For Women’s History Month: 100 Must-Read Books

Women writers are now the dominant force in the literary landscape. And we certainly do not need an occasion to recognize, celebrate and recommend them. One month is surely not enough to highlight the amazingness of women. Some have pushed boundaries, affected change, and redefined roles. While others have complicated our understanding of what it means to be powerful. 

But March is Women’s History Month. 

And in honor of Women’s History Month, we have compiled a list of 100 books by and about women who ground us, inspire us, and give us courage. 

Our featured list will be published in two parts. And calls attention to the diverse nature of the female experience. We have got you covered. From early feminist novels to compelling modernist prose; from passionate activists to groundbreaking rockers. 

Fun Fact:
Did you know that Women’s History Month began as Women’s History Week? And In 1987, it became “Women’s History Month.”
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Virginia Trimble & Edward a Weintraub: The Sky Is for Everyone: Women Astronomers in Their Own Words

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Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 

Sylvana Tomaselli: Wollstonecraft: Philosophy, Passion, and Politics

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Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own 

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Manon Garcia: We Are Not Born Submissive: How Patriarchy Shapes Women’s Lives

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bell hooks: Feminism Is for Everybody 

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Hannah Wilke: Art for Life’s Sake

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Kate Bornstein: Gender Outlaw

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Dorothy Sue Cobble: For the Many: American Feminists and the Global Fight for Democratic Equality

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Roxane Gay: Bad Feminist 

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Madame d’Aulnoy: The Island of Happiness: Tales of Madame d’Aulnoy

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Louisa May Alcott: Little Women 

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Claudia Goldin: Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity

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Rebecca Solnit: Men Explain Things to Me 

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Galawdewos: The Life of Walatta-Petros: A Seventeenth-Century Biography of an African Woman, Concise Edition

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Janet Mock: Redefining Realness Redefining Realness 

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Votes for Women: A Portrait of PersistenceA Portrait of Persistence

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Audre Lorde: Sister OutsiderSister Outsider  

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Safiya Sinclair: CannibalCannibal

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Sylvia Plath: The Bell JarThe Bell Jar 

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Angela Carter: The Bloody ChamberThe Bloody Chamber 

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Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison: Respect

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Multiple Writers: This Bridge Called My Back 

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Sallie Tisdale: Violation

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Germaine Greer: The Female Eunuch 

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Lucia Berlin: A Manual for Cleaning Women 

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Eve Ensler: The Vagina Monologues 

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Anne Lister: The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

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Alice Walker: In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens 

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Nawal El Saadawi, Deeyah Khan: Two Women in OneTwo Women in One

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Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique

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Naomi Alderman: The Power

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Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale

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Leah Tinari: Limitless

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Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex

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J. Albert Mann: What Every Girl Should Know

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Angela Y. Davis: Women, Culture & Politics

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Nadya Okamoto: Period Power

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Doris Lessing: The Golden Notebook

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Amy Reed: The Nowhere Girls

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Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Han Kang: The Vegetarian

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Maggie Nelson: The Argonauts

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Jeannine Atkins: Stone Mirrors

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Kate Chopin: The Awakening

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Octavia E. Butler: Parable of the Sower

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Claudia Rankine: Citizen: An American Lyric

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Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea

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Clarissa Pinkola Estés: Women Who Run with the Wolves

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Adrienne Rich: Diving into the Wreck

Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Join us, save this list, and pass it along. But don’t ignore it. Because we are sure if you are to choose any one of these books to read, it will not only inspire you, and it will empower you and teach you something about who you are as a fabulous woman. 

Nat C.

CREATOR + EIC OF BROOKLYN'S LIFESTYLE

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