author’s site: rebeccatraister.com

twitter: rtraister

Rebecca Traister was born and raised in 1975 near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attending and graduating from Quaker High School in her teenage years. She then went on to attend Northwestern University, majoring and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies, and eventually settled in Brooklyn, New York.

Her media career started with an assistant position at Talk Magazine, followed by time at the New York Observer, where she would work as a fact checker, film reporter, and gossip columnist. Later, she had become Salon’s first choice writer in 2003, being the main person to go to for talk on women’s issues, since her stories often leaned toward the discussion of feminist topics.

In 2010, Traister published her first book, “Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women”, which had expressed the impact that the 2008 election had on women and feminist issues, and also how women and feminist issues had impacted the election itself. Named the New York Times Notable Book of 2010, Rebecca was awarded the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book prize in 2012.

Continuing to write for various publications, in 2012 Traister was given the Mirror Award for best commentary in digital media from Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications, which is given for excellence in the media industry reporting. This award was decided to be entitled to Traister due to two of three essays that she had wrote; “’30 Rock’ Takes on Feminist Hypocrisy–and Its Own” and “Seeing ‘Bridesmaids’ Is a Social Responsibility,” which had appeared in Salon, and “The Soap Opera Is Dead! Long Live the Soap Opera!,” published in the New York Times.

Her second book, “All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation,” was published in 2016, examining the power that single women have had on history in politics, economy, social change, and education. The book also looks at the factors that lead women to become or remain single and relates these factors to the impact on the historic feminist events. All the Single Ladies made the New York Times list of best sellers in March of 2016.

Last year, Traister published a third book, “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger”. This book has won Traister yet another slot on the list of New York Times Best Sellers, and also the Best Books of 2018 Selection by Washington Post, People, NPR, Esquire, Elle, Wired, and Refinery 29. The book dives deeply into female fury and it’s cultural significance, tracking the marks in history where females have flourished with making their voices heard as political fuel.