Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger

Written by Rebecca Traister

Narrated by Rebecca Traister

*Updated with a new introduction*

Journalist Rebecca Traister’s New York Times bestselling exploration of the transformative power of female anger and its ability to transcend into a political movement is “a hopeful, maddening compendium of righteous feminine anger, and the good it can do when wielded efficiently—and collectively” (Vanity Fair).

Long before Pantsuit Nation, before the Women’s March, and before the #MeToo movement, women’s anger was not only politically catalytic—but politically problematic. The story of female fury and its cultural significance demonstrates its crucial role in women’s slow rise to political power in America, as well as the ways that anger is received when it comes from women as opposed to when it comes from men.

“Urgent, enlightened…realistic and compelling…Traister eloquently highlights the challenge of blaming not just forces and systems, but individuals” (The Washington Post). In Good and Mad, Traister tracks the history of female anger as political fuel—from suffragettes marching on the White House to office workers vacating their buildings after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Traister explores women’s anger at both men and other women; anger between ideological allies and foes; the varied ways anger is received based on who’s expressing it; and the way women’s collective fury has become transformative political fuel. She deconstructs society’s (and the media’s) condemnation of female emotion (especially rage) and the impact of their resulting repercussions.

Highlighting a double standard perpetuated against women by all sexes, and its disastrous, stultifying effect, Good and Mad is “perfectly timed and inspiring” (People, Book of the Week). This “admirably rousing narrative” (The Atlantic) offers a glimpse into the galvanizing force of women’s collective anger, which, when harnessed, can change history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781508258827

Rebecca Traister

Rebecca Traister is writer at large for New York magazine and a contributing editor at Elle. A National Magazine Award finalist, she has written about women in politics, media, and entertainment from a feminist perspective for The New Republic and Salon and has also contributed to The Nation, The New York Observer, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, Glamour, and Marie Claire. She is the author of Good and Mad, All the Single Ladies and the award-winning Big Girls Don’t Cry. She lives in New York with her family. 

Reviews for Good and Mad

[Adrian Brown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Pissed. Furious. Enraged. We've all been there. We've all felt the (sometimes scary\uncontrollable) power that emotion raises in our depths. It can be frightening to be the object of someone else's madness, but also to be surrounded by our own rage. You are not alone. Women, you don't have to hide your fury any longer. Feel it. Explore it. Use it. Traister's very well researched words will inspire you to not only stand up for yourselves and your (very valid) feelings, but also for those around you and those that do not have the freedom (for whatever reason... and there are too many) to express or fully feel their own outrage. Society, culture, politics, advertising, media, and more have instructed women for eons to be pleasant and likable... don't show the turmoil underneath. No more! Use that rage to start some badly needed change, whether it's in your own backyard or running for a national office. Use your fury. Use all of your emotions as tools to make the world a better place for everyone!

P. S. Probably don't read this book while visiting family with differing political opinions; the fired up rage it inspires (rightly so) makes for some awkward family dinners.

[Tülin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic! Absolutely necessary for our time and age, and for women to stop being vilified for having strong emotions when they're fully justified, that's what will change the world.

[Daphne Pollon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Finally! Answers! In a clear well researched journalism piece .

[gabriela lacerda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well researched, historically necessary and damn comforting to find answers to what you might be feeling about the world and your place in it. It’s a book for the ages.

[Mary E. Simis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This should be required reading for everyone! I loved it

[yasmin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book will be enlightening to men and provide a sense of resonance for women. It articulately worded US history and brings correction to history that was buried. An important read and catalyst for change.

[donna e perkins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Both a historical account of women’s anger creating political changes and a clear assessment of the current anger of American women and the political actions they are taking.

[Elizabeth Albota · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

read this. Or, better yet, listen to it. it will change you.

[Mina Sheikhha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

good eye opener for all women across the world. Us girls have to stick together.

[Angie Herrera · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

loved it. full of history and also how heartbreakingly relevant that history still is today.

[sageness · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

SO heartening and validating and inspiring. I'm so glad I had this book to read in dribs and drabs over the last three weeks as my 2018 election anxiety waxed and waned (and waxed again, gah).

I really appreciated that she took the long historical view and deliberately included Civil Rights history, LGBT history, 2nd wave feminism history, and not only gave credit to past leaders but tracked down and interviewed them where possible to comment on current events.

[nogomu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books I've ever read. Such a new, important, thorough account of history.

[jessicareadsthings · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

10 out of 10 for getting me good and mad.

[bookedinsideout · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I expected to learn something from this book, but I didn’t expect it to also be so fascinating and empowering. Even after reading some other books about anger, this one added a lot about the rationality and importance of it. I also loved that the author talks about the structural and racial biases that impact the level of risk one takes when expressing their anger. There were interviews from women of different classes and races that helped me understand better how the current movement can be more inclusive and draw on the work that has already been done, as in joining existing movements.

I thought Rebecca did a great job of situating it within history and giving both a hopeful message and insisting that even if we make some gains, we can’t give up and ignore other people’s anger, turning our back to injustices we can’t always see or even anger directed at us. Our anger is interconnected. It is warranted. This line felt so powerful: “we must insist on our discontent.”

[drfuriosa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Historically thorough and focused in its thesis about the productive power and potential of women's anger, this book takes a distinct political focus. I found it instructive and invigorating. Recommended for women learning to engage in activism and men who have read Rage Becomes Her and are ready for a master class.

[kimmeyer-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I want to give this 4.5, but I can't and I refuse to give it 4 stars. If you're familiar with the author, you'll find the smart and compelling writing you expect from her here.

[katyefk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for our non-fiction book club. A mixed male and female group. It was very interesting to hear what the men have had to do to protect themselves from being accused by women for things they did not do. Professors making sure to stand in the doorway of their classrooms, one foot in and one out to discuss a topic raised by a female student. (Jr high, high school and college) Or, always having a witness or colleague for meetings with female students.
We had an enlightening discussion on all of the sexual angles tried in the workplace that, we women, have experienced and warned other women co-workers, to watch out for a certain male co-worker or boss.
Being together and really listening is one of the best outcomes this book's topic can have to make a difference in our world.

[nml_dc · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a perfectly fine book. I knew the histories of activism and women's trajectories in electoral politics, and had closely followed the related events of the past few years. For people less immersed in the subject matter, it is a wide-ranging yet detailed overview.

[larryerick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've been dwelling on the subject of this book a great many years. It was about 50 years ago that I was sitting in an assembly of people listening to a panel of women plus a keynote speaker talking about women's rights. A serious push for an Equal Rights Amendment was what had attracted us to the gathering. At some point during the Q&A, the lead speaker was asked about men helping the cause. Without hesitation, the woman speaker gave a feminist equivalence of the classic, "Men? We ain't got no men. We don't need no men. We don't have to accept any stinkin' men!" As one of a handful of men in the audience, I immediately looked around to see if I was surrounded by sneering women about to make me flee for my life. Nope. I was pretty much invisible and could safely leave at the end of the assembly without incident. However, I have always thought about that moment when I think about asserting myself in defending the rights of the half of the population that was not my own. So, it was with that in mind that I read this book. I have read other books, such as, Kate Harding's Asking for It, Katha Pollitt's Pro, and Roxane Gay's Not That Bad, but this is the first of its type for me that made it clear that while it was written by, about, and for women, it also acknowledged a willingness and benefit that men had to support their mothers, sisters, daughters, and nieces. Whether it is civil rights for blacks, gays, women, non-Christian, or any other so-called "lesser" Americans, according to one of America's major political party, I have to acknowledge that no matter how much I might study and immerse myself in understanding their struggles for full citizenship, I will never be able to feel what they feel down in the marrow of my bones. The author of this book is exemplary in covering a lot of ground in very little space. It goes back ages to set the stage for today. It was first published just a month before the 2018 mid-term elections, and it makes it clear how women in particular got to that point and what was to happen next. The inevitability of what she writes about is so obvious that at first I thought the mid-term election results were already past when this was published. Finally, I will point out that the author specifically ends her book by pointing out a view of "good and mad", of anger, that matches well with my view. If I may, I define "anger" as an emotional response to a perceived injustice. It is the starting point, the energy source, for taking action to erradicate that injustice. The book mentions this anger repeatedly, including the part about women not supposed to be showing any. [Note, for instance, the criticism of the very recent "sipping tea" event by the US Women's National Soccer team, as opposed to a typical male American football player on any given successful play.] The author states: "Being mad is correct; being mad is American; being mad can be joyful and productive and connective. Don't ever let them talk you out of being mad again." I recommend this book for anyone seeking to tackle their perceived injustices in life.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was, in some respects, hard to listen to. Early sections of it plunged me right back into what I was feeling in late 2016 and early 2017, and those were not good feelings.

It is, though, a very good, enlightening, informative, and useful look at the women's movement, and its roots and antecedents. Traister examines the ways in which women's anger is both dangerous and useful--and even healthy, which is not something many sources will say about anger. Yet we do know that bottling up anger with no outlet is unhealthy, and it should be obvious that finding useful and productive outlets for it can only be good for us.

But this isn't mainly a book about emotions. It's about the ways the we have had to fight the same battles over and over again, and yet each time making a little bit more progress, with a bit more freedom, a bit more bodily autonomy, a bit closer approach to equality.

And it's about the different experiences that white and black women have, and always have had in this country. African-Americans have never really been able to lapse into complacency, while white women, if they have good relationships with the men in their lives, often can for long periods. One result of this is that African-American women know a great deal about organizing, resistance, and the risks that white women have had to relearn every time another boiling up of resistance against white male patriarchy emerges.

Yet the same social forces that let white women forget about the problems for long periods also mean that white women have valuable resources to bring to the struggle, when social forces remind us that it's our struggle, too.

Traister doesn't put it quite this way, but we need to not get distracted into resenting and fighting too much with each other, but rather learn from each other, learn to collaborate, and focus on what this is really all about.

Parts of this book are very difficult. Not everyone will be in a mental and emotional place where they can read it. But if you can, it's well worth doing.

Recommended.

I borrowed this audiobook from my local library.

[caanderson-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book. This book dives into all the revolutions that women have started and the changes for the better. Very well written, I enjoyed reading about my anger and the anger in all women.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you want to feel better about being angry so much of the time, to hear about women who used their anger to improve the world, and basically to hear a counternarrative about how anger isn’t actually what’s toxic when the anger is generated by abuse and unfairness, this is the book for you. I cried a couple of times, but in relief as well as in sadness.

[rosalita_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this was exactly what I needed to read right now. Using the political nightmare we're all living through right now as her launching point, Traister traces all the ways that women's righteous anger at their status has been systematically diminished, derided and degraded by those who are unwilling to share power — yep, I'm afraid white men don't fare well here. It was striking to me how Traister clearly takes no pleasure in pointing out the ways that even men who believe they are allies undermine the work women are doing, which makes the indictment all the more powerful.

The examples and situations of women's anger being dismissed or turned against them, both historical and contemporary, are as infuriating as they are endless, but she also recounts times when women have persisted and used their anger to effect real social change. It's powerful stuff. I appreciated how Traister didn't shy away from discussing the ways that the righteous anger of women has been undermined by other women, and the frustration and resentment felt by women of color, who have often been vocally agitating on particular issues long before they are "discovered" by white women. There were a number of times that I felt uncomfortable and had to examine some of my own assumptions and behaviors, recognizing that despite my best efforts I have sometimes been complicit in such "whitewashing" and erasure of the important work done by black women.

This book is "hot off the presses," so to speak, covering events that happened as recently as this past spring and summer. Even so, as I was reading it in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the recent election, I wished I could have read what Traister thought about the historic numbers of women who were elected to both federal, state and local offices this week, and the racial and cultural diversity that they represent.

The book closes with Traister cautioning that while the fury women felt following the 2016 election has compelled many of them to become politically active for the first time, that level of commitment and action will need to be sustained for a long time if the goal of a better society is to be met. It's a marathon, not a sprint, but there may be no one better to run it than all the "moms in tennis shoes" who are learning how not to use their indoor voices.