Emotional Labor - Books

Acclaimed humor writer Elissa Bassist's memoir about reclaiming her authentic voice in a culture that doesn't listen to women. Between 2016-2018 she saw 20+ medical professionals for mysterious ailments, until an acupuncturist suggested her physical pain could be caged fury. This is medical mystery, cultural criticism, and rallying cry. Semi-finalist for 2023 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

First-generation Filipino American author Angela Garbes combines memoir with cultural analysis to critically examine mothering expectations and assumptions, revealing how American society depends on yet often overlooks the essential contributions of mothers and family caregivers.

Explores how pleasure and joy can become central to social justice work, advocating for liberation politics based on body wisdom and collective delight.

Contemporary queen of memoir-theory fusion Maggie Nelson turns her lens on identity, desire, and family. This instant classic recounts Nelson's relationship with her partner, artist Harry Dodge. Through intimate documentation of family life and pregnancy, Nelson presents a complex portrait of modern queer motherhood with blurred boundaries.

Deeply analyzes how patriarchy harms men, explores how men can participate in feminist movements, and advocates for building new masculinity based on love and equality.

Redefining the meaning of love, exploring how love can become the foundation for resisting oppression and building a just society, proposing an ethic of love as the core of social transformation.

The myth of the wild woman exists in various cultures, from fairy tales to folk legends. Often she is portrayed as a fearsome being, but in Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés's assessment, she is something completely different: an inner leader and behavioral pattern capable of guiding women on their own healing journey. First published in 1992, Women Who Run with the Wolves earned Estés praise from many of her feminist contemporaries—including Alice Walker and Maya Angelou, two other authors on this list.

This groundbreaking book introduces the concept of 'emotional labor' through an examination of how service workers, particularly flight attendants, are required to manage their emotions as part of their job. Hochschild explores how capitalism commercializes human feelings and the gendered implications of emotional work in the modern economy.