‘As long as war is the result of the inequality of men and women, as long as it is the result of the deprivation of education, knowledge, and freedom for women, women will remain one of the chief instruments of its perpetuation.’

Published in 1938, Three Guineas is Virginia Woolf’s powerful reckoning with war and tyranny, wherein she argues that women’s rights are inherently linked to the struggle against violence.

An extended essay initially written in response to a letter pondering how to end war, Three Guineas eloquently relates women’s equal opportunity to the end of the power structures which contribute to conflict. Using the metaphor of three guineas, Woolf highlights three worthy causes to donate to in order to end violence: rebuilding education for women, supporting professional opportunities for women and the promotion of pacifism. Woolf convincingly recounts the ways in which patriarchal systems and economic inequality paralyse women in society, and devastatingly contribute to the conditions that lead to war. In order to live in a more peaceful world, one which advocates for feminism, anti-fascism and educational reform, Woolf movingly argues that empowering women is absolutely key. This audiobook edition is expertly read by Rachel Atkins.

Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) was one of the most significant novelists of the twentieth century. A modernist writer and progressive thinker, she is known for her stream of consciousness narrative style and influence on feminist criticism. Her works have been translated into over fifty languages and are widely read and adapted to this day.