Cupcakes and kalashnikovs

100 Years of the Best Journalism by Women Edited by Eleanor Mills with Kira Cochrane

With an introduction by Naomi Wolf

“Female journalists came to the fore during two world wars, writing from the perspective of those left at home, but with ‘How it feels to be forcibly fed’ (1915) by Djuna Barnes – one of the world’s very first experiential, or ‘gonzo’ journalists – came a new age of investigative and involved reporting. Since then, women writers have continued to break new ground, redefining the world’s we see it. Many of the pieces collected here feel almost unsettlingly relevant today (Emma Goldman’s 1916 piece ‘The social aspects of birth control’; Judy Syfers’s 1971 satire ‘Why I want a Wife’), or have pushed other limits (Naomi Wolf brought feminism to a new generation; Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones caused a media revolution; Ruth Picardie’s cancer diary cracked Britain’s reserve). With this collection of superlative writing, the Sunday Times’s most senior female editor has drawn together the most influential, controversial and entertaining work by the best women in the business.“

Yours L.