Sharp

The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion

By: Michelle Dean

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Dorothy Parker, Rebecca West, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, Joan Didion, Nora Ephron, Renata Adler, and Janet Malcolm - these brilliant women are the central figures of Sharp. Their lives intertwine as they cut through the cultural and intellectual history of America in the 20th century, arguing as fervently with each other as they did with the sexist attitudes of the men who often undervalued their work as critics and essayists.These women are united by what Dean terms as "sharpness", the ability to cut to the quick with precision of thought and wit, a claiming of power through writing rather than position.

Sharp is a vibrant and rich depiction of the intellectual beau monde of 20th-century New York, where gossip-filled parties at night gave out to literary slanging matches in the pages of the Partisan Review or the New York Review of Books as well as a considered portrayal of how these women came to be so influential in a climate where women were treated with derision by the critical establishment.

Mixing biography, literary criticism, and cultural history, Sharp is an enthralling exploration of how a group of brilliant women became central figures in the world of letters despite the many obstacles facing them, a testament to how anyone not in a position of power can claim the mantle of writer and, perhaps, help change the world.

A BookRiot Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2018.

A Millions.com Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2018.

©2018 Michelle Dean. “To a Tragic Poetess,” by Ernest Hemingway © 1926 by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, used with permission of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. Quotes from an unpublished letter by Susan Sontag appear by permission of the Estate of Susan Sontag (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

must read

such an amazing prospective on so many great women, it really leaves you with something to think about, can't wait to share this book with others. thank you for this book

The book delivers as promised

Despite occasional lapses in prose style, Dean presents us with some interesting insights into the lives and writing of 10 very bright, very articulate and “sharp” spoken women of the 20th century. The narrator is especially good.