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Sign up todayThe Witches Are Coming
Narrator
Lindy West
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Length
6 hours 27 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“The Witches Are Coming is a timely and engaging collection of essays (read by the author Lindy West in the audiobook version, which I highly recommend). With a great balance of rage, humor, optimism, and urgency, West addresses the state of American culture and how we can move forward, specifically with regard to how women are framed in the narrative that has been written throughout the past hundred years. But she also talks about race, climate change, getting her book Shrill made into a TV show, Adam Sandler, and a number of other topics. West's book is a rally cry for witches; it will make you feel like picking up a broom and flying off to a coven meeting.”
— Lelia • One More Page
Bookseller recommendation
“This was recommended to me as a funny political/social commentary read. How right they were. Lindy West is funny, on the point, and full of rational sense! So many things became clear, like why I no longer watch "funny" movies made by "funny" men. I highly recommend this to anybody who likes humor and non-fiction/memoir stuff. Particularly if you are in search of your next audiobook.”
— Julia • The Bookloft
Bookseller recommendation
“This was recommended to me as a funny political/social commentary read, particularly the audiobook. Lindy West is funny, on the point, and full of rational sense! So many things became clear, like why I no longer watch "funny" movies made by "funny" men. I highly recommend this to anybody who like humor and non-fiction/memoir/stuff. Particularly if you are in search of your next audiobook.”
— Julia • The Bookloft
Bookseller recommendation
“ I struggle to write a review of Lindy West's work without resorting to simplistic three syllable sentences like "she's awesome," or, "she's the best." Maybe it's because she makes it look so very easy. She says everything I'm always thinking: about feminism, about politics, about our image-obsessed culture. And she does it with irrefutable logic, dazzling sentences, and an utterly fierce and funny sensibility. She's...(sigh) perfect.”
— Rachel • The Book Table
Bookseller recommendation
“Author of Shrill and Shit, Actually, Lindy West, is back with a cultural critique that will have you rolling on the floor laughing and groaning from just how true to life (and frustrating) her observations are. Whip smart as always, West's feminist takes always hit me like a freight train of genius. From #MeToo to the making of her TV show Shrill (based on her book of the same name), she tackles fat-phobia, misogyny, and American culture as a whole. This is not one to miss! ”
— Valerie • Books are Awesome
Bookseller recommendation
“Lindy West is hilarious and timely in this must-listen audio book! It is more enjoyable because Lindy reads it herself, so the jokes are perfectly timed and hearing her words in her own voice works very well for this book. Round up all your fellow witches and gather your coven, the witches are coming for the patriarchy!”
— Chelsea • Tattered Cover
In this wickedly funny cultural critique, the author of the critically acclaimed memoir and Hulu series Shrill exposes misogyny in the #MeToo era.
This is a witch hunt. We're witches, and we're hunting you.
From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: this is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author of the New York Times bestselling memoir and now critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill, Lindy West, turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You've got one.
In a laugh-out-loud, incisive cultural critique, West extolls the world-changing magic of truth, urging readers to reckon with dark lies in the heart of the American mythos, and unpacking the complicated, and sometimes tragic, politics of not being a white man in the twenty-first century. She tracks the misogyny and propaganda hidden (or not so hidden) in the media she and her peers devoured growing up, a buffet of distortions, delusions, prejudice, and outright bullsh*t that has allowed white male mediocrity to maintain a death grip on American culture and politics-and that delivered us to this precarious, disorienting moment in history.
West writes, "We were just a hair's breadth from electing America's first female president to succeed America's first black president. We weren't done, but we were doing it. And then, true to form—like the Balrog's whip catching Gandalf by his little gray bootie, like the husband in a Lifetime movie hissing, 'If I can't have you, no one can'—white American voters shoved an incompetent, racist con man into the White House."
We cannot understand how we got here‚—how the land of the free became Trump's America—without examining the chasm between who we are and who we think we are, without fact-checking the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other. The truth can transform us; there is witchcraft in it. Lindy West turns on the light.
Lindy West is an opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the bestselling memoir Shrill, and executive producer of the acclaimed Hulu adaptation starring Aidy Bryant. She lives in Seattle.
Lindy West is an opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the bestselling memoir Shrill, and executive producer of the acclaimed Hulu adaptation starring Aidy Bryant. She lives in Seattle.
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Reviews
"A thoughtful and funny examination of rape culture in media."—Bustle "Equal parts hilarious and sobering, West's words will help fellow witches articulate why they are so fired up (YES!)."—Booklist "A fiery book from an admirable author."—Morgan Jerkins, New York Times Book Review "Shrill author Lindy West's latest essay collection is a thoughtful and funny examination of rape culture in media. Some of the topics she tackles: Adam Sandler, Donald Trump, South Park, 'reverse sexism,' and classic movies like Sixteen Candles that make rape look like 'silly fun.'—Bustle "One of our foremost thinkers on gender unveils her unifying theory of America: that our steady diet of pop culture created by and for embittered, entitled white men has stoked our sociopolitical moment. Adam Sandler, South Park, and Pepe the Frog all come under West's withering scrutiny in this funny, hyper-literate analysis of the link between meme culture and male mediocrity."—Esquire.com "The book made me simultaneously laugh out loud and want to pull my hair out. West's snappy writing is funny but full of anger, and I felt myself instantly sucked in."—Steph Coelho, Book Riot "Lindy West brought us to tears (through laughing, mostly) with Shrill: Notes From A Loud Woman, a razor-sharp memoir about toxic misogyny and fat shaming that went on to inspire the fantastic Hulu series. West is back and funny as ever in her forthcoming non-fiction book, The Witches Are Coming, a cultural critique of American culture, the #MeToo movement and what it means to not be a mediocre white man - in a society that so often protects and promotes him."—NBC News "Cultural critic (Lindy) West focuses her keen eye and sardonic sense of humor on, among other topics, misogyny in the Trumpian political landscape..."—Publishers Weekly "When I have a hard time making sense of and finding the words to describe the complexities of women's issues, I turn to Lindy West. There's something about her sharp, steady, and ferociously funny writing that re-centers and refocuses my mind on what's in front of me and why it matters. West has a gift for packaging the truth into easily digestible sentences. And her latest collection of essays, The Witches Are Coming is no different... The next time you're feeling lost or can't find the words to describe why you're angry about a particular topic, pick up The Witches Are Coming. Lindy will lead the way."—Hello Giggles "Only Lindy West, one of our foremost thinkers on gender, could capture the agony and the ecstasy of 21st century life in one slim volume... In these 17 stellar essays, West crafts a blistering indictment of the systems that oppress us--the government that denies our rights, the media that denies our stories, the society that denies our dignity. Yet even so, West's work is always threaded through with hope--an unshakable belief that we can and will triumph over the forces that seek to break us. Coupled with her laser-focused cultural criticism, what emerges is a portrait of hope amid the uncertainty."—Esquire "Searingly smart... [with an] overarching tone of swashbuckling courage: West knows what she wants to say, and she really doesn't care what you think... a stirring manifesto for honesty... and an exhortation to give a damn."—LA Times MOMTASTIC, "Best Books to Pick Up This Holiday Season"Mashable, "Best Books by Women in 2019"
BUST Magazine, "6 New Books Perfect for the Coldest Winter Months"
"With her signature wit, brio, and laser-like clarity of vision, one of our foremost thinkers on gender unveils her unifying theory of America: that our steady diet of pop culture created by and for embittered, entitled white men has stoked our sociopolitical moment. Adam Sandler, South Park, and Pepe the Frog all come under West's withering scrutiny in this funny, hyper-literate analysis of the link between meme culture and male mediocrity."—Esquire
"Lindy
continues to be one of the funniest, smartest writers around."—Jessica Valenti, New York Times bestselling author of Full Frontal Feminism and Sex Object
"[A] hilarious, astute essay collection chock full of her
signature wit and personal anecdotes."—BUST Magazine
"A cornucopia of shrewd cultural observations... [West's] sharp wit and no-nonsense sense of humor also shines through... [West] drives home the critical issues of our time while taking time to tickle our funny bones. Satirical, raw, and unapologetically real, West delivers the bittersweet truths on contemporary living."—Kirkus Reviews
"West's unique perspectives on racism, sexism, climate
change, and more are so necessary, and this collection is a call to action that
can't be ignored."—BookRiot
"[This book] highlights one of West's greatest gifts, beyond
her voice and humor--her ability to shine clarifying light on the dark, knotted
bits of culture without divesting herself of that culture completely."—Seattle Met
"GET ME A BROOM."—-Samantha Irby, New York Times bestselling author of We're Never Meeting in Real Life
"The Witches Are Coming is Lindy West's follow-up to her wonderful, best-selling book Shrill. She's back with more of her incisive cultural critiques, writing essays on feminism and the misogyny that is (still) embedded in every part of our culture. She brings humor, wit, and much-needed clarity to the gender dynamics at play in media and culture."—Book Riot
"The Witches are Coming is simultaneously whip smart, infuriating, a call to action and, of course, laugh-out-loud funny."—Huffington Post
"A biting and profoundly funny social and political
critique of rape culture, toxic masculinity, and misogyny."—Library Journal
"As a girl, Lindy West obsessed about pop culture. As a critic and columnist, she analyzed it. Now she's creating it... In her wise, witty new collection of essays, The Witches Are Coming...West blasts the misogyny lurking in the media we love."
—Star Tribune "In this time of great frustration, this collection is a clearing in the woods to meet, to reflect, to dance, and to cackle around the fire."—Abbi Jacobson, creator of Broad City and New York Times bestselling author of I Might Regret This "From Facebook to Goop, cancel culture to climate change, the essays here add West's discerning and quick-witted voice to the conversation about what social and environmental justice looks like, and what it can look like in the future. So if you need a little magic in your Halloween reading, pick this one up."—LitHub Amazon, "Best Books of the Month in Nonfiction"
—Star Tribune "In this time of great frustration, this collection is a clearing in the woods to meet, to reflect, to dance, and to cackle around the fire."—Abbi Jacobson, creator of Broad City and New York Times bestselling author of I Might Regret This "From Facebook to Goop, cancel culture to climate change, the essays here add West's discerning and quick-witted voice to the conversation about what social and environmental justice looks like, and what it can look like in the future. So if you need a little magic in your Halloween reading, pick this one up."—LitHub Amazon, "Best Books of the Month in Nonfiction"
E! News, "The Best New Books of November 2019!"
Esquire, "Best Nonfiction Books of 2019"
Refinery29, "Best Books of November 2019"
Library Journal, "Editors' Fall Picks for 2019"
Bustle, "10 New #MeToo Movement Books To Read in Fall 2019"
TIME, "Most anticipated books for Fall 2019"
USA TODAY, "Best Books Coming Out in Fall 2019"
Houston Chronicle, "Books... we can't wait to read this fall 2019"
Bustle, "15 New Books Under 300 Pages That Will Help You Smash Your Reading Goal Before the End of the Year!"
Book Riot, "50 Of The Best Books to Read This Fall"
Bustle, "The 20 Best New Books of Fall 2019 According to Authors"
St. Louis Dispatch, "20+ eye-opening books you'll want to read this fall"
Book Riot, "5 Boss Lady Books of Nonfiction"
Den of Geek, "Autumnal Book Guide: 15 Best Fall 2019 Reads"
Esquire, "Most Anticipated Books of 2019"
Book Riot, "Ready, Set, Hold: November 2019"
Entertainment Weekly, "20 New Books to Read in November"
TIME, "11 New Books You Should Read in November!"
Yahoo!, "Best November book releases to add to your Christmas wish list"
A.V. Club, "5 Books to Read in November."
Refinery29, "Best Books of November 2019"
Chicago-Sun Times, "Buzzworthy New Books"
USA TODAY, "5 Books Not to Miss!"
PASTE, "25 Best Memoirs of the 2010s"
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