Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton have many things in common. They're both daughters of Presidents, they're mothers, they're wealthy, the list goes on. This year, they released books, but their ideas weren't original. In fact, it can be argued that they stole their book ideas to cash in on the modern-day feminist movement.
Ms. Trump's book, “Women Who Work,” which is billed as a manual to help working women navigate their careers, has received harsh reviews from NPR, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and the Washintong Post.
The New York Times calls it "a strawberry milkshake of inspirational quotes" and "is the sort of feminism that drives some women bananas, having less to do with structural change than individual fulfillment and accessorizing properly."
Washington Post reviewer, Robin Givhan, ends her review with "This book is earnest. But that doesn’t make it particularly thoughtful or impactful. The same might ultimately be said of its author."
In addition to using quotes by other individuals, advice from outside experts, and TED Talks, the title of Ms. Trump's book comes from the hashtag, #WomenWhoWork, which was created by her clothing company’s former Chief Marketing Officer, Marissa Velez Kraxberger, and her team.
"The company and the #WomenWhoWork platform we created was meant to inspire and encourage women to work at all aspects of their lives and live the lives they wanted to live, but before our eyes she took the platform and made it all about herself." Ms. Kraxberger wrote in an October 2016 Facebook post.
On the other hand, Chelsea Clinton and Penguin Random House are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit from writer, Christopher Janes Kimberley, for her new children's book, "She Persisted." The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the Southern District of New York.
According to the NY Post, Mr. Kimberley, who is seeking up to $150,000 in damages and any profit the book has earned, said that he did months of "painstaking research" on his children's book, "A Heart Is the Part That Makes Boys And Girls Smart," which shares the same premise as Ms. Clintons. "Her version looks like a ninth-grade homework assignment."
The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Kimberley sent the proposal for his illustrated children's book to Penguin Random House in May 2013, but instead of responding, the president of Penguin Young Readers, Jennifer Loja, gave the idea to Ms. Clinton.
Ms. Clinton's book, published May 30, features 13 inspiring American women who have helped shape the United States and contains quotes from Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, and Nellie Bly. Mr. Kimberley's book has a section called "The Quotable Questionnaire" which contains quotes from various inspirational women, including Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, and Nellie Bly.
Both "Women Who Work" and "She Persisted" are bestsellers. Another thing Ms. Trump and Ms. Clinton have in common.
