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A History of Women in 101 Objects
- A Walk Through Female History
- Narrated by: Gillian Anderson, Katy Hessel, Anita Rani, Jackie Kay, Len Pennie, Annabelle Hirsch, Shirley Manson, Rebecca Solnit, Sandi Toksvig, Marina Hyde, Naomi Shimada, Harriet Walter, Celia Imrie, Margaret Atwood, full cast
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
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A History of Women in 101 Objects
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Summary
This is a neglected history. Not a sweeping, definitive, exhaustive history of the world but something quieter, more intimate and particular. A single journey, picked out in 101 objects, through the fascinating, too-often-overlooked, manifold histories of women.
Open up this cabinet of curiosities and you'll find objects that have been highly esteemed – even, like the Bayeux tapestry, fought over by nations – and others that are humble and domestic. Some (like a 16th century glass dildo) are objects of female pleasure, some (a thumbscrew) of female subjugation. There are artefacts of women celebrated by history and of women unfairly forgotten by it; examples of female rebellion and of self-revelation; objects that are inspiring, curious or (like radium-laced chocolate) just fundamentally ill-conceived.
Through the variety and nuance in all these 101 objects, Annabelle Hirsch has created a new history – teeming, unexpected, witty and always illuminating. This overdue corrective reveals what a healed femur says about civilisation, what men have to fear from hat pins, and it shows that the past has always been as complicated and fascinating as the women that peopled it.
Full cast of narrators:
Gillian Anderson
Katy Hessel
Anita Rani
Jackie Kay
Len Pennie
Annabelle Hirsch
Shirley Manson
Rebecca Solnit
Sandi Toksvig
Marina Hyde
Naomi Shimada
Harriet Walter
Celia Imrie
Kate Manne
Margaret Atwood
Janina Ramirez
Doon Mackichan
Helen Mirren
Elif Shafak
Kate Mosse
Miriam Margolyes
Val McDermid
Caitlin Moran
Dolly Alderton
Olivia Colman
Sasha Lane
Adjoa Andoh
Elizabeth Acevedo
Sue Perkins
Ece Temelkuran
Mary Ann Sieghart
Alison Steadman
Minnie Driver
Rebecca Hall
Krista Tippett
Patience Agbabi
Michelle Newell
Jeanette Winterson
Geraldine James
Sinead Cusack
Tiya Miles
Crystal Clarke
Louise Brealey
Leila Slimani
Helena Kennedy
Samin Nosrat
Anna Holmes
Michelle Gomez
India Knight
Natascha McElhone
Lauren Elkin
Kate Winslet
Helena Bonham Carter
Sylvia Whitman
Noma Dumezweni
Meera Syal
Carey Mulligan
Denise Gough
Jacqueline Wilson
Siri Hustvedt
Gaby Wood
Sophie Hunter
Lisa Kainde Diaz
Annabel Mullion
Sharleen Spiteri
Jennifer Clement
Julia Gillard
Jude Kelly
Kerry Fox
Ruthie Rogers
Maggie Smith
Hanna Schygulla
Kübra Gümüsay
Erica Wagner
Sandra Huller
Jodie Whittaker
Nicola Sturgeon
Juliet Stevenson
Sally Phillips
Angelica Houston
Lisa Dwan
Ruth Ozeki
Joanna Lumley
Cynthia Erivo
Eleanor Updegraff
Sinéad Gleeson
Salena Godden
Lili Taylor
Mariella Frostrup
Katie Kitamura
Saffron Hocking
Tahmima Anam
Shirin Neshat
Martha Wainwright
Christiane Amanpour
Critic reviews
'An ambitious project, wide in scope, idiosyncratic in approach... At its heart it is about female pain, female bravery and female creativity.' (Sunday Times)