A review by ainsleym
The Story of Art without Men by Katy Hessel

Surface level but impressive in scope. Would recommend reading this with pen and paper at hand since it mostly serves as a way to discover artists to do more extensive research into. There were full color photographs and reproductions of most of the pieces mentioned which is something I haven't found in too many art history books and greatly appreciated! The author included the phrases "I think" and "I feel" very frequently when I didn't think they were needed. It interrupted the flow of the writing more often as the book went on as if she needed to justify her choices more and more. Personal statements aside, the flow of the writing occasionally became awkward as if the author didn't edit the sentences to be arranged in the most logical way. Information was sometimes inserted randomly in a way that broke up the flow of the sentence. This wasn't a huge issue and maybe it's reflective of the way British people tend to word things (pronouns were listed as them/they as opposed to they/them and idk if that's a British thing??? or just this author's choice??? threw me for a loop lol) but it did affect my reading experience quite a bit. I'd still recommend this book as an extremely undetailed overview of art history and a list of women artists throughout time. There's an extensive bibliography at the back that offers some guidance into where to look next to learn more about the various artists included.