The Best Women in Politics Books 2025

1. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics. It's a wonderful, necessary book. - Hillary Clinton The four most powerful African American women in politics share the story of their friendship and how it has changed politics in America. The lives of black women in American politics are remarkably absent from the shelves of bookstores and libraries. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics is a sweeping view of American history from the vantage points of four women who have lived and worked behind the scenes in politics for over thirty years--Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, and Minyon Moore--a group of women who call themselves The Colored Girls. Like many people who have spent their careers in public service, they view their lives in four-year waves where presidential campaigns and elections have been common threads. For most of the Colored Girls, their story starts with Jesse Jackson's first campaign for president. From there, they went on to work on the presidential campaigns of Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Over the years, they've filled many roles: in the corporate world, on campaigns, in unions, in churches, in their own businesses and in the White House. Through all of this, they've worked with those who have shaped our country's history--US Presidents such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, well-known political figures such as Terry McAuliffe and Howard Dean, and legendary activists and historical figures such as Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, and Betty Shabazz. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics is filled with personal stories that bring to life heroic figures we all know and introduce us to some of those who've worked behind the scenes but are still hidden. Whatever their perch, the Colored Girls are always focused on the larger goal of hurrying history so that every American -- regardless of race, gender or religious background -- can have a seat at the table. This is their story.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

2. Forgetting to Be Afraid [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. On the 26 June 2013, Texas state senator Wendy Davis became an overnight political sensation and a hero to womens' rights supporters across the country. Davis stood and spoke on the floor of the state legislature for nearly 11 hours to run out the clock on a sweeping bill that aimed to close all but five abortion clinics in Texas. Now, Davis is making a serious run to become the first Democratic governor of Texas in nearly two decades. With her singular narrative and tremendously exciting political future, this is bound to be the political memoir of the year.

Forgetting to Be Afraid [Hardcover - Used]

3. Women and Elective Office : Past, Present, and Future, Used [Paperback]

The first and second editions of Women and Elective Office: Past, Present and Future offered the latest research on women as candidates and officeholders at those moments in time. Focusing on candidates, officeholders, and context, each edition of offered a comprehensive look at where womenstood, what brought them to those points, and what their prospects were during the 21st century. Each edition also sought to illuminate the diversity of women officeholders' experiences and circumstances with up-to-the-minute research. The Third edition retains the successful elements of the firsttwo editions, and expands the offerings to include the latest political events and the latest research, such as:* Chapters on Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the presidency* A chapter on women governors* A chapter on local candidates and officeholders* Chapters on the diversity of women including women of color, lesbian candidates and officeholders, and conservative women candidates and officeholders* A chapter on women's political ambition* A chapter on the women in judicial seats

Women and Elective Office : Past, Present, and Future, Used [Paperback]

4. Want to Start a Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, Used [Paperback]

The story of the black freedom struggle in America has been overwhelmingly male-centric, starring leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Huey Newton. With few exceptions, black women have been perceived as supporting actresses; as behind-the-scenes or peripheral activists, or rank and file party members. But what about Vicki Garvin, a Brooklyn-born activist who became a leader of the National Negro Labor Council and guide to Malcolm X on his travels through Africa? What about Shirley Chisholm, the first black Congresswoman? From Rosa Parks and Esther Cooper Jackson, to Shirley Graham DuBois and Assata Shakur, a host of women demonstrated a lifelong commitment to radical change, embracing multiple roles to sustain the movement, founding numerous groups and mentoring younger activists. Helping to create the groundwork and continuity for the movement by operating as local organizers, international mobilizers, and charismatic leaders, the stories of the women profiled in Want to Start a Revolution? help shatter the pervasive and imbalanced image of women on the sidelines of the black freedom struggle. Contributors: Margo Natalie Crawford, Prudence Cumberbatch, Johanna Fern ndez, Diane C. Fujino, Dayo F. Gore, Joshua Guild, Gerald Horne, Ericka Huggins, Angela D. LeBlanc-Ernest, Joy James, Erik McDuffie, Premilla Nadasen, Sherie M. Randolph, James Smethurst, Margaret Stevens, and Jeanne Theoharis.

Want to Start a Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, Used [Paperback]

5. Set the World on Fire : Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom, Used [Paperback]

In 1932, Mittie Maude Lena Gordon spoke to a crowd of black Chicagoans at the old Jack Johnson boxing ring, rallying their support for emigration to West Africa. In 1937, Celia Jane Allen traveled to Jim Crow Mississippi to organize rural black workers around black nationalist causes. In the late 1940s, from her home in Kingston, Jamaica, Amy Jacques Garvey launched an extensive letter-writing campaign to defend the Greater Liberia Bill, which would relocate 13 million black Americans to West Africa. Gordon, Allen, and Jacques Garvey--as well as Maymie De Mena, Ethel Collins, Amy Ashwood, and Ethel Waddell--are part of an overlooked and understudied group of black women who take center stage in Set the World on Fire , the first book to examine how black nationalist women engaged in national and global politics from the early twentieth century to the 1960s. Historians of the era generally portray the period between the Garvey movement of the 1920s and the Black Power movement of the 1960s as one of declining black nationalist activism, but Keisha N. Blain reframes the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War as significant eras of black nationalist--and particularly, black nationalist women's--ferment. In Chicago, Harlem, and the Mississippi Delta, from Britain to Jamaica, these women built alliances with people of color around the globe, agitating for the rights and liberation of black people in the United States and across the African diaspora. As pragmatic activists, they employed multiple protest strategies and tactics, combined numerous religious and political ideologies, and forged unlikely alliances in their struggles for freedom. Drawing on a variety of previously untapped sources, including newspapers, government records, songs, and poetry, Set the World on Fire highlights the flexibility, adaptability, and experimentation of black women leaders who demanded equal recognition and participation in global civil society.

Set the World on Fire : Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom, Used [Paperback]

6. Women and Political Participation, Used [Paperback]

Women&BAD:'s participation in the United States is shaped by the changing landscape of the country&BAD:'s cultural history. Through an exploration of the political socialization of women, the authors give students a powerful way to understand the gender gap in political attitudes, patterns of women&BAD:'s political participation, and women as members of the political elite.For this new second edition the authors have updated every chapter with new content and data. Greater coverage of the interaction of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and age is integrated throughout and alongside additional material on feminism, Title IX, origins of the gender gap, and more on agents of socialization.

Women and Political Participation : Cultural Change in the Political Arena, Used [Paperback]

7. The Grandes Dames [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Astor. Rockefeller. McCormick. Belmont. All family names that still adorn buildings, streets and charity foundations. While the men blazed across America with their oil, industry, and railways, the matriarchs founded art museums, opera houses, and symphony houses that functioned almost as private clubs. These women ruled American society with a style and impact that make today s socialites seem pale reflections of their forbears. Linked by money, marriage, privilege, power and class, they formed a grand American matriarchy that dominated the social and cultural life of the nation between the 1870s and the Second World War. The Grandes Damesof America knew just what they wanted and precisely how to get it, and when faced with criticism, malice or jealousy, they would rise above their detractors and usually persevere. Preeminent social historian Stephen Birmingham takes us into the drawing rooms of these powerful women, providing keen insights into aspects of an American Society that no longer exists. Caroline Astor, when asked for her fare boarding a street car, responded, No thank you, I have my own favorite charities. Edith Effie Stern decided that no existing school would do for her child, so she had a new one built. And the legendary Isabella Stewart Gardner replied to a contemporary who was overly taken with their Mayflower ancestors: Of course, immigration laws are much more strict nowadays. These women had looks, manner, and style, but more than that they had presence there was a sense that when one of them entered a room, something momentous was about to occur. Birmingham opens a window to the highest levels of American society with these eight profiles of American royalty ."

The Grandes Dames, Used [Hardcover]

8. Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence, Used [Paperback]

Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence examines the role of women in politics from the early women's movement to the female politicians in power today. Focusing on women whose stories have not yet been told, this book includes new analysis and scholarship on the experiences and viewpoints of conservative women, women of color, LGBT women, and millennial women. Students will gain historical insight into how women have achieved political power and how they have influenced the American political system at the state, local, and national levels, in each branch of government. Engaging profiles of the key players who have shaped our political system are interwoven with an analysis of the most recent election data to provide a comprehensive and unbiased introduction to the study of women and politics.

Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence, Used [Paperback]

9. Women in Western Political Thought, Used [Paperback]

The description for this book, Women in Western Political Thought, will be forthcoming.

Women in Western Political Thought, Used [Paperback]

10. Stepping Up To Power: The Political Journey Of Women In America [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Harriett Woods insists that it will take more than a woman president to assure that women have effective political power in the next millennium. Stepping Up to Power looks backward in order to move women forward; Woods believes that getting more women to enter the political arena will take both their commitment and a knowledge of the past. The author uses her own life story to recall how women excluded from public life were fired by their determination to solve local problems and by their passion for social issues. Decade by decade, from the 1950s to the present, Woods candidly discusses the positive and negative aspects of pivotal events leading to a triumphant moment when women believe they finally have broken through to real political power-only to discover that new challenges remain.The author examines some of the myths about women as voters and candidates; tells stories about such colorful figures as Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan; provides step-by-step advice on becoming a candidate; and describes from her own personal experience such moments as the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, the 1992 "Year of the Woman," the appointments of Janet Reno and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and her own breakthrough race for the U.S. Senate in Missouri in 1982. Stepping Up to Power will fascinate general readers as well as students of women's history. America has been transformed by a revolution that has changed the personal and public relationships between men and women. The question remains: How will women use the power they have gained? Stepping Up to Power provides an inspiring answer.

Stepping up to Power : The Political Journey of Women in America, Used [Hardcover]