“As I learned more and more to appreciate what these women had accomplished, the less proud I was of what we, with all our manhood, had done.”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland is a thought-provoking work of utopian fiction and a time capsule of early twentieth-century feminism.
On the eve of the First World War, sociology student Vandyck Jennings goes on an expedition with two of his friends to search for a society rumored to consist only of women. On the way to what they will name “Herland,” Van and his friends ponder the type of women they hope or expect to see when they get there … but they find no fantasies when they arrive.
Herland is an all-female, community-driven utopia. Van and his friends are skeptical of a society that doesn’t even need men to procreate, but women and girls who live there have all been raised in a world entirely removed from the patriarchy of the wider world. To them, Herland is a paradise; there are no wars, no conflicts, and no oppressive concepts of gender. These young men, however, are not easily brought into the fold. During their time in Herland, Van and his friends must decide whether they will remain entrenched in their own views of women and society, or if they will open their minds to a way of living they could scarcely have ever imagined.
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“This is a Utopian novel by a feminist set in the Amazon rainforest—and it is funny…Prepare for a feminist lecture, but one that does not lose sight of the need to entertain.”
— The Guardian (London)
“Stefan Rudnicki does a good job with dialogue and character differentiation. His pacing is measured and easy to follow, adding to the contemporary feel of the audiobook.”
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) gained much of her fame with lectures on women’s issues, ethics, labor, human rights, and social reform. She often referred to these themes in her fiction. She is best remembered for her 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” based on her own bout with severe postpartum depression and misguided medical treatment.
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.