Best Women Writers in Women Studies

Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor Cherríe Moraga writes, “the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of color oppression and liberation.”. Bridge continues to reflect an evolving definition of feminism, one that can effectively adapt to, and help inform an understanding of the changing economic and social conditions of women of color in the United States and throughout the world. I have loved this book for thirty years, and am so pleased we have returned with our stories, words, and attributes to the growing and resilient movement.” — Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Praise for the Third Edition. "This Bridge Called My Back" dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz. "This Bridge Called My Back" has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. These essays and poems do more than just revisit the hopes, fears, frustrations, and accomplishments of women of color circa 1981; they also shed light on concerns women continue to face today There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders This Bridge Called My Back deserves to be picked up by a new generation of radical women. ForeWord Reviews Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth Praise for the Third Edition This Bridge Called My Back dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz This Bridge Called My Back has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders ... "Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. " This Bridge Called My Back ... dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice.

"Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Though the gifts of wildish nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to 'civilize' us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled deep, life-giving messages of our own souls. In her now-classic book that spent 144 weeks on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list, and is translated into 35 languages, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., shows how woman's vitality can be restored through what she calls "psychic archaeological digs" into the ruins of the female unconscious. Dr. Estés collects the bones of many stories, looking for the archetypal motifs that set a woman's inner life into motion. Her "La Loba" teaches about the transformative function of the psyche; in "Bluebeard," we learn what to do with wounds that will not heal; in her literary story "Skeleton Woman," we glimpse the mystical power of relationship and how dead feelings can be revived; "Vasalisa the Wise" brings our lost womanly instincts to the surface again; "The Handless Maiden" recovers the Wild Woman initiation rites; and "The Little Match Girl" warns against the insidious dangers of a life spent in fantasy. With them, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand her, and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., is an internationally known poet, post-trauma recovery specialist, senior training psychoanalyst [Jungian], and cantadora [keeper of the old stories] in her mestizo Latina tradition. "Millennia of humans have gathered around fires to hear words that transferred hard-won wisdom and allowed dreams of unlimited possibilities. It is a road map of all the pitfalls, those familiar and those horrifically unexpected, that a woman encounters on the way back to her instinctual self. An African tale of twins who baffle a man represents the dual nature of woman; from the Middle East, a story about a threadbare but secretly magic carpet shows society's failure to look beyond appearances. At times, Estes's commentary--in which she urges readers to draw upon and enjoy their Wild Woman aspects--is hyperbolic, but overall her widely researched study offers usable advice for modern women. The precise nature of this wildness is difficult to fathom, but, at best, it seems to include a genuine capacity to access feelings and to accept one's contradictions, while, at worst, it appears to amount to the kind of self-indulgence that prevailed during the ``me'' generation.

From the author of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, the New York Times Bestseller and Best Book of the Year at NPR, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, and many more. A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay. “Roxane Gay applies her discerning eye to everything from Paula Deen to The Bachelor .” ( Marie Claire ). “One of our sharpest new culture critics plants her flag in topics ranging from trigger warnings to Orange is the New Black in this timely collection of essays.” ( O, the Oprah Magazine , 10 Titles to Pick Up Now). Whatever her topic, Gay’s provocative essays stand out for their bravery, wit, and emotional honesty.” ( Publishers Weekly (starred review)). “Toss Roxane Gay’s collection of witty, thoughtful essays, Bad Feminist into your tote bag. With musings on everything from Sweet Valley High to the color pink, Gay explores the idea of being a feminist, even when you’re full of contradictions.” ( Self , "Smart beach-read alert"). Her essay collection will give you dinner-party conversation through September.” (Jennifer Weiner's 10 best beach reads, USA Today ). “An assortment of comical, yet astute essays that touch on Gay’s personal evolution as a woman, popular culture throughout the recent past, and the state of feminism today.” ( Harper's Bazaar ). Reading Bad Feminist is like having a fascinating (one-way) conversation with an extremely smart, well-read, funny and thoughtful party guest. “ Bad Feminist collects the very good essays of ‘It girl’ culture critic Roxane Gay.” ( Vanity Fair , Hot Type). “Alternately friendly and provocative, wry and serious, her takes on everything from Girls to Fifty Shades of Grey help to recontextualize what feminism is--and what it can be.” ( Time Out New York ). “Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. “Smart readers cannot afford to miss these essays, which range from socially significant art ( Girls, Django in Chains ) and feminist issues (abortion) to politics (Chris Brown) and why Gay likes pink.” ( Library Journal ). for saying out loud the things we were thinking, for guiding us back to ourselves and returning to us what was ours all along.” (Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted ). Gay playfully crosses the borders between pop culture consumer and critic, between serious academic and lighthearted sister-girl, between despair and optimism, between good and bad. “As Bad Feminist proves, Gay is a necessary and brave voice when it comes to figuring out all the crazy mixed messages in our mixed-up world.” ("20 New Nonfiction Books That Will Make You Smarter," Flavorwire). “Gay writes with probing intelligence about pop-culture topics from the morality of Tyler Perry to how much the Sweet Valley High books mattered to her.” ( Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ). “A collection of sharp, Sontag-ianly searing pieces on everything from Orange Is the New Black to likability in fiction to abortion legislation. “As a feminist who has been around a while I have a message for these girls: it’s okay — you can skip the rigors of Betty Friedan and Andrea Dworkin and go straight to Roxane Gay, where feminism is not just friendly, but more relevant than ever.” (Erika Schickel, Los Angeles Review of Books ). “What’s so special about this collection is its accessibility - Gay is nothing short of a critical genius, yet every essay is approachable and open while still being thorough. “With trenchant thoughts on Sweet Valley High, The Help , abortion, and Chris Brown, Gay isn’t really a bad feminist, just an uncommonly entertaining one.” (Vulture, "8 Books You Need to Read This August"). “A meaty volume of personal essays and criticism from one of the great storytellers and smartest cultural observers out there. Bad Feminist is a tour de force and Roxane Gay is a writer of considerable power, intelligence and moral acuity.” ( Huffington Post ). a book that feels vital, alive, and engaged with the world, and we need more writers as passionate as Roxane Gay.” (Flavorwire). “Gay’s writing is thoughtful and funny, compassionate and bold, and she’s just as likely to discuss Sweet Valley High as Django Unchained or Judith Butler.” (Refinery29). “Gay’s essays expertly weld her personal experiences with broader gender trends occurring politically and in popular culture.” ( Huffington Post ). “What makes Bad Feminist such a good read isn’t only Gay’s ability to deftly weave razor-sharp pop cultural analysis and criticism with a voice that is both intimate and relatable. “Incisive, self-aware, risky, and often funny, the author’s writing is reminiscent of Nora Ephron’s 1975 collection of feminist essays, Crazy Salad . “”[Gay’s] energetic and thought-provoking first essay collection will become as widely read as other generation-defining works, like Nora Ephron’s Crazy Salad and Joan Morgan’s When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost .” ( Essence ). I believe her essay collection will open a lot of eyes and inspire women of all ages to stand and speak up.” (SheKnows.com). “It’s no surprise that Roxane Gay - author, essayist and sharp observer of everything in pop culture we’re supposed to be too cool to like - has written such a winning book. “Above all, Gay disabuses the stereotype of a humorless feminist, writing in a voice that’s fresh, funny and always accessible.” ( Sacramento News Review ). “Gay offers a complex and multifarious feminism to answer the movement’s ongoing PR issues, its flaws and its failures. Bad Feminist surveys culture and politics from the perspective of one of the most astute critics writing today.” ( Boston Review ). Her essays about feminism, race, and class are hilarious, moving, and yes, educational, but never in a way that feels tired or boring.” ( Cosmopolitan , "28 Life-Changing Books Every Woman Should Read"). In the volume of essays, Gay mixes the personal, the political and the pop cultural with unashamed acknowledgement that the three are interrelated and often inseparable.” ( Indianapolis Business Journal ). But she also confronts more difficult issues of race, sexual assault, body image, and the immigrant experience. “Gay’s insightful exploration of this topic makes readers worry less about their occasional shortcomings and more comfortable with being human.” (BookPage). “There has never been a book quite like Bad Feminist —a sometimes funny, sometimes serious pop-culture-literary-nonfiction-social-commentary hybrid written by a black woman in America.” ( The Root ). Taken in whole, Bad Feminist is a brave affirmation of selfhood: I am a woman, this is my story, and there is power in its telling.” (Gawker, "The Best Books to Give This Holiday Season: A Bookseller's Guide"). “Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist hardly needs more praise, but no other book speaks more eloquently, or more directly, about today’s most crucial issues. Gay’s essays are intimate and accessible, but broad in scope and deep in insight.” (Celeste Ng, "Writers’ favorite books of 2014," San Francisco Gate ). “If you’re in the mood to read wonderful, thought-provoking essays that feel like they’re written by your best friend, check out Bad Feminist . Gay puts you at ease as she shakes the foundations of what you believe.” ( Buzzfeed , Sami Main, "28 Best Books by Women in 2014").

Why is it that men, and not women, have always had power, wealth, and fame? Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet conversational--and completely entertaining--walk around the history of women in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen , all the while lampooning the chauvinistic state of university education in the England of her day.

The #1 international best seller In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg reignited the conversation around women in the workplace. With no small amount of self-deprecating humor, a massive quantity of facts and research, plus a liberal dose of very personal anecdotes, Sandberg forces each one of us—woman and man—to reexamine ourselves at work and in life, using a unique filter. In short, every single undoing of a woman’s career is examined thoughtfully and with twenty-first-century gentleness and exposed with recommended remedies.

Meanwhile, inside the filthy building, Gosnell was casually murdering born-alive infants, butchering women, and making a macabre collection of severed babies’ feet. But even more important to his decades-long crime spree were his enablers in the outside world―from the state bureaucrats who had copious evidence that Gosnell was breaking the law but did nothing to the politicians whose fervent support for abortion rights kept health inspectors away. Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit received a complaint about Gosnell years before he was caught, gave it a cursory look, and ignored the evidence. Gosnell thoroughly reports the facts the mainstream press largely ignored: that, for years, complaints about unsafe conditions and even fatal malpractice at Gosnell’s clinic were met with zero action, so concerned were the powers-that-be with protecting unfettered access to abortion. “In this historic book, Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer meticulously record the harrowing true-crime story of Kermit Gosnell’s barbaric abortion and infanticide business. Every American needs to read Gosnell , because the atrocities he committed, with the knowledge and support of public authorities, demand that we answer what we really believe about human dignity and the law’s equal protection for the most vulnerable.”. —David Daleiden, the undercover reporter behind the Center for Medical Progress videos that exposed Planned Parenthood’s baby parts business.