The Only Woman in the Room Audiobook By Pnina Lahav cover art

The Only Woman in the Room

Golda Meir and Her Path to Power

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The Only Woman in the Room

By: Pnina Lahav
Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
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About this listen

A feminist biography of the only woman to become prime minister of Israel In this authoritative and empathetic biography, Pnina Lahav reexamines the life of Golda Meir (1898-1978) through a feminist lens, focusing on her recurring role as a woman standing alone among men. The Only Woman in the Room is the first book to contend with Meir’s full identity as a woman, Jew, Zionist leader, and one of the founders of Israel, providing a richer portrait of her persona and legacy.

Meir, Lahav shows, deftly deflected misogyny as she traveled the path to becoming Israel’s fourth, and only female, prime minister, from 1969 to 1974. Lahav revisits the youthful encounters that forged Meir’s passion for socialist Zionism and reassesses her decision to separate from her husband and leave her children in the care of others. Enduring humiliation and derision from her colleagues, Meir nevertheless led in establishing Israel as a welfare state where social security, workers’ rights, and maternity leave became law. Lahav looks at the challenges that beset Meir’s premiership, particularly the disastrous Yom Kippur War, which led to her resignation and withdrawal from politics, as well as Meir’s bitter duel with feminist and civil rights leader Shulamit Aloni, Meir’s complex relationship with the Israeli and American feminist movements, and the politics that led her to distance herself from feminism altogether.

Exploring the tensions between Meir’s personal and political identities, The Only Woman in the Room provides a groundbreaking new account of Meir’s life while also illuminating the difficulties all women face as they try to ascend in male-dominated fields.

©2022 Pnina Lahav (P)2022 Recorded Books
Israel & Palestine Presidents & Heads of State Women
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deffinitely worth a listen!

for anyone interested in Israeli history, this provides a very interesting prospective, definitely worth a listen!

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Golda

I enjoyed this immensely and learned facts I never knew was read well.
Would recommend to anyone wanting to learn Israeli history

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Choose to read on Kindle or hardback instead ...

Very interesting observations about Golda Meir's life but admittedly narrow in scope.
The (experienced, articulate) narrator's snooty, condescending vocal tonality - makes listening annoying to the point of simply turning off the recording. I recommend enjoying this book on Kindle instead of Audible: still good and readily available.

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There are much better books about Golda.

This book reads as an angry feminist perspective and unfounded conjecture of what Golda may have felt about her personal life & political career. I don’t believe Golda would be supportive of the author’s viewpoint if she was around today.

The Overall theme seems to be Obsessed with gender inequality & feminism. Reading between the lines hopefully the reader will see that Golda’s political success was a result of her pragmatic approach, understanding the obstacles she faced, Compromising and building alliance. She never portrayed victim mentality. Many of the gender inequalities depicted were a reality of The times in the early & mid 1900’s.

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4 people found this helpful