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Books for feminists of all ages

By Ideas Editor

The books in this reading list for feminists of all ages include: a richly illustrated history of women’s suffrage, highlighting underrecognized activists; National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor on the mythology and history of the Amazons—fierce women warriors of the ancient world; Jane Austen’s first novel, written at age 12, whose protagonist Cassandra has a grand time flouting convention and stealing ice cream; trenchant modern fairytales that confront gender and power dynamics; a philosophical exploration of why striving to look beautiful has become a moral imperative for women; a bold rethinking of menopause that questions why a natural process became medicalized and feared; a provocative examination of why architecture struggles to retain talented and driven women; and an impassioned argument that what mothers need isn’t work-life balance, it’s work-life justice!