How to Think Like a Woman: Four Women Philosophers Who Taught Me How to Love the Life of the Mind

From a new voice in nonfiction, this book presents an exhilarating account of influential 17th and 18th-century feminist philosophers Mary Wollstonecraft and her predecessors, written out of history, and a searing look at the author’s experience of patriarchy and sexism in academia.

Growing up in small-town Iowa, Regan Penaluna dreamt of big questions. In college, she fell in love with philosophy, believing it would lead to self-determination and a life of the mind. However, the Western philosophical canon taught in American universities, and the culture surrounding it, slowly ground her down through misogyny, harassment, and devaluation of women’s intellect. Here, she weaves an alternative history of philosophy and her own search for love and truth. Funny, honest, and intelligent, this is a moving meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated equally.

(This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)