Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear . . . and Why

“Smart ... compelling ... persuasive .” —New York Times Book Review

She’s everywhere once you start looking: the trainwreck.

She’s Britney Spears shaving her head, Whitney Houston saying “crack is whack,” and Amy Winehouse, dying in front of millions. But the trainwreck is also as old (and as meaningful) as feminism itself.

From Mary Wollstonecraft—who, for decades after her death, was more famous for her illegitimate child and suicide attempts than for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—to...