reading. It's insightful. It's infuriating at times. It can teach you lot. It will open your eyes. It will make you proud of fierce and intelligent women that fought for all other women around the world.
I especially loved how diverse this book is. It explores many countries and women in them that stood tall and fought hard for their rights. This is a must read. A MUST READ!