Book Cellar Dubai: The Women Are Up to Something

Benjamin Lipscomb’s 2021 book draws on a recently opened archives and extensive correspondence and interviews with those who knew them best to tell the story of four lifelong friends who met at university and made their mark in a male-dominated world. It’s inimical to summarise their philosophical views in a sentence, but maybe you could say they argued for the objectivity of ethics, that it possible to live a good life based on courage, discernment and justice (as opposed to being merely an inert values-free body waiting to be pushed in one direction or another). Some have argued that Lipscomb flattened the philosophical debate in favour of drawing four fascinating real-life people; but it’s still a great read … A good book club choice.