{"id":38329,"date":"2020-09-11T22:47:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T02:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38329"},"modified":"2020-09-11T22:50:15","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T02:50:15","slug":"review-of-the-women-of-the-116th-congress-portraits-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38329","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Women of the 116th Congress: Portraits of Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Women of the 116th Congress<\/p>\n

Portraits of Power<\/em><\/p>\n

Foreword by Roxane Gay<\/p>\n

Portraits by Elizabeth D. Herman and Celeste Sloman<\/p>\n

Abrams Image, 2019. 208 pages.
\nReview written September 5, 2020, from a library book
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a lovely book that fills my heart with pride in our nation. It consists of 130 portraits of the 131 women (one was not available) serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States of America after the 2018 elections.<\/p>\n

The portraits are presented alphabetically by the state each woman represents. A list of firsts that woman has achieved are presented, many of them being the first woman from their state or their district in the House or the Senate, or the first woman of their ethnicity or religion or sexual orientation. And there\u2019s a paragraph quote from each woman talking about what it means to them to serve in the United States Congress. <\/p>\n

Throughout the book, there are short interruptions with spreads about historic women who paved the way for these ones, such as Jeannette Pickering Rankin: \u201cI may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won\u2019t be the last.\u201d Or Shirley Anita Chisholm: \u201cIn the end anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism.\u201d<\/p>\n

I never thought of it as an important cause to elect more women to Congress \u2013 until I looked through this book and it made me so happy and proud. I love to think that the day will come when we can look back on the 116th Congress and think how relatively few women they included back then.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/women_of_the_116th_congress.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a>