Books

BitchReads: 17 Nonfiction Books Feminists Should Read in 2020

a side-by-side collage of three books: A Black Women’s History of the United States, Whiter, and Wandering in Strange Lands
by Evette Dionne
January 10, 2020 at 2:36pm
Well-researched and well-written nonfiction books, like the 17 on this list, leave us with more information than we came in with.
Caitlin Doughty, a pale, white woman, with long, black hair, holds death tools in her hand

Morbid Awakenings: Caitlin Doughty Is Helping Kids—and Adults—Ask Questions about Death

by Caroline Reilly
October 29, 2019 at 9:00am
In the United States, death is hard to talk about; it’s arguably even harder to ask other people questions about. Read more »
Lindy West, a white plus-size woman with shoulder-length blond hair and a black shirt, screams into a bullhorn

Good As Hex: Lindy West’s “The Witches Are Coming” Brews up Anger and Optimism

by Andi Zeisler
October 25, 2019 at 9:36am
Though Lindy West’s sarcasm is as extravagant as ever, it can’t be mistaken for cynicism. Read more »
Harriet A. Washington, a Black woman with long, black hair, stands in portrait

(Mis)measuring Intelligence: Environmental Racism Is Assaulting the Minds of People of Color

by Bani Amor
October 23, 2019 at 3:02pm
Harriet A. Washington argues that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed or inherited, and that it’s possible to solve the problem of poisons and pathogens attacking the nervous systems of people of color. Read more »
Author Morgan Parker, who is a Black woman, wears a black blazer, white shirt, and an orange scarf. She leans on her hand and looks at the camera.

A Depressed Black Teen Takes Center Stage in Morgan Parker’s YA Debut

by Rachel Charlene Lewis
October 21, 2019 at 4:45pm
“It’s unfair to make a book that is only the dark because we know that that’s just not how life happens.” Read more »
Leah Vernon, a fat Muslim woman, wearing a navy blue hat, black head scarf, yellow mascara, blue lipstick, against a red wall

Leah Vernon Won’t Be Hemmed in by the Fashion Industry

by Evette Dionne
October 15, 2019 at 9:00am
The fat, Black, Muslim, blogger speaks truth to power on her Instagram account, in her new book, and in this raw, honest interview. Read more »
Chanel Miller, a mixed-race woman, stands in front of a black and white wall background

Victims Owe Us Nothing: Chanel Miller Reclaims Her Story and Identity in “Know My Name”

by Caroline Reilly
October 9, 2019 at 1:04pm
Chanel Miller’s weaving of her day-to-day life with the lingering trauma of her assault illustrates the singular way sexual-assault victims are asked to move through the world. Read more »
a photo of author Jeannie Vanasco, a white woman with brown hair smiling at the camera

Jeannie Vanasco on Processing Rape by Writing About It

by Melissa Faliveno
October 9, 2019 at 11:03am
“The thing I felt most afraid of was publishing this and having feminists read it and be disappointed in me.” Read more »
Unpregnant authors Ted Caplan, left, and Jenni Hendricks

“Unpregnant” Offers a Radical Normalization of Abortion and Reproductive Health

by Mary Retta
October 3, 2019 at 12:29pm
Even in a time where reproductive choice is in terrifying peril, it’s still possible to feel empowered in our choices­­—including the choice to laugh. Read more »
a collage of Asian women traveling throughout the world

New Canon: A Roundtable about Travel Writing without the Other

by Bani Amor
October 3, 2019 at 9:53am
Literature about traveling and adventure has a long history of evoking an Orientalist imaginary of Asia as perpetually exotic and dominable. Read more »
a Black woman with an afro reads a book while sitting on a window sill

BitchReads: 13 Nonfiction Books Feminists Should Read this September

by Evette Dionne
September 11, 2019 at 9:35am
There is so much to read in so little time, which is one of the myriad reasons I love curating the BitchReads list on a (semi)-regular basis. Read more »

Pages

Best of Bitch

A Look at How Media Writes Women of Color

by Victoria Law
November 17, 2014 at 5:07pm
Nearly every Saturday morning, feminists of color hold Twitter discussions taking a deeper look at issues, such as gender violence. It’s the... Read more »

Hot Under the Bonnet: The Cooptation of Amish Culture in Mass-Market Fiction

a blue and white illustration of a woman in Amish attire standing next to a fan and a chicken
by Audrey deCoursey
Spring 2014 • Maps & Legends
Dubbed “Amish romance novels,” “Amish fiction,” or the more waggish “bonnet rippers,” these novels just one entry point into the varying images of Amish communities in U.S. popular culture. Read more »

Demanding the Impossible: Walidah Imarisha Talks About Science Fiction and Social Change

by Kristian Williams
April 13, 2015 at 2:23pm
Before she was a poet, journalist, documentary filmmaker, anti-prison activist, and college instructor, Walidah Imarisha was fascinated... Read more »

Black Girls Hunger for Heroes, Too: A Black Feminist Conversation on Fantasy Fiction for Teens

by Zetta Elliott
December 17, 2013 at 3:19pm
What happens when two great black women fiction writers get together to talk about race in young adult literature? That's exactly what happens... Read more »