The Independent Woman

A Memoir

by Simone De Beauvoir

A compact, pocket-sized rendering of Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal work: comprised of three key chapters from The Second Sex, The Independent Woman delivers with powerful concision de Beauvoir’s essential message that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

When The Second Sex was first published in Paris in 1949, it provoked such outrage and scandal for its unflinching critique of a sexist society that it was banned by the Vatican. It went on to become a canonical text of second-wave feminism, inspiring pioneers from Betty Friedan to Kate Millett to Germaine Greer–and transforming the way we think about sex and gender. Now, for the first time, The Independent Woman provides readers with a portable, manifesto-sized version of this groundbreaking work, presenting the three chapters most central to de Beauvoir’s 800-page masterpiece. An essential book for students, activists, and anyone who wants to know more about the history that led to our current moment, The Independent Woman is more relevant now than ever.

Paperback | 160 pages | Vintage | 2018

Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. In 1929 she became the youngest person ever to obtain the agrégation in philosophy at the Sorbonne, placing second to Jean-Paul Sartre. She taught at lycées at Marseille and Rouen from 1931 to 1937, and in Paris from 1938 to 1943. After the war, she emerged as one of the leaders of the existentialist movement, working with Sartre on Les Temps Modernes. The author of several books, including The Mandarins (1957), which was awarded the Prix Goncourt, Beauvoir was one of the most influential thinkers of her generation. She died in 1986.