Mallory O’Meara

I have a bunch of new women from history to admire… or background check

Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O'Meara

March 13, 2026 by vega-table Leave a Comment

I had two issues with Girly Drinks by Mallory O’Meara. It had a very narrow and specific perspective on the way people (the readers) assume modern women drink and was full of irrelevant and dated pop culture comparisons to explain history. The book is only from 2021. It was poorly cited (but not poorly researched). It wasn’t easy to flip between the resources in the back and the statements in the chapters. It was fun enough that I had no problems overlooking my issues. In […]

Raise a Glass

Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O'Meara

May 8, 2022 by Halbs 1 Comment

“All drinks are girly drinks.” This sentence closes Mallory O’Meara’s book and also serves a sort of double-pronged thesis. All drinks are girly drinks in the sense that women can drink what they want. Historically, all drinks are “girly” drinks in the sense that women around the globe were integral to the development of brewing, distilling, mixing, and serving alcoholic drinks. (O’Meara is great at double meanings in subtitles. Her Lady from the Black Lagoon is subtitled “Hollywood monsters” in the horror sense, and also […]

Monsters and Heroes

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara

March 7, 2020 by Halbs 1 Comment

While I’ve been excited to read this book since it came out a year ago, it was only recently that I was finally able to snag a copy from my library. This is probably because of the book’s myriad awards, and because it’s good. The timing works out pretty nicely, though, as this is a great read for Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (which is tomorrow, at the time I write this). I have to admit that I didn’t fully understand the title […]

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