This is one of the most valuable contemporary books that I have ever delved into; the content in this book has sparked so many conversations with friends and "adversaries" alike and has made me that much more of an informed citizen of the world. This is THE best textbook/book I have ever read on the subject of gender. I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination and nor have I actually read that many but this is truly so well written. I won't lie to you though, it is incredibly dense with data and it's not that it's boring, it's just a LOT of information to process paragraph by paragraph but one of the most fascinating texts I've ever read.
After reading this book, I now have a better understanding of globalization on the social (and economic) level and the way gender intersects with all areas of life, from class, race, religion, sports, politics, work, family, journalism, the criminal justice system, just pretty much everything -- I don't think there was an area left untouched by this book! It also has an incredible work-cited page for each chapter where I have found dozens and dozens of well-researched articles and books. I mean, this is simply invaluable to me. I will definitely be giving this a reread at some point as I feel that I'll be able to go even deeper the second time around and gain an even better understanding of everything since there was just so much information.
I originally had just rented the ebook but I fully intend to buy both the physical copy and the ebook so that I have easy access to all of the linked articles with just a simple click.