This book is a short collection of essays by writer and historian Rebecca Solnit. I was interested in reading the title essay, "Men Explain Things To Me" which became quite famous a few years ago and indirectly led to the creation of the term "Mansplaining". The author relates some of her experience at a party, when the host found out she was an author and asked what she'd written, only to repeatedly interrupt her to explain to her all about the "best" book on the subject -- which is the book she had written, not that he gave her time to point that out to him. Using this and other similar entertaining examples she discusses how there is often a certain expectation that men need to portray themselves as always having the answers and knowledge to everything, even when they don't and it may lead to them ignoring the actual expert on a subject right in front of them. As the author points out, while not all men do this, pretty much every woman has experienced this phenomenon many times in her life (and I certainly found myself nodding along with most of her examples). It's an expectation that isn't good for either men or women.

The rest of the short book is a collection of other essays on the general topic of women's experiences and/or feminist history or issues. Some I liked more than others (the Virginia Woolf analysis pretty much lost my interest) but they were all an interesting read and made good points and raised good questions whether or not you agreed with all of the author's conclusions. She's very careful throughout to be clear that there is no black and white, male vs female; and she always calls out there are many men who don't do whatever she's talking about in that particular essay, but she nonetheless highlights concerning trends. Some of the book is a pretty depressing look at the problems our society is struggling with, but she somehow manages to end on an optimistic note nonetheless. This quote is from near the end of the book and sums up well her overall message:

"Feminism, as writer Marie Sheer remarked in 1986, is 'the radical notion that women are people,' a notion not universally accepted but spreading nonetheless. The changing conversation is encouraging, as is the growing engagement of men in feminism. There were always male supporter. When the first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, thirty-two of the one hundred signatories to its Declaration of Independence-echoing manifesto were men. Still, it was seen as a women's problem. Like racism, misogyny can never be adequately addressed by its victims alone. The men who get it also understand that feminism is not a scheme to deprive men but a campaign to liberate us all."