Not That Bad bookcover

Not That Bad

Dispatches from Rape Culture

Roxane Gay 

(Author)
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world

Description

New York Times Bestseller

“This is a devastating book, heartbreaking in how familiar and relatable each story is—yet there’s power and solidarity in it, too.”  — Shondaland

Edited and with an introduction by Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling and deeply beloved author of Bad Feminist and Hunger, this anthology of first-person essays from writers including Gabrielle Union, Brandon Taylor, and Lyz Lenz tackles rape, assault, and harassment head-on. Searing and heartbreakingly candid, this collection both reflects the world we live in and offers a call to arms insisting that “not that bad” must no longer be good enough.

In this valuable and revealing anthology, cultural critic and bestselling author Roxane Gay collects original and previously published pieces that address what it means to live in a world where women have to measure the harassment, violence, and aggression they face, and where they are “routinely second-guessed, blown off, discredited, denigrated, besmirched, belittled, patronized, mocked, shamed, gaslit, insulted, bullied” for speaking out. Contributions include essays from established and up-and-coming writers, performers, and critics, including actors Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union and writers Amy Jo Burns, Booker Prize-nominated Brandon Taylor, and Lyz Lenz. 

Covering a wide range of topics and experiences, from an exploration of the rape epidemic embedded in the refugee crisis to first-person accounts of child molestation, this collection is often deeply personal and is always unflinchingly honest. Like Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, Not That Bad will resonate with every reader, saying “something in totality that we cannot say alone.”

Product Details

PublisherHarper Perennial
Publish DateMay 01, 2018
Pages368
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780062413512
Dimensions8.0 X 5.3 X 0.8 inches | 9.6 pounds

About the Author

Roxane Gay is the author of the New York Times bestselling essay collection Bad Feminist; the novel An Untamed State, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize; the New York Times bestselling memoir Hunger; and the short story collections Difficult Women and Ayiti. A contributing opinion writer to the New York Times, for which she also writes the “Work Friend” column, she has written for Time, McSweeney’s, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, and Oxford American, among many other publications. Her work has also been selected for numerous Best anthologies, including Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 and Best American Mystery Stories 2014. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. In 2018 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and holds the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University’s Institute for Women’s Leadership.

Reviews

“The lauded social critic and provocateur curates a diverse and unvarnished collection of personal essays reckoning with the experiences and systemic dysfunction that produced #MeToo.” — O, the Oprah Magazine

“From the author of Bad Feminist and Hunger (drop everything if you haven’t read this) comes a collection of first-person essays about rape, assault and sexual harassment. It couldn’t be more timely. Gay’s introduction moved me to tears, as did many of the pieces contributed by household names—Gabrielle Union, Ally Sheedy—but accounts from “regular” women moved me even more. Perhaps that’s the lesson we’re meant to take away from Not that Bad: we’re all “regular.” Shocking as they are, many of these stories will be familiar to us all—and we all deserve better.” — Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and The Hearts of Men

“A profoundly personal anthology.” — Harper’s Bazaar

“Critical reading.”
Paste Magazine, “The Best Nonfiction Books of 2018”

“This is a devastating book, heartbreaking in how familiar and relatable each story is—yet there’s power and solidarity in it, too.” — Shondaland

Not That Bad is essential reading.” — Refinery29

“A timely, necessary anthology.” — PureWow

“Timely. . . . It is a critical work that makes this much clear: The violations #MeToo rages against can and do damage people for a lifetime.” — The Globe and Mail

“It’s hard to imagine a more fitting editor for a collection like this… everyone should read it.” — Brooklyn Rail

Earn by promoting books

Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.sign up to affiliate program link
Become an affiliate