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Insecure at Last: Losing it in Our Security-Obsessed World
“Why has all this focus on security made me feel so much more insecure? Nothing is secure. And this is the good news. But only if you are not seeking security as the point of your life.”–Eve EnslerWhen her stage play The Vagina Monologues became a runaway hit and an international sensation, Eve Ensler emerged as a powerful voice and champion for women everywhere. Now the brilliant playwright gives us her first major work written exclusively for the printed page. Insecure at Last is a timely and urgent look at our security-obsessed world, the drastic measures taken to keep us safe, and how we can truly experience freedom by letting go of the deceptive notion of vigilant “protection.”Ensler draws on personal experiences and candid interviews with burka-clad women in Afghanistan; female prisoners in upstate New York; survivors at the Superdome after Katrina; and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan–sharing unforgettable snapshots that chronicle a post-9/11 existence in which hyped obsession for safety and security has undermined our humanity. The us-versus-them mentality, Ensler explains, has closed our minds and hardened our compassionate hearts. Provocative, illuminating, inspiring, and boldly envisioned, Insecure at Last challenges us to reconsider what it means to be free, to discover that our strength is not born out of that which protects us. Ensler offers us the opportunity to reevaluate our everyday lives, expose our vulnerability, and, in doing so, experience true freedom and fulfillment.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
41 people are currently reading
1008 people want to read
About the author
V (formerly Eve Ensler)
27 books1,426 followersV is an internationally bestselling author and an award-winning playwright whose works include The Vagina Monologues, The Good Body, Insecure at Last, and I Am an Emotional Creature, since adapted for the stage as Emotional Creature. She is the founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised more than $90 million for local groups and activists, and inspired the global action One Billion Rising. V lives in Paris and New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
December 6, 2012
When I picked this book up randomly at the library, I was expecting to read something about a woman and her struggles with her body image and then her just saying the hell with it and liberating herself and getting to a point where she says: fuck you all. You know, first world problems. Boy was I so wrong. This book kicked my ass. it knocked me off of my center. it will be a book that will change me for a long time, and hopefully forever. And it's not even a bible, go figure. Well most fiction I read doesn't 'change me.' It may stick out in my memory, but it won't change me. And since the bible is quite fictional...
Anywho...
From the very first page of this book I realized my assumption and poor judging of the cover of this book was I wrong what this book was all about. This book was about the struggles of women here in the US and around the world, preconceived ideology, shallow mindsets of humanity, the poor and forgotten victims that have no real voice or say.
God, as I'm trying to conjure up a review for this book, I realize I'm having a hard time doing so. This book was so much more than just another book to add to my collection of what I've read to date. This was a book that put things that I know that are going on in our world and have always gone on since we spawned our crappy-selves onto this planet right in the palms of my hand. But due to living in a semi-comfortable, semi-asleep, very boring, middle-class suburbia life, I am almost forced to put the blinders on because of the way I live. You know, after reading this book, I wish I were able to give up the false idea of security, which is the basis of this book. Liberate my thinking, my approach of life. This is one of those books that makes you wish you can actually get up off your ass and be proactive, let go of that need to be secure aka trapped and actually make a dent in the horrors that this book uncovered. Or even just to free yourself from your own shackles that we put on ourselves. Just do something different. Make a change for the better, for humanity or yourself, or even better, both. A percent of what Eve Ensler, the author of this book has done to try and make a difference would even be a drastic change in my world. Less consuming and more helping would probably be a start. Not because I want to pat myself on the shoulders, but because I genuinely care about humanity. I cherish humanity over nationhood. Nationhood can be good in very few things, but it usually causes more harm than it does good. Like George Carlin said: "People are smart, groups are stupid."
It just comes down to educating yourself, learning to care more about each other and the things around you, regardless of class, religion, white, brown, black, purple, or whatever. I know it's not easy, hell it's definitely not for me. I get annoyed by people easily and would rather not want them around. But that doesn't mean that the women, the men who really are not all strong, the children, the poor, the real victims don't need help. They do. They truly do. Even in our elections, all you heard was the middle-class, the middle-class, and keeping the tax breaks for the filthy rich, but you didn't hear shit about the real victims of the global economy we live in. We vote people in that we think would give us the best, yet false sense of security. And like Ben Franklin said: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." That's where we stand, folks. We are fighting over bullshit in the name of ideas and security. We are being duped by the media--the government's propaganda machine, our government, of course, our so-called leaders that feed us bullshit and not the truth, ideology, etc. And nobody really seems to care. I get it, we are a selfish species as a whole, but reading this book makes me realize it really doesn't have to be that way. It really doesn't. It's just our programming needs some adjusting.
A wonderful, heart-wrenching book to read, but a book I am very thankful to have picked up for free at my wonderful local library. A book I couldn't recommend more highly.
Anywho...
From the very first page of this book I realized my assumption and poor judging of the cover of this book was I wrong what this book was all about. This book was about the struggles of women here in the US and around the world, preconceived ideology, shallow mindsets of humanity, the poor and forgotten victims that have no real voice or say.
God, as I'm trying to conjure up a review for this book, I realize I'm having a hard time doing so. This book was so much more than just another book to add to my collection of what I've read to date. This was a book that put things that I know that are going on in our world and have always gone on since we spawned our crappy-selves onto this planet right in the palms of my hand. But due to living in a semi-comfortable, semi-asleep, very boring, middle-class suburbia life, I am almost forced to put the blinders on because of the way I live. You know, after reading this book, I wish I were able to give up the false idea of security, which is the basis of this book. Liberate my thinking, my approach of life. This is one of those books that makes you wish you can actually get up off your ass and be proactive, let go of that need to be secure aka trapped and actually make a dent in the horrors that this book uncovered. Or even just to free yourself from your own shackles that we put on ourselves. Just do something different. Make a change for the better, for humanity or yourself, or even better, both. A percent of what Eve Ensler, the author of this book has done to try and make a difference would even be a drastic change in my world. Less consuming and more helping would probably be a start. Not because I want to pat myself on the shoulders, but because I genuinely care about humanity. I cherish humanity over nationhood. Nationhood can be good in very few things, but it usually causes more harm than it does good. Like George Carlin said: "People are smart, groups are stupid."
It just comes down to educating yourself, learning to care more about each other and the things around you, regardless of class, religion, white, brown, black, purple, or whatever. I know it's not easy, hell it's definitely not for me. I get annoyed by people easily and would rather not want them around. But that doesn't mean that the women, the men who really are not all strong, the children, the poor, the real victims don't need help. They do. They truly do. Even in our elections, all you heard was the middle-class, the middle-class, and keeping the tax breaks for the filthy rich, but you didn't hear shit about the real victims of the global economy we live in. We vote people in that we think would give us the best, yet false sense of security. And like Ben Franklin said: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." That's where we stand, folks. We are fighting over bullshit in the name of ideas and security. We are being duped by the media--the government's propaganda machine, our government, of course, our so-called leaders that feed us bullshit and not the truth, ideology, etc. And nobody really seems to care. I get it, we are a selfish species as a whole, but reading this book makes me realize it really doesn't have to be that way. It really doesn't. It's just our programming needs some adjusting.
A wonderful, heart-wrenching book to read, but a book I am very thankful to have picked up for free at my wonderful local library. A book I couldn't recommend more highly.
April 8, 2010
This book has a terrible title and a terrible cover (in my opinion, obviously). But, I picked it up because of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologue fame. I completely misread what this was going to be about. I thought it was about living in an increasingly insecure world - and what to do when the fear of terrorists and WMDs and incomprehensible world-ending catastrophes overtake us. I assumed it would be only of these hysterical threats are all around us viewpoints, with the ultimate conclusion that we all need to live our lives, so we need to learn to live with insecurity. Instead, this is a very powerful discussion of horrific abuses and violations of human rights (mostly against women) being committed around the world - often in the name of making our world "more secure." Ensler weaves in her own personal story of the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, with stories about the use of rape in mass genocide, public executions of women in Afghanistan, the hundreds of murders of unnamed women in Ciudad Juarez, and descriptive accounts of pure brutality. As with her Vagina Monologues, Ensler speaks absolute truth to power - she gives unnamable atrocities a voice and speaks out against actions others are too ashamed to acknowledge. In doing so, she empowers women and communities around the world to engage in a dialogue and to refuse to hide in isolation. Ensler is in your face and at times some of the stories were too shocking for me to finish in one sitting. But there is no question that she is inspiring - this is the kind of writing that I feel is such a call to arms - a reminder that even though we've come so far, we have so much further to go.
October 12, 2008
This book made me think, it made me cry and it made me so proud. It was a very hard book to get through because every time I picked it up, I was in tears. Eve Ensler doesn't spare you anything, which was why I felt that it HAD to continue reading. I couldn't put it down just because the words were painful, because her words were true. Eve beautifully weaves together stories from her life with the stories of women all over the world. These stories are such amazing stories of strength. Eve talks about our obsession with security, both politically and personally in such a way that it really made me stop and question how I lead my life. This book made me feel weak and strong in the same moment. Weak because I could not stop all of the pain in the world and strong because I could at least try. This book made me want to do so much more. It made me want to give Eve Ensler a hug and say, "thank you, thank you for doing so much great in this world. thank you for putting yourself on the line, so i could know that someone felt my pain. thank you."
May 10, 2007
This book tore my heart apart and put so much into perspective. In a world where women are being gang raped by their husbands and friends, where children walk the riverbanks looking for dead siblings, and women face public execution for eating ice cream, it is Americans who are paralyzed by their fears and insecurities. Eve Ensler has the amazing ability to poetically slap you in the face with the reality of matters.
January 27, 2009
To be honest, I didn't finish the book. I'd picked it up hoping to find in-depth studies on women in war zones, but instead found a bunch of hyper-self-awareness in the first few pages. I think it's crap to say that you 'understand' what someone's been through when you haven't actually experienced it, especially things as horrifying as what these women have lived through. But what do I know; I haven't actually been to those places.
August 6, 2007
Eve Ensler gets to the heart of issues of insecurity and unhappiness in the world today. She explores how fear, hatread, and discontent often stem from our own striving for security and prefection. OF course, no matter how rich we are or how big our house, or how loving our family, we are never, ever completely secure, and our striving just leads to misunderstanding and hate.
January 10, 2013
Excellent book, but it's disheartening that the personal journey Ensler experiences seems possible mostly because of her financial resources.
November 25, 2017
Si bien me esperaba una historia completamente distinta, no me gusto lo que encontre. Muchas historias me hicieron derramar una lagrimita y odiar el mundo en el que vivimos pero no me hizo querer hacer algo. No me senti tan apelada ni me llamó tanto lo que estaba leyendo.
September 12, 2009
This book is part memoir and part political manifesto. The parts of the books that described the author's experiences around the world working with women to end violence and create community were moving and beautiful. Interwoven with these stories were the author's own story of putting her life together after having been abused by her stepfather when she was a child and having been a heavy drinker/meth addict as a young adult. These personal memoirs were compelling, but much less interesting than the stories of the other women the author has met. Mixed in with the personal and women-centered stories were political arguments (and complaints about the Bush administration). These arguments were far less compelling and turned what could have been a really excellent memoir into something that felt much more amateur and almost blog-like. Still, an enjoyable read (and short [200 pages exactly in the hardcover edition:]).
February 17, 2016
This book is powerful. Have you felt an increasing need for SECURITY and SAFETY in the last 10 years? Remember hurricane Katrina? WHERE WAS THE HELP? WHERE WAS THE SECURITY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE PROMISED?
Paranoia and isolation is escalating. And it's not our fault. We're all going through this, together. We all are fighting for security that is falsely promised and advertised. The result is that we hate ourselves and feel like losers, stupid, etc.
Eve celebrates the LACK of security in this world. Through vulnerability and insecurity she finds healing tears, community, purpose. Eve invites us to CELEBRATE the insecurity and its freedom. When we give up the consumeristic need for "secure" we can be alive. I will be reading this again and again throughout my life.
Paranoia and isolation is escalating. And it's not our fault. We're all going through this, together. We all are fighting for security that is falsely promised and advertised. The result is that we hate ourselves and feel like losers, stupid, etc.
Eve celebrates the LACK of security in this world. Through vulnerability and insecurity she finds healing tears, community, purpose. Eve invites us to CELEBRATE the insecurity and its freedom. When we give up the consumeristic need for "secure" we can be alive. I will be reading this again and again throughout my life.
February 7, 2014
A memoir of places of torture and terror that she has visited in the course of her professional work and also about the place of terror that her own home was as she was growing up. she makes a strong case that our relentless pursuit of "security" comes at a great price for our souls. She advocates that we should pursue kindness far more than security. A powerful last chapter where she makes recommendations on what the US should pursue... "If we are truly interested in security, let's begin by securing all people the basic human right to food, shelter, drinkable water, health care, a place to live, safety and a livable earth." OK - it's a bit preachy - but still worth the read!!
August 30, 2014
I didn't expect this book to go so much into Eve's personal experience but I'm glad it did. Even if I can't fully understand the horror and oppression that women in war torn countries or areas destroyed by natural disasters experience, having those stories told and related to Ensler's own experiences helped give me some level of how all suffering relates, no matter the degree. And that seeing someone's situation as too horrible to imagine or do anything about doesn't help anyone. What I took mainly from this book is how important and powerful telling our stories and having someone listen to them is to people and to forming community and action.
November 15, 2007
I finished it, but only because it was so short. I'm sick of Eve Ensler somehow becoming the star of her book when it shouldn't be about her at all. There's a line between self-awareness and complete self-obsession, and she's definitely crossed it. (And I cried through the entire thing.)
September 2, 2016
I really petered out on this one. It had some interesting ideas about people feeling unsafe and insecure but then just went into typical feminist blah blah... don't get me wrong, I consider myself a feminist, but the party line can get a bit repetitive...
July 13, 2015
i think it's a pretty awesome book, that everyone should read. it's a memoir but not just about her. it's about women, it's about being an american, it's a memoir about humans.
July 24, 2017
Nobody will surprise and confront you quite like Eve Ensler.
October 5, 2020
This book was more important for me than I expected it to be. Although I don't always love Ensler's phrasings of things, and I do worry a little about her entering other people's spaces and telling their stories for them, she touches on important topics.
The book is about insecurity, but it's a similar idea to privilege - when you have privilege, you can shut out topics that make you feel insecure and kind of just live inside yourself. But when we're open to being insecure, we can grow and change and love and help.
This book really showed me the blind spots I have about some events; there are many events that happened while I was growing up that weren't really discussed at home, and I now need to read more about. But it was also hopeful. There are so many people around the world dedicating their lives to protecting women, and I hope that eventually systems are built to help them.
The book is about insecurity, but it's a similar idea to privilege - when you have privilege, you can shut out topics that make you feel insecure and kind of just live inside yourself. But when we're open to being insecure, we can grow and change and love and help.
This book really showed me the blind spots I have about some events; there are many events that happened while I was growing up that weren't really discussed at home, and I now need to read more about. But it was also hopeful. There are so many people around the world dedicating their lives to protecting women, and I hope that eventually systems are built to help them.
August 29, 2023
What first came off as slightly self-aggrandizing, quickly became audaciously courageous and inspirationally honest. Ensler bares all and dives deep into the insecure truth that is foundational to our modern human experience. I’m not sure if the purpose of this book is to make people aware of the realities that we are encouraged to run away from, or to challenge us to free free from the confines of our security-obsessed society (… probably both). Regardless of intent, Ensler outlines the pain and the stark brutality of living in various communities throughout the world. Female-focused, but valuable for all, this is a heavy read, an emotional one and I found myself tearing-up in public and remain astounded by her literary mastery in sharing and baring it all.
June 21, 2020
"Allow corporations to ransack countries you are, in theory, saving, making the majority of the people poor and sick and without resources, then call them security threats, illegal combatants, terrorists, insurgents, when they rise up to fight you" -- Eve Ensler, 2006. From the book Insecure at Last.
This book hits way on the nose about the American obsession with security post-911, and the trail of destructiom it has left in America and abroad. In the current sociopolitical climate, the 2006 book is a HUGE "I told you so". An enlightening, intimate, and resonating read. Also recommend the Vagina Monologues too if you haven't read it. 5/5
This book hits way on the nose about the American obsession with security post-911, and the trail of destructiom it has left in America and abroad. In the current sociopolitical climate, the 2006 book is a HUGE "I told you so". An enlightening, intimate, and resonating read. Also recommend the Vagina Monologues too if you haven't read it. 5/5
February 1, 2021
Absolutely in agreement on how we seek security, certainty, and knowledge, when we need to learn acceptance for what is and realize that no amount of trying to control our environment will ever make us secure. I especially related to the personal experience moments she shared and she’s right about the Iraq war. Disappointed that she seems to do a 180 on her principles when the politics flip to the other side. One more person who worships the government and embraces their on hypocrisy as long as it’s their side calling for security measures.
December 18, 2018
An absolutely beautiful book. Ensler never ceases to move me with her words, her rawness and her passion. Looking at the way in which the masculine and feminine has taken shape in the fabric of our world and the way in which our hiding from that which most needs our attention is what is at the root of what makes us small, sad and disempowered has reshaped the way I've conceptualized my own lived experiences.
April 6, 2018
She's not for everyone, but god DAYUM, the lady can write and is SO in touch with her emotions and the important things in the world. I am astonished and envious.
Yes, some parts are bleak, but she packs so much REAL feeling and emotional intelligence into everything she writes. She's just...a powerful, kick-ass dame.
Yes, some parts are bleak, but she packs so much REAL feeling and emotional intelligence into everything she writes. She's just...a powerful, kick-ass dame.
May 4, 2022
This is one of the best books I've ever read. In it, Eve practices what she preaches-- letting us see her and join her in her travels and interviews, gradually letting go of our own grips on security as we read, acknowledging that security is an unsafe and inhuman pursuit after all. Never have I encountered pages full of so much pain and yet so much hope.
I want to read this again and again.
I want to read this again and again.
May 11, 2017
The power of insecurity and power itself
I started this book thinking it was something else entirely. What I found were heart wrenching stories, insights on power, and glimpses to where insecurity/security plays out in my own little world.
I started this book thinking it was something else entirely. What I found were heart wrenching stories, insights on power, and glimpses to where insecurity/security plays out in my own little world.
August 12, 2018
Delightful, engaging, reflective, exciting and painful at times. I totally enjoyed this book. What struck me most is how she explains that even sharing people's stories of tragedy and loss can become exploitative. Excellent fast pace read.
November 2, 2024
“Reckoning: There is no one coming. There is nothing secure. There is only the unveiling.”
This changed me. There is freedom if we can face the grief of our insecurity.
My own personal reckoning: God is neither good nor perfect. God is just making things, like you and I.
This changed me. There is freedom if we can face the grief of our insecurity.
My own personal reckoning: God is neither good nor perfect. God is just making things, like you and I.
May 12, 2025
My rating means neither good or bad. So far, this is my first heaviest book I’ve finished this year of 2025, devoured in less than 24 hours. My heart feels so heavy for all the atrocities told in this book. It reminds me the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Free Palestine.
Free Palestine.
March 18, 2017
Обожавам Ева Енслър и всичко, което пише! От жена за жена. Лично, естествено. Без захар и консерванти.
June 15, 2017
Challenging to read and difficult to put down. Everyone should read this book. Now.
July 28, 2018
This is a very important subject and I totally respect this author. However, her didactic tone in this book was a bit off putting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews