Book description
"One is not born a woman, but becomes one", Simone de Beauvoir A symbol of liberated womanhood, Simone de Beauvoir's unconventional relationships inspired and scandalised her generation. A philosopher, writer, and feminist icon, she won prestigious literary prizes and transformed the way we think about gender with The Second Sex.…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Becoming Beauvoir as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I’ve read a lot of biographies of Simone de Beauvoir.
But this is the one that best brought out her importance as a philosopher, the many ways in which her thought differed from Sartre’s and the ways in which this has been obscured by a posterity that just wants to see her as his sidekick.
One thing that this book did for me that others on Beauvoir didn’t was to reconcile me with the unpleasant aspects of her life and relationships – she was human, she was flawed, but so were her male peers!
From Sandrine's list on by or about women philosophers you should know.
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," wrote Simone de Beauvoir in 1949 in her bestseller The Second Sex.
To sum up this famous quotation, it's not because you are a woman that you should enjoy cooking or doing the dishes.
We always link Simone de Beauvoir to Sartre but Simone decided who she wanted to be before meeting Jean-Paul. This is what the British author Kate Kirkpatrick tells us in this new biography.
Believe me, there are never enough biographies about Simone de Beauvoir, the iconic French feminist.
You think Simone de Beauvoir is old-fashioned? "Never…
From Edith's list on French women according to a French woman.
If you love Becoming Beauvoir...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Want books like Becoming Beauvoir?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Becoming Beauvoir.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,395
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Becoming Beauvoir, you might also like...
Need to Know
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
Tsunami
On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…
