Person, Place, and Thing: April 8 - 14

 

Person.

Some recognize April 8, 563 BC or BCE as the birth date of Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha.

According to Buddhist tradition, he was born to royal parents in what is now Nepal. As a child, he had known nothing but wealth and luxury. As a teen, he was first exposed to poverty and suffering, and he was left confused. He abandoned his privilege, wealth, and position and set off to live as a wandering ascetic in search of clarity for himself. He found the answers, or was enlightened, and he continued wandering the Asian subcontinent, teaching and establishing a monastic order of followers to spread his ideas of the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path, guiding his followers to Nirvana.

A couple of decades ago, I found a great graphic novel series called "Introducing _______ A Graphic Guide" which presented a lot of topics of history, philosophy, and world religions in easily digestible graphic form. They were and are produced by Totem and then Icon Books, although they have changed in appearance.

Place.

Some recognize April 8, 563 BC or BCE as the birth date of Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha.

According to Buddhist tradition, he was born to royal parents in what is now Nepal. As a child, he had known nothing but wealth and luxury. As a teen, he was first exposed to poverty and suffering, and he was left confused. He abandoned his privilege, wealth, and position and set off to live as a wandering ascetic in search of clarity for himself. He found the answers, or was enlightened, and he continued wandering the Asian subcontinent, teaching and establishing a monastic order of followers to spread his ideas of the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path, guiding his followers to Nirvana.

"The Bodhi Tree ("tree of awakening"), also called the Mahabodhi Tree, Bo Tree, is a large sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa) located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who became known as the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment or buddhahood circa 500 BCE under this tree. In religious iconography, the Bodhi Tree is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently displayed.

The original tree under which Siddhartha Gautama sat is no longer living, but the term "bodhi tree" is also applied to existing sacred fig trees. The foremost example of an existing tree is the Mahabodhi Tree growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, which is often cited as a direct descendant of the original tree. This tree, planted around 250 BCE, is a frequent destination for pilgrims, being the most important of the four main Buddhist pilgrimage sites." (Wikipedia)

A couple of decades ago, I found a great graphic novel series called "Introducing _______ A Graphic Guide" which presented a lot of topics of history, art, philosophy, and world religions in easily digestible graphic form. They were and are produced by Totem and then Icon Books, although they have changed in appearance.

Thing.

Some recognize April 8, 563 BC or BCE as the birth date of Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha.

According to Buddhist tradition, he was born to royal parents in what is now Nepal. As a child, he had known nothing but wealth and luxury. As a teen, he was first exposed to poverty and suffering, and he was left confused. He abandoned his privilege, wealth, and position and set off to live as a wandering ascetic in search of clarity for himself. He found the answers, or was enlightened, and he continued wandering the Asian subcontinent, teaching and establishing a monastic order of followers to spread his ideas of the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path, guiding his followers to Nirvana.

"Nirvana, the state to which all Buddhists aspire, is the cessation of desire and hence the end of suffering. Nirvana in Sanskrit means "the blowing out." It is understood as the extinguishment of the flame of personal desire, the quenching of the fire of life. Among Westerners, Nirvana is often thought of as a negative state, a kind of "nothingness." But in the Buddhist scriptures, it is always described in positive terms; the highest refuge, safety, emancipation, peace, and the like. Nirvana is freedom, but not freedom from circumstance; it is freedom from the bonds with which we have bound ourselves to circumstance. That man is free who is strong enough to say, "Whatever comes, I accept as best." " (from "The Meaning of Buddhism," The Atlantic, February 1958)

A couple of decades ago, I found a great graphic novel series called "Introducing _______ A Graphic Guide" which presented a lot of topics of history, art, philosophy, and world religions in easily digestible graphic form. They were and are produced by Totem and then Icon Books, although they have changed in appearance.

Person.

On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee officially surrendered his army to Union General U.S. Grant at the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. This effectively ended the U.S. Civil War, although it would take about 6 more months for hostilities to end and for the last Confederates to surrender.

One of the most interesting figures in the story of April 9, 1865, was Wilmer McLean, a civilian (1814-1882). McLean was a former major in the Virginia militia, too old for active duty when the war began. Instead, he and his family lived in Manassas, Virginia, and he earned a living as a sugar broker. On July 21, 1861, the first major battle of the war, the first Battle of Bull Run, commenced on his farm when a Union cannonball dropped through his kitchen fireplace. McLean's home was being used as headquarters by Confederste General Beauregard.

Alarmed at the proximity of conflict in Northern Virginia, which also made his work more difficult, he moved his family 120 miles south to Appomattox Court House. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant in McLean's front parlor. Once the ceremony was over, Union officers and soldiers basically took every item in the house as a souvenir; a few gave McLean money on the way out.

In 1867, McLean could no longer afford the mortgage payments, sold the house, and returned to Manassas. He died in Alexandria, Virginia.

Place.

On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee officially surrendered his army to Union General U.S. Grant at the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. This effectively ended the U.S. Civil War, although it would take about 6 more months for hostilities to end and for the last Confederates to surrender.

One of the most interesting figures in the story of April 9, 1865, was Wilmer McLean, a civilian (1814-1882). On July 21, 1861, the first major battle of the war, the first Battle of Bull Run, commenced on his farm when a Union cannonball dropped through his kitchen fireplace. McLean's home (first illustration) was being used as headquarters by Confederste General Beauregard.

Alarmed at the proximity of conflict in Northern Virginia, which also made his work more difficult, he moved his family 120 miles south to Appomattox Court House. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant in McLean's front parlor. Once the ceremony was over, Union officers and soldiers basically took every item in the house as a souvenir; a few gave McLean money on the way out.

The Appomattox house is now part of the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park.

Thing.

On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee officially surrendered his army to Union General U.S. Grant at the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. This effectively ended the U.S. Civil War, although it would take about 6 more months for hostilities to end and for the last Confederates to surrender.

One of the most interesting figures in the story of April 9, 1865, was Wilmer McLean, a civilian (1814-1882). On July 21, 1861, the first major battle of the war, the first Battle of Bull Run, commenced on his farm when a Union cannonball dropped through his kitchen fireplace. McLean's home (first illustration) was being used as headquarters by Confederste General Beauregard.

Alarmed at the proximity of conflict in Northern Virginia, which also made his work more difficult, he moved his family 120 miles south to Appomattox Court House. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant in McLean's front parlor. Once the ceremony was over, Union officers and soldiers basically took every item in the house as a souvenir; a few gave McLean money on the way out.

Major General Edward Ord paid $40 (equivalent to $708 in today's dollars) for the table Lee had used to sign the surrender document, while Major General Philip Sheridan took the table on which Grant had drafted the document for $20 (equivalent to $354 in today's dollars) in gold. Sheridan then asked George Armstrong Custer to carry it away on his horse. The table was presented to Custer's wife and is now on exhibit at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian.

Persons.

On April 10, 1815, Mount Tambora or Tomboro erupted in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, on the island of Sumbawa. It was the largest recorded eruption in human history, expressing 4 to 10 times the energy of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. Estimates of deaths from the eruption and the subsequent climatic upheaval range from 71,000 to 117,000. The explosion was heard 1,200 miles away, and the volcano lost a full third of its height.

The global effects of the ash and sulfur eruption were felt throughout the northern hemisphere for years. 1816 became known as the "year without a summer." The 1810s became the coldest decade on record. Snow fell across Canada and the northern US well into June. Throughout the northern hemisphere, crops failed, and livestock died, resulting in the greatest famine of the century. The weird weather and skies over Geneva, Switzerland, in the summer of 1816 inspired Mary Shelley and her friends to write horror stories, resulting in Frankenstein.

There were some 10,000 people living on Sumbawa in 1815, a well-off trading community with connections to Vietnam and Cambodia. Their language was an isolate, not in the Austronesian family, but perhaps the Papuan family. The entire community and their language were lost in the eruption. The first significant archeological discovery of the remains of the culture came in 2004, when archeologists dug through ten feet of ash and pumice.

Tambora is still considered active; its last eruption was in 1967.

Place.

On April 10, 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, on the island of Sumbawa. It was the largest recorded eruption in human history, expressing 4 to 10 times the energy of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. Estimates of deaths from the eruption and the subsequent climatic upheaval range from 71,000 to 117,000. The explosion was heard 1,200 miles away, and the volcano lost a full third of its height.

"Mount Tambora, or Tomboro, is an active stratovolcano in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Located on Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda Islands, it was formed by the active subduction zones beneath it. Before 1815, its elevation reached more than 4,300 metres (14,100 feet) high, making it one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago.

Around 1880 ± 30 years, eruptions at Mount Tambora have been registered only inside the caldera.[23] It created small lava flows and lava dome extrusions; this was recorded at two on the VEI scale. This eruption created the Doro Api Toi parasitic cone inside the caldera.

Mount Tambora is still active and minor lava domes and flows have been extruded on the caldera floor during the 19th and 20th centuries. The last eruption was recorded in 1967. However, it was a gentle eruption with a VEI of 0, which means it was non-explosive.Another very small eruption was reported in 2011. In August 2011, the alert level for the volcano was raised from level I to level II after increased activity was reported in the caldera, including earthquakes and steam emissions." (Wikipedia)

Thing.

On April 10, 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, on the island of Sumbawa. It was the largest recorded eruption in human history, expressing 4 to 10 times the energy of the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. Estimates of deaths from the eruption and the subsequent climatic upheaval range from 71,000 to 117,000. The explosion was heard 1,200 miles away, and the volcano lost a full third of its height.

1816 is called "the year without a summer" because the entire northern hemisphere saw record-breaking low temperatures, with snowfall extending into June across Canada, the northern US, and western Europe.

"This climate anomaly has been blamed for the severity of typhus epidemics in southeast Europe and along the eastern Mediterranean Sea between 1816 and 1819. The climate changes disrupted the Indian monsoons, caused three failed harvests and famine, and contributed to the spread of a new strain of cholera that originated in Bengal in 1816. Many livestock died in New England during the winter of 1816–1817. Cool temperatures and heavy rains resulted in failed harvests in the British Isles. Families in Wales traveled long distances as refugees, begging for food. Famine was prevalent in north and southwest Ireland, following the failure of wheat, oat, and potato harvests. The crisis was severe in Germany, where food prices rose sharply, and demonstrations in front of grain markets and bakeries, followed by riots, arson, and looting, took place in many European cities. It was the worst famine of the 19th century." (Wikipedia)

Person.

Erskine Caldwell died on Aprill 11, 1987, at age 83.

Born in Coweta County, Georgia, he won critical and popular acclaim in the 1930s with novels about poverty and racism in the South, and his subjects were usually poor, white sharecroppers. Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre are two of the best-selling American novels ever, and Trouble in July is a searing portrait of a lynching.

As the son of a minister and a former teacher, he had an itinerant upbringing around the South until his family settled in Wrens, Georgia, when he was 15. He never attended school until age 14, having previously been taught at home by his mother. After several attempts at college which didn't take, He briefly worked for the Atlanta Journal newspaper before turning to fiction, publishing his first novel, The Bastard, in 1929. Tobacco Road was first big success, in 1932.

His earthy and bawdy style of writing and his depictions of lower class characters earned him and his books obscenity charges and book banning, beginning with The Bastard. He was arrested at a new York book signing for his first book but was exonerated in court.

Place.

Erskine Caldwell died on Aprill 11, 1987, at age 83.

Born in Coweta County, Georgia, he won critical and popular acclaim in the 1930s with novels about poverty and racism in the South, and his subjects were usually poor, white sharecroppers. Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre are two of the best-selling American novels ever, and Trouble in July is a searing portrait of a lynching.

"Tobacco Road is set in rural Georgia, several miles outside Augusta during the worst years of the Great Depression. It depicts a family of poor white tenant farmers, the Lesters, as some of the many small Southern cotton farmers made redundant by the industrialization of production and the migration into cities. The main character of the novel is Jeeter Lester, an ignorant and sinful man who is redeemed by his love of the land and his faith in the fertility and promise of the soil." (Wikipedia)

"Tobacco Road, set in a fictionalized version of Caldwell’s home town, lays bare the story of the Lesters, the poorest, whitest, trashiest, horniest family in rural Georgia. Jeeter, the Lester family patriarch in Tobacco Road, is a beaten-down sharecropper who can no longer get credit to buy the supplies he needs to farm. His family survives, in their crumbling shack, on fat-back rinds and corn meal. Ada, his wife, is wasting away from pellagra; Dude, their 16-year-old son, is a half-wit; Ellie May, their voluptuous 18-year-old daughter, has a gruesome hairlip that makes her “look as if her mouth were bleeding profusely.” Jeeter and Ada’s other surviving children got out as quickly as they could." (Slate magazine, May, 2006)

The frank language and sexuality of the novel shocked many Americans in 1932, and the book was challenged and deemed obscene in some cities. Some southerners objected because of the way southerners were depicted. Nevertheless, it became a huge bestseller, was adapted into a hit long-running Broadway play, and was made into an exaggeratedly comic film in 1941.

Thing.

Erskine Caldwell died on Aprill 11, 1987, at age 83.

Born in Coweta County, Georgia, he won critical and popular acclaim in the 1930s with novels about poverty and racism in the South, and his subjects were usually poor, white sharecroppers. Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre are two of the best-selling American novels ever, and Trouble in July is a searing portrait of a lynching.

The frank language and sexuality of Tobacco Road shocked many Americans in 1932, and the book was challenged and deemed obscene in some cities. Some southerners objected because of the way southerners were depicted. Nevertheless, it became a huge bestseller, was adapted into a hit long-running Broadway play, and was made into an exaggeratedly comic film in 1941.

Studios had considered making the movie version for years, but the book was on the Hollywood executives' "banned list." The movie version of The Grapes of Wrath finally opened the door for Tobacco Road. When 20th Century Fox finally acquired the rights, noted director John Ford was attached to the project, and fellow Georgian Nunnally Johnson was hired to write a script that would follow the strict production rules in place. The result was a much lighter, comically broader, sanitized version that changed many elements of the book. Further, to avoid controversy, it was filmed in studio soundstages instead of on location in Georgia as originally planned, and it was released with no advance publicity, so that cities could not preemptively ban it.

Person.

Gustave Flaubert's first published novel, Madame Bovary, was published on April 12, 1857.

Flaubert (1821-1880) was born in Rouen, France, the son of a doctor. He went to Paris to study law but developed a distaste for the city. He returned to Croisset, near Rouen, where he lived the rest of his life.

He never married, and he apparently only had one serious romantic relationship and a few casual sexual relationships, but he was quite open about his patronage of prostitutes, male and female, He lived with various sexually transmitted diseases throughout his adult life.

He wrote a couple of novels in the 1840s, which went nowhere, before writing Bovary. Madame Bovary was hailed by both the critics and the public, making Flaubert the leader of the French realism movement in literature. The government charged him and his publisher with immorality, but they were both acquitted. None of his later work matched his first success.

He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1880, at age 56.

Place.

Gustave Flaubert's first published novel, Madame Bovary, was published on April 12, 1857.

Flaubert (1821-1880) was born in Rouen, France, the son of a doctor. He went to Paris to study law but developed a distaste for the city. He returned to Croisset, near Rouen, where he lived the rest of his life, although he traveled extensively.

Located in Northern France, Rouen has a long history.

"Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. From the 13th century onwards, the city experienced a remarkable economic boom, thanks in particular to the development of textile factories and river trade. Claimed by both the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War, it was on its soil that Joan of Arc was tried and burned alive on 30 May 1431. Severely damaged by the wave of bombing in 1944, it nevertheless regained its economic dynamism in the post-war period thanks to its industrial sites and its large seaport, which today is the fifth largest in France." (Wikipedia)

Thing.

Gustave Flaubert's first published novel, Madame Bovary, was published as a book on April 12, 1857.

Madame Bovary tells the bleak story of a marriage that ends in tragedy. Charles Bovary, a good-hearted but dull and unambitious doctor with a meager practice, marries Emma, a beautiful farm girl raised in a convent. Although she anticipates marriage as a life of adventure, she soon finds that her only excitement derives from the flights of fancy she takes while reading sentimental romantic novels. She grows increasingly bored and unhappy with her middle-class existence, and even the birth of their daughter, Berthe, brings Emma little joy. Disappointed with her life, she embarks on a series of disastrous love affairs.

"When it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, the novel was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors. The resulting trial, held in January 1857, made the story notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller when it was published as a single volume in April 1857. The novel is now considered Flaubert's masterpiece, as well as a seminal work of realism and one of the most influential novels ever written. In fact, the notable British-American critic James Wood writes in How Fiction Works: "Flaubert established for good or ill, what most readers think of as modern realist narration, and his influence is almost too familiar to be visible". " (Amazon)

Persons.

On April 13, 1860, the first Pony Express mail arrived in Sacramento California, ten days after departing St. Joseph, Missouri.

The Pony Express is one of those bigger-than-life legends of the American West, but it only existed for 18 months, ultimately losing the race to the telegraph and the railroad. The idea to hire young, wiry, preferably orphaned riders to carry mail by horseback 1,900 miles from Missouri to California was shared by three men: William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell. They were businessmen, already successful in the freight business as well as sawmilling, meatpacking, banking, and insurance. Their vision was to build stations at short intervals to provide fresh horses.

Riders couldn't weigh more than 125 pounds. They rode day and night, sometimes 20 hours straight in emergencies. Riders changed every 75-100 miles. They were paid $125 a month. In comparison, unskilled laborers were paid $15-30 a month, and bricklayer and carpenters received $40-60 a month. In the 18 months of existence, 6 riders and 16 station employees died, most the result of a Paiute uprising, and 35,000 letters were delivered.

West Like Lightning tells the Pony Express story.

Place.

On April 13, 1860, the first Pony Express mail arrived in Sacramento California, ten days after departing St. Joseph, Missouri.

The Pony Express is one of those bigger-than-life legends of the American West, but it only existed for 18 months, ultimately losing the race to the telegraph and the railroad.

"The route started at St. Joseph, Missouri, on the Missouri River, and then followed what is modern-day U.S. Highway 36 (the Pony Express Highway) to Marysville, Kansas, where it turned northwest following Little Blue River to Fort Kearny in Nebraska. Through Nebraska, it followed the Great Platte River Road, cutting through Gothenburg, Nebraska, clipping the edge of Colorado at Julesburg; and passing Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, and Scotts Bluff, before arriving first at Fort Laramie and then Fort Caspar (Platte Bridge Station) in Wyoming. From there, it followed the Sweetwater River, passing Independence Rock, Devil's Gate, and Split Rock, through South Pass to Fort Bridger and then south to Salt Lake City, Utah. From Salt Lake City, it generally followed the Central Nevada Route blazed in 1859 by Captain James H. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers. This route roughly follows today's US 50 across Nevada and Utah. It crossed the Great Basin, the Utah-Nevada Desert, and the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe before arriving in Sacramento. Mail was transferred and sent by steamer down the Sacramento River to San Francisco. On a few instances when the steamer was missed, riders took the mail by horseback to Oakland, California." (Wikipedia)

West Like Lightning tells the Pony Express story.

Thing.

On April 13, 1860, the first Pony Express mail arrived in Sacramento California, ten days after departing St. Joseph, Missouri.

The Pony Express is one of those bigger-than-life legends of the American West, but it only existed for 18 months, ultimately losing the race to the telegraph and the railroad.

Recruited riders had to weigh under 125 pounds and be able and willing to ride as many as 20 hours through hostile terrain, risking hostile Indian attacks.

Alexander Majors, one of the Pony Express founders, was a religious man and resolved "by the help of God" to overcome all difficulties. He presented each rider with a special-edition Bible and required riders to recite and sign this oath:

"I, ... , do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God."

Person.

French philosopher and pioneering feminist, although she didn't think of herself as either. Simone de Beauvoir died of pneumonia on April 14, 1986, in Paris.

Born in 1908, de Beauvoir was a precocious student. Her father's greatest praise was "She thinks like a man." She finished at the top of her class and of exams, and she became a high school, or lychee, teacher until she could support herself by writing.

She met Jean Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher, in college, and they entered into a relationship until he died. They never married and never lived together. They met daily in cafes to read and share each other's work. They had an open relationship, and they shared details of their other relationships during their cafe meetings.

De Beauvoir was bisexual, and a number of female students came forward to accuse her of manipulation, seduction, and sexual abuse. These accusations led to her losing her teaching license, but it was later reinstated. She was also a proponent of decriminalizing pedophilia.

The Second Sex, published in 1949 (There was not an accurate English translation published in the US until 2009, apparently.) is cited as an iconic feminist work, arguing that women's oppression and perceived inferiority is an historical and social construct.

Place.

French philosopher and pioneering feminist, although she didn't think of herself as either. Simone de Beauvoir died of pneumonia on April 14, 1986, in Paris.

Born in 1908, de Beauvoir was a precocious student. Her father's greatest praise was "She thinks like a man." She finished at the top of her class and of exams, and she became a high school, or lychee, teacher until she could support herself by writing.

"Lycées (French pronunciation: ​[lise]) provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between the ages of 15 and 18. Pupils are prepared for the baccalauréat (French pronunciation: ​[bakaloʁea]; baccalaureate, colloquially known as bac, previously bachot), which can lead to higher education studies or directly to professional life. There are three main types of baccalauréat: the baccalauréat général, baccalauréat technologique and baccalauréat professionnel.

Lycées are divided into (i) the lycée général, leading to two or more years of post–baccalauréat studies, (ii) the lycée technologique, leading to short-term studies, and (iii) the lycée professionnel, a vocational qualification leading directly to a particular career. General and technological education courses are provided in "standard" lycées, while vocational courses are provided in separate professional lycées.

In practice, competent pupils at a vocational lycée professionnel can also apply to take short-term, post–baccalauréat studies leading to the Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS), a vocational qualification. That option is available also to pupils at a lycée général." (Wikipedia)

The Second Sex, published in 1949 (There was not an accurate English translation published in the US until 2009, apparently.) is cited as an iconic feminist work, arguing that women's oppression and perceived inferiority is an historical and social construct.

Thing.

French philosopher and pioneering feminist, although she didn't think of herself as either. Simone de Beauvoir died of pneumonia on April 14, 1986, in Paris.

De Beauvoir and her partner Jean Paul Sartre are considered two of the leading existentialist philosophers of the 20th century. Existentialist philosophy encompasses a range of perspectives, but it shares certain underlying concepts. Among these, a central tenet of existentialism is that personal freedom, individual responsibility, and deliberate choice are essential to the pursuit of self-discovery and the determination of life's meaning.

The Second Sex, published in 1949 (There was not an accurate English translation published in the US until 2009, apparently.) is cited as an iconic feminist work, arguing that women's oppression and perceived inferiority is an historical and social construct.