The Best Women's History Month Nonfiction 2024

1. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, (Paperback)

THE BESTSELLING, "REMARKABLE" (MARIE CLAIRE) MEMOIR BY THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE "I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday." When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, (Paperback) Author: Back Bay Books ISBN: 9780316322423 Format: Paperback Publication Date: 2015-06-02 Page Count: 368

2. 2/28/17

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR, ESQUIRE, The LA Times, and NEWSWEEK WINNER OF THE STRANGER GENIUS AWARD Shrill is an uproarious memoir, a feminist rallying cry in a world that thinks gender politics are tedious and that women, especially feminists, can't be funny

Shrill is an uproarious memoir, a feminist rallying cry in a world that thinks gender politics are tedious and that women, especially feminists, can't be funny. Coming of age in a culture that demands women be as small, quiet, and compliant as possible -- like a porcelain dove that will also have sex with you -- writer and humoristLindy West quickly discovered that she was anything but. From a painfully shy childhood in which she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her big body and even bigger opinions; to her public war with stand-up comedians over rape jokes; to her struggle to convince herself, and then the world, that fat people have value; to her accidental activism and never-ending battle royale with Internet trolls, Lindy narrates her life with a blend of humor and pathos that manages to make a trip to the abortion clinic funny and wring tears out of a story about diarrhea. With inimitable good humor, vulnerability, and boundless charm, Lindy boldly shares how to survive in a world where not all stories are created equal and not all bodies are treated with equal respect, and how to weather hatred, loneliness, harassment, and loss, and walk away laughing. Shrill provocatively dissects what it means to become self-aware the hard way, to go from wanting to be silent and invisible to earning a living defending the silenced in all caps.

3. Personal History: A Memoir, (Paperback)

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER - PULTIZER PRIZE WINNER - The captivating inside story of the woman who helmed the Washington Post during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of American media: the scandals of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate In this widely acclaimed memoir ("Riveting, moving...a wonderful book" The New York Times Book Review), Katharine Graham tells her story--one that is extraordinary both for the events it encompasses and for the courage, candor, and dignity of its telling. Here is the awkward child who grew up amid material wealth and emotional isolation; the young bride who watched her brilliant, charismatic husband--a confidant to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson--plunge into the mental illness that would culminate in his suicide. And here is the widow who shook off her grief and insecurity to take on a president and a pressman's union as she entered the profane boys' club of the newspaper business. As timely now as ever, Personal History is an exemplary record of our history and of the woman who played such a shaping role within them, discovering her own strength and sense of self as she confronted--and mastered--the personal and professional crises of her fascinating life.

Personal History: A Memoir, (Paperback) Author: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group ISBN: 9780375701047 Format: Paperback Publication Date: 1998-02-24 Page Count: 690

4. In the Body of the World (Paperback)

Playwright, author, and activist Eve Ensler has devoted her life to the female body--how to talk about it, how to protect and value it. Yet she spent much of her life disassociated from her own body--a disconnection brought on by her father's sexual abuse and her mother's remoteness. Because I did not, could not inhabit my body or the Earth, she writes, I could not feel or know their pain. But Ensler is shocked out of her distance. While working in the Congo, she is shattered to encounter the horrific rape and violence inflicted on the women there. Soon after, she is diagnosed with uterine cancer, and through months of harrowing treatment, she is forced to become first and foremost a body--pricked, punctured, cut, scanned. It is then that all distance is erased. As she connects her own illness to the devastation of the earth, her life force to the resilience of humanity, she is finally, fully--and gratefully--joined to the body of the world. Unflinching, generous, and inspiring, Ensler's In the Body of the World calls on us all to embody our connection to and responsibility for the world.

Playwright, author, and activist Eve Ensler has devoted her life to the female body—how to talk about it, how to protect and value it. Yet she spent much of her life disassociated from her own body—a disconnection brought on by her father's sexual abuse and her mother's remoteness. "Because I did not, could not inhabit my body or the Earth," she writes, "I could not feel or know their pain." But Ensler is shocked out of her distance. While working in the Congo, she is shattered to encounter the horrific rape and violence inflicted on the women there. Soon after, she is diagnosed with uterine cancer, and through months of harrowing treatment, she is forced to become first and foremost a body—pricked, punctured, cut, scanned. It is then that all distance is erased. As she connects her own illness to the devastation of the earth, her life force to the resilience of humanity, she is finally, fully—and gratefully—joined to the body of the world. Unflinching, generous, and inspiring, Ensler's In the Body of the World calls on us all to embody our connection to and responsibility for the world.

5. Justice Leah Ward Sears

The first full biography of Justice Leah Ward Sears, the the first woman and youngest justice to sit on the Supreme Court of Georgia. It explores her childhood, education, early work as an attorney, and her rise through Georgia’s court systems.

Justice Leah Ward Sears

6. Everything It Wants

Note: Latest CD, Even Folk singers get the Blues, also on CDBABY. Quotes for the album: 'I have previewed 'Everything it Wants' several times and each time I discover a new gem' Trevor Hyland, Triple C Radio, Australia 'a real discovery to me...the talent to make people calm, satisfied, and warm inside' Ray Pieters, Belgium Radio 'an Americana gem on pace with the best' Eddie Russell, Country-Eastern Radio, Texas ' 'Everything it wants' came here as one of the most pleasant surprises' Massimo Ferro, Radio Voce Spazio, Italy Bio I was living in Austin, TX from 1980-1993 and during the last few years there I was selling clothes that I made on the drag (Guadalupe St.) across from the University of Texas. I had a communications degree, worked a few 'real jobs' i.e. a flight attendant in L.A., and a writer position in D.C. Then I decided to give it all up and figure out my own thing. One day I was sitting out on the drag and Keith, a fellow vendor offered me a guitar that he said he wanted to get rid of that he wasn't using. I had never tried to play or even considered it, but I figured why not. It would give me something else to do while I was hanging out there at the market. I soon began learning some Joni Mitchell tunes from a song book, then began writing songs of my own. It was a fun time, since I had never planned any of this. Plus, Austin was a great place to be as a new songwriter with all of the various open mikes everywhere. Any day you wrote a new song, there was usually somewhere to go and perform it. I also met a lot of other wonderful songwriters then including Michael Fracasso, Kathi Nordone, Natalie Withers, Kevin Gant, Michele Solberg and many many more. About Everything it Wants Everything it Wants is my 4th independent recording. After recording mostly solo albums I wanted to do something different while still not over-producing. I went back to Austin where I had lived from 1980-1993 to do the recording. After the album came out I received some great encouragement and assistance from radio show hosts that enabled the album to receive airplay throughout Europe and Australia as well as in the U. S. Her recordings include Mindstorms (1995), Coming Back to Life (1998), Another Land (2000), Everything it Wants (2002), and Even Folk Singers get the Blues (2007)

Everything It Wants

7. A Burst of Light and Other Essays (Hardcover)

Moving, incisive, and enduringly relevant writings by the African-American poet and feminist include her thoughts on the radical implications of self-care and living with cancer as well as essays on racism, lesbian culture, and political activism.

"Lorde's words — on race, cancer, intersectionality, parenthood, injustice — burn with relevance 25 years after her death." — O, The Oprah Magazine Winner of the 1988 Before Columbus Foundation National Book Award, this path-breaking collection of essays is a clarion call to build communities that nurture our spirit. Lorde announces the need for a radical politics of intersectionality while struggling to maintain her own faith as she wages a battle against liver cancer. From reflections on her struggle with the disease to thoughts on lesbian sexuality and African-American identity in a straight white man's world, Lorde's voice remains enduringly relevant in today's political landscape. Those who practice and encourage social justice activism frequently quote her exhortation, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." In addition to the journal entries of "A Burst of Light: Living with Cancer," this edition includes an interview, "Sadomasochism: Not About Condemnation," and three essays, "I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities," "Apartheid U.S.A.," and "Turning the Beat Around: Lesbian Parenting 1986," as well as a new Foreword by Sonia Sanchez. "You don't read Audre Lorde, you feel her." — Essence "Lorde's timeless prose in this collection provides contemporary social justice warriors the language, strategies, and lessons around resistance, through the power of intersectionality, a Pan-African vision, and — ultimately — through the power of love and radical self-care." — NBC News "When I don't know what to do, I turn to the Lorde." — Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Bitch Media "Whenever my mind is heavy with questions and my heart thirsts for nourishment, I turn to the writing of Audre Lorde. Every time I revisit the words of Audre Lorde, I marvel over how relevant they continue to be." — AfterEllen.com "The self-described black feminist lesbian mother poet used a mixture of prose, theory, poetry, and experience to interrogate oppressions and uplift marginalized communities. She was one of the first black feminists to target heteronormativity, and to encourage black feminists to expand their understanding of erotic pleasure. She amplified anti-oppression, even as breast cancer ravaged her ailing body." — Evette Dionne, Bustle Magazine "This was my first time reading Audre Lorde (finally!) and now I can't wait to devour everything she ever wrote. This was the kind of book that you end up highlighting so many great quotes, words you want to memorize, apply, breathe. Empowering read." — Litsy