FemResThe Living Review

Media index

Women's HistoryBooks

11
items
01

Books · Mar 2021

Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate

Leila Ahmed

Leila Ahmed traces how gender norms in Muslim societies were formed through changing social orders, legal interpretation, colonial power, and modern nationalist debate rather than by a single timeless religious command.

02

Books · Jun 2020

Qiuyuan

秋园Yang Benfen

Qiuyuan is the debut work of Chinese amateur author Yang Benfen, written at the age of 80. Centered on the life of the author's mother Liang Qiufang (nicknamed Qiuyuan), it tells the story of an ordinary Chinese woman who lived through war, famine, and political upheaval throughout the 20th century. This is a moving work about women, memory, and history, as well as a heartfelt retrieval of the countless Chinese women lost to history.

03

Books · Mar 2019

The Island of Sea Women

Lisa See

A sweeping historical novel set on the Korean island of Jeju, following the intersecting fates of two female divers over several decades. From the Japanese colonial era through the Korean War and into the present, the story depicts the resilient lives, solidarity, and ultimate forgiveness of women caught in the tides of history.

04

Books · Mar 2018

Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet

Claire L. Evans

From early computing and programming languages to network directories and online communities, Claire L. Evans reconstructs women’s history as programmers, infrastructure maintainers, and creators of internet culture.

05

Books · Oct 2015

My Life on the Road

Gloria Steinem

A memoir by legendary feminist activist Gloria Steinem, chronicling her decades of travel and the conversations she held with the people she met along the way. It beautifully illustrates how moving, listening, and organizing can transform the world and shape the self.

06

Books · Apr 2013

Mom & Me & Mom

Maya Angelou

The final autobiography written by the legendary poet Maya Angelou. Addressing her early abandonment by her mother, years of estrangement, and a dramatic eventual reconciliation, this work beautifully maps how one woman learned to be independent, to forgive, and to blossom into a world-renowned writer through the complexities of maternal love.

07

Books · Oct 2012

Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing

Janet Abbate

Janet Abbate traces the historical shift from women’s high participation in computing work to the formation of masculinized professional identity.

08

Books · Oct 2002

Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons

Lynn Peril

The madness known as the 'ideal womanhood' imposed on American women throughout the 20th century. This sociological entertainment dismantles etiquette education, strange beauty regimens, and patriarchal social expectations through extensive archival research and sharp humor.

09

Books · Jan 2000

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi

An autobiographical graphic novel depicting the tumultuous years of the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War through the eyes of a young girl. It explores a rebellious spirit seeking freedom, identity struggles, and oppression by state power. A deeply human and powerful record of resilience told through stark black-and-white drawings.

10

Books · Jan 1996

Transgender Warrior: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman

Leslie Feinberg

A monumental work of non-fiction intended to reclaim transgender history and pride. Covering from ancient communities to contemporary activism, it reveals through abundant illustrations how gender diversity has been suppressed and how it has been fought for with unyielding will.

11

Books · Sep 1995

Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought

Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Ed.)

A record of the soul's cry and intellectual legacy of Black women thinkers from the 19th century to the present. A monumental anthology that can be called a canon of Black Feminism, gathering the 'Words of Fire' spoken to shatter the triple constraints of racism, sexism, and class oppression.