Women Memoirs

Living legend and lifelong activist Billie Jean King talks about what it takes to stand up and fight for equality, regardless of the circumstances. Fifty years ago, King and eight other female tennis players, known as the Original Nine, bravely put their careers and reputations on the line to fight for equal pay and equal footing for women’s tennis, with the indispensable help of promoter Gladys Heldman, the founder and publisher of World Tennis magazine, and the groundbreaking sponsorship of Joseph Cullman III, the CEO of the Philip Morris Company.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Stephen Hawking’s closest collaborator offers the intellectual superstar’s final thoughts on the cosmos—a dramatic revision of the theory he put forward in A Brief History of Time. “This superbly written book offers insight into an extraordinary individual...

From 2000 to 2010, River Selby was a wildland firefighter whose given name was Anastasia. This is a memoir of that time in their life—of Ana, the struggles she encountered, and the contours of what it meant to be female-bodied in a male-dominated profession. Hotshot is a work of intimacy and authority, nimbly merging a personal journey of reinvention and self-acceptance with expert insight into the textured history of ecological systems and Indigenous land tending.

Natalie MacLean, a bestselling wine writer, is shocked when her husband of twenty years, a high-powered CEO, demands a divorce. Then an online mob of rivals comes for her career. Wavering between despair and determination, she must fight for her son, rebuild her career, and salvage her self-worth using her superpowers: heart, humor, and an uncanny ability to pair wine and food.

In this inspiring and moving book, Ronda Rousey, Olympic medalist in judo, reigning UFC women's bantamweight champion, and Hollywood star, describes her difficult path to glory. Marked by her signature charm, barbed wit, and undeniable power, Rousey's account of the toughest fights of her life - in and outside the Octagon - reveals the painful loss of her father when she was eight years old, the intensity of her judo training, her battles with love, her meteoric rise to fame, and the secret behind her undefeated UFC record.

Until Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney opened her studio on Eight Street in Manhattan in 1914 - which evolved into the Whitney Museum almost two decades later - there were few art museums in the United States, let alone galleries for contemporary artists to exhibit their work. When the mansions of the wealthy cried out for art they sought it from Europe, then the art capital of the world. It was in her tiny sculptor’s studio in Greenwich Village that Whitney began holding exhibitions of contemporary American Artists. This remarkable effort by a scion of America’s wealthiest family helped to change the way art was cultivated in America.

Stacyann Chin has appeared on television and radio, including The Oprah Winfrey Show , CNN, and PBS, discussing issues of race and sexuality. But it is her extraordinary voice that launched her career as a performer, poet, and activist. Here, she shares her unforgettable story of triumph against all odds in this brave and fiercely candid memoir.

No one knew Staceyann's mother was pregnant until a dangerously small baby was born on the floor of her grandmother's house in Jamaica, on Christmas Day.

In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life for the first time the fascinating woman behind the iconic yellow label: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin. A young witness to the dramatic events of the French Revolution and a new widow during the chaotic years of the Napoleonic Wars, Barbe-Nicole defied convention by assuming---after her husband's death---the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured.

Throughout history, countless women have boldly stepped out in faith and courage, leaving their indelible mark on those around them and on the kingdom of God. In lively prose, Michelle DeRusha tells their stories, bringing into focus 50 incredible heroines of the faith. From Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, and Anne Hutchison, to Susanna Wesley, Harriet Tubman, and Corrie ten Boom, women both famous and admirable live again under DeRusha's expert pen.

For comedian and content creator Manon Mathews, comedy is life. But it took more than luck for her hilarious antics on Vine to open the door to her career. It took years of routinely embarrassing herself, improv classes, some stints as an amateur stand-up comic, unrelenting dedication, and one life-altering night out that forced her to change her ways. This set her on the path to manifesting her dream life.

Lorsque sur un coup de tête, Cheryl Strayed boucle son sac à dos, elle n'a aucune idée de ce qui l'attend. Tout ce qu'elle sait, c'est que sa vie est un désastre. Entre une mère trop aimée, brutalement disparue, un divorce douloureux et un lourd passé de junkie, Cheryl vacille. Pour tenir debout et affronter les fantômes de son passé, elle choisit de s'en remettre à la nature et de marcher. Elle part seule pour une randonnée de mille sept cents kilomètres sur le Chemin des crêtes du Pacifique, un parcours abrupt et sauvage de l'Ouest américain.

The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was forty-four years old when she broke with the academic tradition in which she had been trained to produce a body of radical, abstract works the likes of which had never been seen before. Today, it is widely accepted that af Klint was one of the earliest abstract academic painters in Europe. But this is only part of her story. Not only was she a working female artist, she was also an avowed clairvoyant and mystic.

The frank and revealing memoir of a writer who draws from her own creativity to heal. "I believe our bodies are carriers of experience," Lidia Yuknavitch writes in her provocative memoir Reading the Waves. "I mean to ask if there is a way to read my own past differently, using what I have...

Charity Gaye Finnestad is a small-town girl with big dreams: to go to Los Angeles and make it as a writer. With only enough money to survive 60 days, she packs her bags, says goodbye to an unhappy marriage, and hits the road in search of her destiny. Struggling to pay the rent with occasional modeling jobs, Charity suddenly finds herself privy to a high-flying, fast-paced life - sipping champagne at exclusive parties with A-list celebrities in the Hollywood Hills by night, and shopping at the 99-Cent Store by day to stretch her tiny budget.

A life of Matilda - empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages.

Endless Quest: Where Is My Dad At? is a heartfelt exploration of the emotional and psychological scars left by fatherlessness, interwoven with hope, faith, and resilience. Vivienne D'amour invites readers on a deeply personal journey that resonates with countless untold stories of children grappling with absent parents. In this inspiring memoir, she examines the complexities of single-parent households, and the longing for connection, revealing the silent battles children face in their search for love and validation.

People ask Kelly Osbourne all the time: “What’s your secret?” Kelly Osbourne may not always have been a typical role model, but no one can say that her perspective isn’t hard won after spending three decades in the spotlight: from growing up completely exposed to the heavy metal...

This story is about an Italian Catholic family that came to America on vacation and never returned to their homeland. When their youngest unwed daughter became pregnant, her family disowned her. It was 1949. Abortions were illegal. She was 17 when she gave birth. She was my mother...This audiobook chronicles the effects the birth of an unwanted child had on three families and three generations. The audiobook tells you about the bad decisions I made along the way, and the price I paid because of them.

Over the years that Chloé Caldwell had been married and hoping to conceive a child, she’d read everything she could find on infertility. But no memoir or message board reflected her experience; for one thing, most stories ended with in vitro fertilization, a baby, or both. She wanted to offer something different. Caldwell began a book. She imagined a selective journal about her experience coping with stasis and uncertainty. Is it time to quit coffee, find a new acupuncturist, get another blood test?

Profoundly honest and moving, Kihiani is the uplifting story of an Inuk artist’s journey to healing and self-discovery Born in Fort Churchill, Manitoba, but raised in Arviat, a predominantly Inuit community on the western edges of Hudson Bay, Susan and her six siblings grew up in a humble but...