Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment, Paperback

The first history--incisive, witty, fascinating--of the fight against sexual harassment, from the author of the New York Times bestseller Sisters in Law

Linda Hirshman, acclaimed historian of social movements, delivers the sweeping story of the struggle leading up to #MeToo and beyond: from the first tales of workplace harassment percolating to the surface in the 1970s to the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal--when liberal women largely forgave Clinton, giving men a free pass for two decades. Many liberals even resisted the movement to end rape on campus.

And yet, legal, political, and cultural efforts, often spearheaded by women of color, were quietly paving the way for the takedown of abusers and harassers. Reckoning delivers the stirring tale of a movement catching fire as pioneering women in the media exposed the Harvey Weinsteins of the world, women flooded the political landscape, and the walls of male privilege finally began to crack. This is revelatory, essential social history.

LINDA HIRSHMAN is the author of the New York Times best-selling Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World. She writes and speaks on politics in places including Radio Lab's "More Perfect," Slate's "Slow Burn," and the Washington Post.