{"product_id":"hags-9780349726960","title":"Hags","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Rich, complex and witty'' ROSE GEORGE, \u003ci\u003eSPECTATOR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Devastating and clever'' BEL MOONEY, \u003ci\u003eDAILY MAIL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Could not be more necessary'' RACHEL COOKE, \u003ci\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat is about women in their forties and beyond that seems to enrage \u003c\/b\u003e-\u003cb\u003e almost everyone?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the last few years, as identity politics have taken hold, middle-aged women have found themselves talked and written about as morally inferior beings: the face of bigotry, entitlement and selfishness, to be ignored, pitied or abused.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eHags\u003c\/i\u003e, Victoria Smith asks why these women are treated with such active disdain. Each chapter takes a different theme - care work, beauty, violence, political organization, sex - and explores it in relation to middle-aged women''s beliefs, bodies, histories and choices. Smith traces the attitudes she describes through history, and explores the very specific reasons why this type of misogyny is so very \u003ci\u003enow\u003c\/i\u003e. The result is a book that is absorbing, insightful, witty and bang on time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer book traces the hatred and fear of the middle-aged woman back through history . . . \u003cb\u003eThe greatest joy of \u003ci\u003eHags\u003c\/i\u003e is its lively erudition . . . \u003c\/b\u003eThis \u003cb\u003eeloquent, clever and devastating\u003c\/b\u003e book describes the last remaining acceptable prejudice, one that is now even posited as progress: the loathing of older women -- Janice Turner * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eMy polemic of the year . . . \u003cb\u003ea book that could not be more necessary\u003c\/b\u003e (a sword and a shield) in the current climate -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiveting, vital\u003c\/b\u003e and impossible to read without rage -- Lissa Evans, author of Old Baggage\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHags\u003c\/i\u003e is\u003cb\u003e rich and complex and witty \u003c\/b\u003eand cleverer than I am. (You'd never get a male reviewer saying that.) I hope it won't be read only in an echo chamber, by the women who are, as Smith was once called to her delight, 'a batshit Mumsnet thread made flesh'. I hope it will also be read by young women who think me and the author terrible Terfs and bigots for believing in single-sex spaces; by young anyones; by the middle-aged and the elderly; by any man born of a mother; and by all those who agree with Smith when she writes: 'I am not frightened of change. I am frightened of things staying the same.' -- Rose George * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eDevastating and clever -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eSmith \u003cb\u003emakes an impassioned, powerful case\u003c\/b\u003e . . . \u003ci\u003eHags\u003c\/i\u003e can't come soon enough' * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDeftly illustrates how ageist misogyny remains an acceptable prejudice\u003c\/b\u003e and, in laying out the ignominies visited upon middle-aged women, feels justifiably livid -- Fiona Sturges * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA brilliantly witty, engaging and insightful book\u003c\/b\u003e; a righteous polemic which examines and questions why so much hatred is directed towards middle-aged women - and, crucially, what this means for women today . . . a \u003cb\u003epunchy, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read\u003c\/b\u003e -- Eleanor Fleming * Scotsman *","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733692526935,"sku":"9780349726960","price":18.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/hags-9780349726960","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}