A review by booksrockcal
Where are the Women? A Guide to an Imagined Scotland by Sara Sheridan

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is a brilliant and unique book which i learned about from Jim Leslie, who knows more about Scottish history than any 100 people put together. When he told me he’d learned a lot from this book, I knew i had to get it. The author operates from the premise that women have impacted Scottish history as much as the men memorialized in monuments and in buildings’ names have - but our information and knowledge about them is sparse as their achievements and impacts have been hidden, covered over, or not considered important enough to study or write about. Sheridan attempts to make up for these past omissions. She does so by discussing the lives, achievements, and history of these women. what makes this book so unique is that she does this in addition  by reimagining Scotland as a country honoring these women with places and monuments named after them, often in place of the locations named after famous men - the end of the Highland Way, for example, is Fort Mary. This was enlightening  even for someone like me unfamiliar with the names of the actual places. This is truly a brilliant and eye opening book and I hope the author continues by doing the same with England, Wales, and Ireland.