11 New and Recent Books for the Feminist Reader

Photo: Amazon

The feminist book canon grows larger and more diverse every day, and that’s something to celebrate. Of course, classics like Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, now out in a 50th anniversary edition; Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex; Arlie Hochschild’s The Second Shift: Working and the Revolution at Home; Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, and bell hooks’ entire oeuvre (a good start is Feminism Is for Everybody), stand the test of time and should be included in any comprehensive feminist reading list.
But this list focuses on the newbies, additions to the category from the last few years that bring fresh insights to the discussion, offering keen takes on the meaning of feminism today. These books show how challenges to women have evolved over time—and, frequently, how things have not changed enough. They offer a range of styles and entry points and information for a reader who might be considering feminism for the first time, but include plenty for people well versed in the subject, too. And they prove that feminism is just as vital today as it was in 1963.
Below, our list of upcoming and recent books for anyone who’s interested in feminism, which is to say, anyone who’s interested in women and the world, which should be everyone.
Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty, by Christine Heppermann (September 23, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Heppermann’s book of feminist poetry that twists and turns the tables on fairy tales might be targeted to teenage girls, but this incredible, witty, and often gut-wrenching book should find fans in women of any age. Not convinced? There’s a poem titled “If Tampons Were for Guys.”

Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution by Laurie Penny (September 16, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Penny, a prolific writer and columnist, takes on feminism and class politics in her latest book, which addresses a range of subjects from online dating, eating disorders, and mental health to the Occupy movement and the Internet. Her goal is to “give the silenced a voice,” allowing for freedom for everyone.

The Abramson Effect, by Debora L. Spar (August 18, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

From the author of 2013’s Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection comes this succinct, Kindle Single-sized analysis of Jill Abramson’s controversial firing from The New York Times, and what it means for women in a working world in which just 18 percent of partners at top law firms, 7 percent of Hollywood directors, and 15 percent of corporate board directors are women—and women are fired more often than men from high-profile jobs.

Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay (August 5, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Not only is Bad Feminist a bestseller in feminist theory, it’s a best seller in general, which means everyone is reading it, and so should you. Gay is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, insightful and inspiring, as she turns her savvy cultural eye to the state of feminism today, and what it means, most of all, to be a person who is true to herself: “I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human,” she writes.

We Should All Be Feminists (Kindle Single), by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (July 29, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

This essay, available as a Kindle Single, was adapted from the Nigerian-born novelist’s TEDx talk of the same name. Adichie writes meaningfully about obvious and insidious behaviors that continue to marginalize women today, and explains why, for the sake of everyone, we should all claim the title of "feminist."

Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters, by Jessica Valenti (updated second edition, July 22, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Full Frontal Feminism first came out in 2007 and has been a must-read for young feminists ever since. This update includes a new foreword in which Valenti addresses cultural changes over the last seven years, plus revised openers in every chapter, which take on topics ranging from pop culture to reproductive rights, sex, and violence.

Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit (May 20, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Solnit’s viral essay on the experience the Internet now knows as “mansplaining” (though it’s so much more, she explains) and the quashing of women’s voices is the centerpiece to this book, which also includes important writing on marriage equality, sexual harassment, and Virginia Woolf.

#GIRLBOSS, by Sophia Amoruso (May 6, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Amoruso’s story of going from being a teenage hitchhiker to the CEO of Nasty Gal, the $100-million-plus online fashion retailer she founded herself, is the stuff of legend, but it’s real. Her book provides business and life lessons for women who want to succeed their own way.

The Essential Ellen Willis, edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz (May 1, 2014)

Photo: Amazon

Nona Willis Aronowitz gathered the writing of her mother, who published widely about the women’s movement, sex and abortion, and race and class over a 40-year period beginning in the ‘60s. This compilation also features incisive essays from contemporary feminist writers like Irin Carmon and Ann Friedman.

The Book of Jezebel: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Lady Things, edited by Anna Holmes (October 22, 2013)

Photo: Amazon

Thank the ladies of Jezebel for this smart, irreverent, and wonderfully illustrated listing of the words and phrases any woman should know.

How to Be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran (July 17, 2012)

Photo: Amazon

If you are like me, you will read Moran’s book in a rush, which is sort of the way she wrote it, in a 5-month period fueled by cigarettes and moxie. It’s part feminist polemic, part memoir, and 100 percent great.