Women Activism

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.

La llegada al trono de Isabel II, cuando aún era una niña, suscitó una guerra civil y abrió el camino para la ruptura liberal con el absolutismo. Reinó bajo la larga sombra de una madre poderosa que la despreciaba, de un marido que la odiaba y de unos partidos liberales que, incapaces de entenderse entre ellos, trataron de manipularla en beneficio propio.

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.

She charmed America with her smart, likable, down-to-earth personality as she campaigned for her husband, then vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. She inspired millions as she valiantly fought advanced breast cancer after being diagnosed only days before the 2004 election. She touched hundreds of similarly grieving families when her own son, Wade, died tragically at age 16 in 1996.

A feminist biography of the only woman to become prime minister of Israel In this authoritative and empathetic biography, Pnina Lahav reexamines the life of Golda Meir (1898-1978) through a feminist lens, focusing on her recurring role as a woman standing alone among men. The Only Woman in the Room is the first book to contend with Meir’s full identity as a woman, Jew, Zionist leader, and one of the founders of Israel, providing a richer portrait of her persona and legacy.

Cuando decides denunciar las injustas muertes de la gente de tu comunidad e inicias un movimiento revolucionario, tal vez algunos te llamen terrorista. Esto es lo que les sucedió a Patrisse Khan-Cullors y Asha Bandele, entre otros muchos activistas, cuando decidieron impulsar el movimiento Black Lives Matter, el cual incendió las redes sociales en 2013 tras la absolución de George Zimmerman por la muerte del adolescente afroamericano Trayvon Martin.

New York Times best-selling author Charlotte Pence pays tribute to her father, revealing the lessons he has taught her from his rich spiritual life. Through favorite memories from childhood and vivid moments captured on the campaign trail, like the times she helped her dad prepare for debates, Charlotte offers a compelling story of love, hope, and how to overcome adversity.

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 captivating blend of personal history detailing Eleanor’s struggle with issues of marriage, motherhood, financial independence, and femininity, and a vibrant portrait of one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world, this unique work examines the ways that the sensibility, mood, and various inhabitants of the neighborhood influenced the First Lady’s perception of herself and shaped her political views over four decades, up to her death in 1962.

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.

In the 1950s, a young Ngāhuia is fostered by a family who believe in hard work and community. Although close to her kuia, she craves more: she wants higher education and refined living. But whānau dismiss her dreams. To them, she is just a show-off, always getting into trouble, talking back and running away. In this fiery memoir about identity and belonging, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku describes what was possible for a restless working-class girl from the pā.

Mary Beth Rogers has led an eventful life rooted in the weeds of Texas politics, occasionally savoring a few victories—particularly the 1990 governor's race when, as campaign manager for Ann Richards, she did the impossible and put a Democratic woman in office. She also learned to absorb her losses—after all, she was a liberal feminist in America's most aggressively conservative state. Rogers shares both public and private memories of how she tried to maintain a rich family life with growing children and a husband with a debilitating illness.

Lauri Fitz-Pegado explores her life's journey, and how her training in dance helped establish the skills—balance, endurance, perseverance—that informed her approach to the challenges that she faced, both professionally and personally, as an African American woman. This memoir is particularly relevant today, during our national conversation reassessing our assumptions, our past, as well as our path forward. In telling her story, the author reveals her insights and observations about history and its consequences, about opportunity and obstacles, and about loss and redemption.

In this third volume of her memoirs, Eleanor Roosevelt, perhaps the best-loved woman of her time, shares the experiences—private and public—of her life in the 13 years since the death of her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She describes in intimate detail the problems she had to solve after her husband’s death, winding up his affairs, and working out a pattern for her new life.

Isabel de Castilla es un personaje absolutamente poliédrico. Autoritaria y firme en sus convicciones, impulsó la aventura colombina, y se abrió a la incipiente cultura renacentista. Fue también una madre afectuosa y una esposa enamorada que conoció - como luego su hija Juana - el tormento de los celos, pero que no dudó a la hora de reservarse el gobierno del reino que le era propio aún a despecho de su esposo, Fernando de Aragón. Una visión íntima y cercana de la reina más poderosa de su tiempo.