Women Activism

After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke in the fall of 1919, his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, began to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the chief executive. Mrs. Wilson had had little formal education and had only been married to President Wilson for four years, yet in the tenuous peace following the end of World War I, she dedicated herself to managing the office of the president, reading all correspondence intended for her bedridden husband.

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Leaming answers the question: What was it like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy during the dramatic thousand days of the Kennedy presidency? Here for the first time is the full story of the extravagant interplay of sex and politics that constitutes one of modern history's most spectacular dramas.

Vi kender alle historierne om kongerne – om politik og magt, om arvefølge, alliancer, rænkespil og skandaler. Men hvad med alle de kvinder, der gennem tiderne og udfordringerne stod ved deres side? Denne bog dykker ned i historien og mærker suset fra 600 års kvindelig kongehistorie med små biografier om dronninger og elskerinder – hvem var de, og hvad tænkte de egentlig? Mød alle de kvinder, der stod bag magten, hør deres historie, forstå den tid, de levede i, og lyt til deres stemme.

Publicada en 1974 y escrita cuando tenía 28 años, la autobiografía de Angela Davis es una radiografía fundamental de las luchas sociales en Estados Unidos durante los años sesenta y setenta, periodo en el que se convirtió en un icono del Movimiento de Liberación Negro.

Life in a castle isn’t always a fairytale, as the Duchess of Rutland vividly illustrates in her fascinating, revealing and funny autobiography. When Emma Watkins, the pony-mad daughter of a Welsh farmer, imagined her future it was as the wife of a younger version of her father. But then she fell in love with David Manners, having no idea that he was heir to one of the most senior hereditary titles in the land. When David succeeded his father, against all the odds Emma became the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Rutland.

When Ohio newspapers published the story of Alice Chenoweth's affair with a married man, she changed her name to Helen Hamilton Gardener, moved to New York, and devoted her life to championing women's rights and decrying the sexual double standard. She became one of the most sought-after speakers on the 19th-century lecture circuit, published seven books and countless essays, supported herself, hobnobbed with the most interesting thinkers of her era, visited 22 countries, and was celebrated for her audacious ideas and keen wit.

Ida Tarbell's earliest ambition was to be a biologist. While she put away her microscope in her youth, she continued to investigate people and situations of interest to her throughout her long and productive life. Tarbell was among the first American women to earn a college degree, graduating in 1880. Fiercely independent, she first took a job at a school in a different state. After returning to her family home, she fell into a writing and research assignment with a monthly newsletter.

Growing up under Fascist censorship in Nazi Germany, Ruth Rappaport absorbed a forbidden community of ideas in banned books. After fleeing her home in Leipzig at fifteen and losing both parents to the Holocaust, Ruth drifted between vocations, relationships, and countries, searching for belonging and purpose. When she found her calling in librarianship, Ruth became not only a witness to history but an agent for change as well. This epic true story reveals a driven woman who survived persecution, political unrest, and personal trauma through a love of books....

Anthony Comstock was one of the most important men in the lives of 19th-century women. His eponymous law, passed in 1873, penalized the mailing of contraception and obscenity with long prison sentences and steep fines. Between 1873 and Comstock’s death in 1915, eight remarkable women were charged with violating state and federal Comstock laws. These “sex radicals” supported contraception, sexual education, gender equality, and women’s right to pleasure. Amy Sohn tells the overlooked story of their valiant attempts to fight Comstock in court and in the press.

The women in this book played important roles in history, and their accomplishments span a range of fields, including the literary, the political and the medical. They include Cleopatra, Theodora, Joan of Arc, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Christina, Madame de Maintenon, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony, Sarah Bernhardt, Isadora Duncan, Jane Addams, Helen Keller, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and others.

Not a single country anywhere in the world has achieved gender equality. In more than a few countries, progress for women has stalled or is reversing. Voters in the United States chose a misogynist over a female candidate for president. Yet in many of these countries, the majority of politicians and business leaders profess to believe in gender equality - as well they might. One report predicts a boost to global GDP of £8.3 trillion by 2025 simply by making faster progress towards narrowing the gender gap.

Set during the chaotic years of World War II, The General's Women tells the story of the conflicted relationship between General Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby, his Irish driver/aide, and the impact of that relationship on Mamie Eisenhower and her life in Washington during the war. Told from three alternating points of view (Kay's, Ike's, and Mamie's), the novel charts the deepening of the relationship as Ike and Kay move from England to North Africa to England, France, and Germany before and after the Normandy landing.

Raised in 1950s South London and Norfolk with a white, working-class family, Esua’s education in racial politics was immediate and personal. From Britain and Scandinavia to Italy and Tanzania, she tackled inequality wherever she saw it, establishing an inspiring legacy in the Women’s lib and Black Power movements.

When Ann Richards delivered the keynote of the 1988 Democratic National Convention and mocked President George H. W. Bush - "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth" - she instantly became a media celebrity and triggered a rivalry that would alter the course of American history. In 1990, Richards won the governorship of Texas, upsetting the GOP's colorful rancher and oilman Clayton Williams. The first ardent feminist elected to high office in America, she opened up public service to women, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans, gays, and the disabled.

Shaking up New York and national politics by becoming the first African American congresswoman and, later, the first Black major-party presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm left an indelible mark as an "unbought and unbossed" firebrand and a leader in politics for meaningful change. Chisholm spent her formative years moving between Barbados and Brooklyn, and the development of her political orientation did not follow the standard narratives of the civil rights or feminist establishments.

Blanche Wiesen Cook recreates Eleanor Roosevelt in all of her roles -- as a visionary, an activist, a political wife, and a woman far more independent than we knew. No other First Lady has had a greater influence in the course of democracy in this century, and no other book about Eleanor Roosevelt captures the complexity of her character - her wit, her passion, her boldness, and her commitment to greater dignity and security for all women and men.

A vida de Hannah Arendt se estende por um período imprescindível na história do mundo ocidental, que abrange não apenas a ascensão do regime nazista e as crises da Guerra Fria, mas a formulação de reflexões fundamentais sobre o valor e a culpa da humanidade diante desses episódios. Nesse sentido, suas contribuições intelectuais estão diretamente relacionadas à sua vida, marcada por experiências terríveis, mas também por amor, exílio e saudade.

Un'icona indimenticabile, che questo libro con nuovi capitoli inediti celebra in occasione dei vent’anni dalla morte della principessa Diana. Come sarebbe stato rivelato solo dopo la sua morte, questo libro è stato scritto con la piena collaborazione di Lady D. Andrew Morton, giornalista investigativo, racconta tutta la verità sulla famiglia reale in un ritratto onesto e scevro da pregiudizi di una delle figure femminili più amate, ammirate e influenti del nostro tempo.

For almost two decades before her execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner. From her chambers, she wrote countless letters, many encrypted using complex ciphers to prevent her communications from being intercepted. In this way, she used language to exert her will and her influence, even while incarcerated. More than four hundred years after Mary's death, the discovery of further encoded letters has led to renewed interest in the breadth of her correspondence while in captivity.

Born on Christmas Day, 1936, Princess Alexandra's birth was almost overshadowed by the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII. Yet public affection for this new addition to the Royal Family has only grown during a lifetime of dedicated royal service. In this biography, Helen Cathcart chronicles the first thirty years of Princess Alexandra's life, from the tragic death of her father when she was just five years old to her wartime childhood at Badminton living with her grandmother Queen Mary.