Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol

Holly Whitaker’s Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol is a unique addition to modern addiction literature. In her work, Whitaker candidly describes her own addiction to alcohol while analyzing alcohol’s role in modern society, arguing that sobriety is the best way for individuals to reclaim their health and resist contributing to the unethical actions of alcohol companies. Whitaker’s vulnerable descriptions of her life as an addict and as a newly sober woman imbue her work with the tone of a memoir. She reflects on how she developed her dependency on alcohol, and why she continued returning to it even as she worried that it could be compromising her health, relationships, and self-esteem.

Women’s contributions to this genre continue to grow as women bring their experiences with alcohol to the page. Caroline Knapp’s Drinking: A Love Story, in which Knapp reflects on two decades of alcohol addiction, was a bestseller when it was published in 1996. More recently, other women authors have struck a chord with the public with their reflections on addiction. Sarah Hepola’s 2016