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The Authority Gap
The Authority Gap
Oct 24, 2024 4:26 PM

Author:Mary Ann Sieghart

The Authority Gap

*A WATERSTONES 'BEST POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR'*

*A TIMES 'BEST PHILOSOPHY AND IDEAS' BOOK OF 2021*

*A GUARDIAN 'BEST POLITICS BOOKS OF THE YEAR'*

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BUSINESS BOOK AWARD

'A brilliant manifesto explaining why women are still so underestimated and overlooked in today's world, but how we can also be hopeful for change' - Philippa Perry

'An impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic call to arms for anyone who cares about creating a fairer society' - Observer

__________

Imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women.

Imagine having your views ignored or your expertise frequently challenged by them.

Imagine people always addressing the woman you are with before you.

Now imagine a world in which the reverse of this is true.

The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Would you believe that US Supreme Court Justices are interrupted four times more often than male ones... 96% of the time by men? Or that British parents, when asked to estimate their child's IQ will place their son at 115 and their daughter at 107?

Marshalling a wealth of data with precision and insight, and including interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Mary Beard and Bernadine Evaristo, Mary Ann exposes unconscious bias in this fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all.

Includes interviews with pioneering women such as:

Baroness Hale

Mary Beard

Bernadine Evaristo

Mary McAleese

Julia Gillard

Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes

Cherie Blair

Liz Truss

Amber Rudd

Frances Morris

Laura Bates

__________

'Hugely exciting' - Emily Maitlis

'Deeply researched, profoundly thoughtful and a book very much for the here and now: Mary Ann Sieghart's The Authority Gap is the book she was probably born to write' - Andrew Marr

'At last here is a credible roadmap that is capable of taking women from the margins to the centre by bridging the authority gap that holds back even the best and most talented of women. - Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland

Reviews

Here is a brilliant manifesto explaining why women are still so underestimated and overlooked in today's world, but how we can also be hopeful for change.

—— Philippa Perry

Just in case anyone still thinks the patriarchy is a figment of feminist imagination, this book will prove otherwise. Everyone needs to read The Authority Gap because in order to change our culture, we need to fully recognise the problem.

—— Bernadine Evaristo

An impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic call to arms for anyone who cares about creating a fairer society.

—— Observer

Persuasive, arresting, punchy and incisive.

—— The Sunday Times

Crackling with controlled anger, it features some eye-popping stories and a stellar cast of interviewees, from presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and former Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt to the novelist Bernardine Evaristo. Buy it for any woman ever talked over in a meeting, or patronised by a man who knows less than them.

—— Gaby Hinsliff , Guardian Best Political Books of 2021

Deeply researched, profoundly thoughtful and a book very much for the here and now: Mary Ann Sieghart's The Authority Gap is the book she was probably born to write. It is both a warning tract for bombastic, dismissive men, and a cheerful manual for all ambitious women.

—— Andrew Marr

In The Authority Gap, Mary Ann Sieghart combines an absorbing review of the contemporary evidence on the systematic undervaluing of women with some powerful new insights. Whether you know a little or a lot about sexism and misogyny, there is much to learn from this book, including some very practical tips on creating change that you can implement the minute after you turn the last page.

—— Julia Gillard, Former Prime Minister of Australia

Fascinating, powerful...the subject is very close to my heart.

—— Elif Shafak

Hugely exciting.

—— Emily Maitlis

At last here is a credible roadmap that is capable of taking women from the margins to the centre by bridging the authority gap that holds back even the best and most talented of women. Read this and weep at what we are wasting. Read this and believe we can fly on two wings and soon.

—— Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland

Well-written, illuminating... has some excellent statistics and arguments to understand better the gap that harms even very successful women.

—— FT

Fascinating, thorough, empowering... One of those books that takes something ubiquitous, that many have become desensitised to, and slowly exposes its far-reaching implications.

—— Guardian

You have to read this book. Honestly, you really do. Because if you don't, you won't know what life is really like. Whether you are a man or a woman, you are going to see your life as a parent, a partner, a colleague quite differently.

—— Daniel Finkelstein

This is an essential account of structural sexism and the price it exacts - but it is so much more. In her extensive research and command of the evidence, Mary Ann Sieghart delivers nothing less than a modern map of the way we live, think and interact - and how we can do so much better. A must-read by one of the most important public intellectuals at work today.

—— Matthew d'Ancona, Editor and Partner, Tortoise Media

Sieghart demonstrates through meticulous use of the research data that these manly sins are disproportionately likely to be directed by men against women, and that their cumulative effect can sometimes be enormous.

—— The Times

All men stand to benefit from this book, by becoming more self-aware. But it is also a great guide to how to work and live together more productively, by understanding our fellow human-beings better, be they female or male, colleagues, friends or family.

—— Bill Emmott

Passionate...gives plenty of evidence that the issue still matters.

—— Daily Mail

Captivating account of how sexism is still rife in the corridors of power. Sieghart writes with empathy, clarity and passion. The book is enormously authoritative, knitting together academic studies with interviews of leading public figures.

—— Irish Independent

Really thought-provoking and challenging. Every man should read it, and then become consciously more deferential to women who know more than you.

—— Johann Hari

Eye opening and gloriously galvanising ... Impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic

—— Zoella

Despite having an engrossing plot, the book reminds you that plot is never really the point of a great novel, and this is a great novel

—— Erica Wagner , Financial Times

A beautifully wrought saga of human connection and the creative process, of love and all of its complicated levels. A gem of a novel, intimate yet sweeping, modern yet timeless. Bits of this book lingered in my head the way ghosts of Tetris pieces continue to fall in your mind's eye after playing

—— ERIN MORGENSTERN

I read this in one sitting - I physically couldn't put it down. It is just as wonderful as everyone says

—— LOUISE O'NEILL, author of Idol

I loved this novel about two kids setting up a computer games company. What fascinated me is it's not about a romantic relationship but friendship.

—— Mat Osman , The Times

Gets at so much about work, love and storytelling. It's a book that spawns great conversations

—— Maggie Shipstead , Guardian

You needn't be a gamer to be charmed by this immersive tale of friendship, creativity and life's messy wonders

—— Mail on Sunday

I cannot recommend it highly enough

—— HANK GREEN, Instagram

When was the last time I read a book that surrounded me like this? . . . I'm blown away

—— KATIE CLAPHAM, Storytellers Inc

I love it so much. So so much

—— MELINDA SALISBURY, author of The Sin Eater's Daughter

You'll be sobbing behind your Celine sunnies

—— Evening Standard

Utterly absorbing

—— Wired

An artfully balanced novel - charming but never saccharine. The world Zevin has created is textured, expansive and, just like those built by her characters, playful

—— Pippa Bailey , Observer

This book is impossibly good-one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. I press it into people's hands with a demented kind of urgency. 'Yeah, yeah, I don't care about video games either. I promise you'll love it.' And everybody does. How did Gabrielle Zevin write such a perfect novel about friendship? I mean, really. How? In any case, she did, and it's a treasure

—— CATHERINE NEWMAN

Tremendous new novel about art, friendship and gaming . . . a literary blockbuster destined to be filed in the Great American Novel category

—— Helen Brown , Independent

"Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" is actually a novel about friendship . . . a creative partnership as intense as a marriage . . . draws any curious reader into the pioneering days of a vast entertainment industry too often scorned by bookworms. And with the depth and sensitivity of a fine fiction writer, Zevin argues for the abiding appeal of the flickering screen

—— Ron Charles , Washington Post

A brilliant story about life's most challenging puzzles: friendship, family, love, loss. By turns funny, poignant, wistful, and occasionally devastating

—— NATHAN HILL, author of THE NIX

The sort of book that comes around once in a decade - a magnificent feat of storytelling. It is a book about the intersection between love and friendship, work and vocation, and the impossible and relentless pull of our own west-bound destinies

—— REBECCA SERLE, author of In Five Years

Sam and Sadie's relationship is pure wizardry; it's deep and complex, transcending anything we might call a love story. Whether you care about video games or not is beside the point. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is the novel you've been waiting to read

—— Book Page, Chika Gujarathi

I feel completely changed by this book from Gabrielle Zevin. It's a book about love - about friendship, but really it transcends the borders of storytelling. My heart ached when I finished it. Truly unforgettable

—— CATHERINE CHO, author of Inferno

The perfect engrossing holiday read...beautiful and heartbreaking

—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Zevin's delight in her characters, their qualities, and their projects sprinkles a layer of fairy dust over the whole enterprise. Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.

—— Kirkus

A one-of-a-kind achievement

—— Publishers Weekly

A particularly memorable and compelling kind of love story... [a] nuanced depiction of human connection over 30 years that will have you blinking back tears behind your sunglasses

—— Culture Whisper, *Summer Reads of 2022*

dazzling and intricately imagined

—— B&N Reads

Zevin's writing is like being put under a spell. She's kind of magical.

—— Liberty Hardy , WBEZ

Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.

—— Kirkus

exhilarating

—— Smithsonian

engrossing

—— Wall Street Journal

delightful and absorbing . . . expansive and entertaining

—— Tom Bissell , New York Times

The go-to for your next hit of Nineties nostalgia; if you ever spent too long playing Donkey Kong, this one's for you

—— Evening Standard, *Summer Reads of 2022*

This is a boy meets girl story that is never a romance - though it is romantic . . . Their relationship is a joining of minds and of worlds that is both purer and sweeter than any base physical attraction

—— Pippa Bailey , Observer

Big-hearted, generous, intelligent and open to the complexities of life

—— Irish Independent

A novel that treasures the act of play and holds it sacred . . . the world of video games and video game development is just the landscape in which life plays out . . . Tomorrow is about love, above all things

—— Sarah Maria Griffin , Guardian

Delightful and absorbing

—— Tom Bissell , International New York Times

Teenagers of the 21st century are as likely to bond over video games as they are rock music or movies. Gabrielle Zevin's exhilarating, timely and emotive book is perhaps the first novel to truly get to grips with what this means

—— Guardian

Exhilarating... this is refreshingly original

—— Psychologies

It is the imaginary world of a game, a world Zevin describes with the addict's ardour, which forms a universe even the sturdiest parent or antediluvian book-lover will be enticed into.

—— Big Issue

Friendship, love, loyalty, violence in America and the magic of invented worlds. Gorgeous

—— People

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a special book -- one that transports readers fully, as games do their players, into its immaculately crafted world

—— The Times

Woven throughout are meditations on originality, appropriation, the similarities between video games and other forms of art, the liberating possibilities of inhabiting a virtual world, and the ways in which platonic love can be deeper and more rewarding - especially in the context of a creative partnership - than romance.

—— New Yorker

Zevin probes at many of the themes that energize video games as a medium: their narrative depth, their therapeutic value, their casual violence, their toxic industry. And the possibility of living a better life in a virtual world

—— Wired

Zevin has the ability to make you care about her creations within paragraphs of meeting them... whose fates I consistently worried about when I occasionally had to put the book aside.

—— Financial Times

[An] engrossing, delightful novel... Zevin has the ability to make you care about her creations within paragraphs of meeting them... [Tomorrow] is rich with characters whose intertwined fates power the narrative

—— Financial Times

This book, with its respect for craft-the craft of love and games, or loving games-will remind you of how abundant one life is, how lucky we are to keep each other in our memories forever.

—— Kotaku

[I] raced through this pure wonder of a book in a few days

—— NINA MINGYA POWLES, author of Small Bodies of Water

A 2022 book that everyone should read

—— Pandora Sykes , Stylist LIVE

A must-read

—— Neil Druckmann

Anyone who reads Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow can't stop talking about it

—— Stylist

Utterly beautiful and endlessly hopeful, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter to life, friendship, and creativity

—— The Skinny, *Books of 2022*

[The] 2022 book that everyone should read

—— Pandora Sykes , Stylist Live

My #1 book to recommend . . . incredible, like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon meets The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. It's about love and friendship and video games

—— Emma Straub

It feels right that the best video game novel out there is by a woman. Her story about the decades-long friendship and partnership between video game designers Sam and Sadie gets at so much about work, love and storytelling. It's a book that spawns great conversations.

—— Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch

In following Sam and Sadie's journey from Massachusetts to California and into the imagined worlds of their games, Zevin writes the most precious kind of love story

—— Time Magazine, Best Novel of the Year

Zevin's writing is poetic, the plot is entertaining, moving and gripping and the nods to real life video games make it all feel incredibly real

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

Reading this is almost like an invitation from Zevin to enter a game...with every scene and moment so carefully constructed. Just brilliant

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

I loved it

—— Sarah Keyworth

A hugely enjoyable novel about lives and loves mediated by technology

—— Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2023*

This playful, accomplished novel is a poignant celebration of friendship, love - and gaming

—— Daily Mail

An engrossing coming-of-age story

—— Sunday Times, *Books of the Year*

Epic in scale, with unforgettable characters, it breaks you heart and puts it back together

—— Daily Express, *Books of the Year*
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