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Book Lists

Book Lists

Book Lists for Adults

Book Lists for Adults

Women's Rights

A collection of works on feminism and women's issues.

Davis, Angela Y. (Angela Yvonne), 1944- author.
305.42 DAV
Feminist organizing by marginalized populations such as queer, anticapitalist, and non-white women, has pushed for abolition as a response to forms of state and interpersonal gender and sexual violence, but have largely been erased from this political moment. Leading scholar-activists trace historical genealogies, internationalist learnings, and everyday practices to grow our collective present and future that don't include police or new jails.

Solnit, Rebecca, author.
303.4 SOL
With Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argued that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next.

Rowe-Finkbeiner, Kristin, author.
305.42 ROW
"Keep Marching is a practical guide and highly researched examination of the barriers that hold women back-and how to overcome them... This book provides proven tactics, policy solutions, and strategies any woman can use to build her power. Did you know that: one in three women have experienced some form of sexual assault?; when a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises?; the U.S. doesn't have paid family/medical leave but 177 other countries do? Keep Marching calls on all badass women for justice to come together and rise.

Sexton, Jared Yates, author.
818.603 SEX
"Based on his provocative and popular New York Times op-ed, The Man They Wanted Me to Be is both memoir and cultural analysis. Jared Yates Sexton alternates between an examination of his working class upbringing and historical, psychological, and sociological sources that examine the genesis of toxic masculinity and its consequences for society. As progressivism changes American society, and globalism shifts labor away from traditional manufacturing, the roles that have been prescribed to men since the Industrial Revolution have been rendered as obsolete. Donald Trump's campaign successfully leveraged male resentment and entitlement, and now, with Trump as president and the rise of the #MeToo movement, it's clearer than ever what a problem performative masculinity is. Deeply personal and thoroughly researched, The Man They Wanted Me to Be examines how we teach boys what's expected of men in America, and the long term effects of that socialization--which include depression, suicide, misogyny, and, ultimately, shorter lives. Sexton turns his keen eye to the establishment of the racist patriarchal structure which has favored white men, and investigates the personal and societal dangers of such outdated definitions of manhood"-- Provided by publisher.

Oluo, Ijeoma, author.
305.3109 OLU
A history of American white male identity by the author of "So You Want to Talk About Race" imagines a merit-based, non-discriminating model while exposing the actual costs of successes defined by racial and sexual dominance.

Doyle, Sady, author.
YA 305.40973 DOY
"From Mary Wollstonecraft--who, for decades after her death, was more famous for her illegitimate child and suicide attempts than for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman--to Charlotte Brontèˆ, Billie Holiday, Sylvia Plath, and even Hillary Clinton, [this book] dissects a centuries-old phenomenon and asks what it means now, in a time when we have unprecedented access to celebrities and civilians alike, and when women are pushing harder than ever against the boundaries of what it means to 'behave'"--Amazon.com.

Friedman, Jaclyn, author.
305.420973 FRI
"What bestselling authors like Sheryl Sandberg and Brigid Schulte have done for women's work lives, Jaclyn Friedman does here for women's sexuality: spark a culture-wide rethink about what's accepted as normal, urging us all to try for something better. Not only that: she does it with warmth, irreverence, and candor reminiscent of Roxane Gay in Bad Feminist, and the fiery conviction of her own co-edited anthology Yes Means Yes! In Unscrewed, Friedman reveals that the anxiety and fear women in our country feel around issues of their sexuality are not, in fact, their fault, but instead are side effects of our toxic culture. Dubbed the "era of fauxpowerment," that culture gives women the illusion of sexual power, with no actual power to support it. Exploring where media, religion, politics, and education overlap with feminist issues, Unscrewed breaks down the causes and signs of fauxpowerment, then gives readers tools to take it on themselves"-- Provided by publisher.

West, Lindy, author.
305.31 WES
"This is a witch hunt. We're witches, and we're hunting you. From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: this is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author of the New York Times bestselling memoir and now critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill, Lindy West, turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You've got one. In a laugh-out-loud, incisive cultural critique, West extolls the world-changing magic of truth, urging readers to reckon with dark lies in the heart of the American mythos, and unpacking the complicated, and sometimes tragic, politics of not being a white man in the 21st century. She tracks the misogyny and propaganda hidden (or not so hidden) in the media she and her peers devoured growing up, a buffet of distortions, delusions, prejudice, and outright bullsh*t that has allowed white male mediocrity to maintain a death grip on American culture and politics -- and that delivered us to this precarious, disorienting moment in history. West writes, "We were just a hair's breadth from electing America's first female president to succeed America's first black president. We weren't done, but we were doing it. And then, true to form -- like the Balrog's whip catching Gandalf by his little gray bootie, like the husband in a Lifetime movie hissing, 'If I can't have you, no one can' -- white American voters shoved an incompetent, racist con-man into the White House." We cannot understand how we got here -- how the land of the free became Trump's America -- without examining the chasm between who we are and who we think we are, without fact-checking the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other. The truth can transform us; there is witchcraft in it. Lindy West turns on the light."--provided by publisher.

Zimmerman, Jess, author.
155.3338 ZIM
"This essay collection uses female monsters from Greek mythology to explore traits that women are taught to suppress, and encourage readers to embrace them instead"-- Provided by publisher.