Gender studies: women and girls Books

Book Synopsis**DREAM COUNT, the searing, exquisite new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is out now!**A personal and powerful essay from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.I would like to ask that we begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently'What does feminism mean today?In this personal, eloquently argued essay adapted from her much-admired Tedx talk of the same name Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author's exploration of what it means to be a woman now an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.The book I''d press into the hands of girls and boys, as an inspiration for a future''INDEPENDENTTrade Review‘The book I'd press into the hands of girls and boys, as an inspiration for a future "world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves"’ Books of the Year, Independent ‘One and a half million YouTube viewings later, this small but perfectly formed talk has become an equally small but perfectly formed book, thanks to Fourth Estate. The perfect size in fact for handbags, pockets and Christmas stockings. There really is no excuse not to buy several’ Harpers Bazaar Praise for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘A writer with a great deal to say’ The Times 'Here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.’ Chinua Achebe ‘Adiche [has] virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity’ Dave Eggers ‘Adichie is terrific on human interactions … Adichie’s writing always has an elegant shimmer to it … Wise, entertaining and unendingly perceptive’ Independent on Sunday ‘[Adichie] is recording the history of her country. She is fortunate – and we, her readers, are even luckier.' Edmund White

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“In Women Holding Things, artist Kalman—an uncommon philosopher of the quietly magnificent in the mundane—celebrates all the things we hold. […] The tender, infinitely expressive paintings are captioned with spare words that lend each vignette an extra air of human fragility and resilience.” — Maria Popova, The Marginalian “The prospect of reading and looking at Kalman’s work gets my heart moving like a squirmy animal. This is not a hyperbole. The excitement, I think, is in how she is able to locate the elusive sweet spot of poignant and funny, along with the often-dark complexities behind these emotions. I feel like I will learn something new about people, myself.” — Literary Hub “When [Maira] Kalman looked at her archives, she noticed that she had a large collection of photographs of women holding things. […] The project that germinated […] “Women Holding Things,” gathers dozens of new images and some previously unpublished ones.” — New Yorker "Kalman’s images encompass both everyday pleasures and incomprehensible loss, always affirming art’s sustaining grace." — Roberta Smith, co-chief art critic of the New York Times “I love Maira Kalman. I love her painting, I love her perspective, I love her handwriting, and I love her books, which somehow contain all of those things and so much more. Maira is a gift to the world, and her gifts should also be your gifts. They will certainly be my gifts.” — Emma Straub, Bookstore Owner and Author “The mega-talented writer and artist Maira Kalman presents, in radiant color, Women Holding Things. Kalman’s brief texts are thoughtful, autobiographical, powerful. This life-affirming book shines a light on women’s lives and how we all hold our humanity.” — Sandee Brawarsky, Hadassah Magazine

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Divergent Mind explores powerful and positive ways to understand our fundamental differences. Its focus on women is much needed and timely. The book de-pathologizes those of us who most profoundly and intensely think and feel the world around us. I found it to be eye-opening and healing.” — Mary Pipher, New York Times bestselling author of Women Rowing North and Reviving Ophelia "American psychiatry has increasingly taught our society to think that people can be divided into two categories: those who are 'normal' and those who are 'not normal.' In Divergent Mind, Jenara Nerenberg powerfully writes of an urgent need to scrap that way of thinking, and replace it with a societal appreciation for the many gifts that people with divergent minds bring to our world. Hers is a clarion call for change." — Robert Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of Anatomy of an Epidemic and Mad in America “This book is powerful, much-needed for our times, and Jenara Nerenberg offers a unique blend of personal, scientific, and societal analysis. Divergent Mind is really for all women, giving them the chance to understand each others’ invisible differences and gifts.” — Elaine Aron, PhD, bestselling author of The Highly Sensitive Person “What is ‘normal’? Who gets to decide? Jenara Nerenberg’s wide-ranging Divergent Mind asks and answers these and other essential questions, offering a vision for how individuals and society can take better advantage of the many ways in which we are human.” — Louise Aronson, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life “This wonderfully positive and accessible introduction to the neurodiversity paradigm is packed with life-changing insight for anyone whose way of experiencing the world diverges from the ordinary.” — Nick Walker, PhD, autistic neurodiversity scholar and aikido teacher “Empowering…. This important book not only advocates for research and innovation; it demonstrates the power of acceptance, kindness, and the celebration of differences.” — Booklist “An extraordinary, jaw-dropping take on a topic with which many women will identify.” — Library Journal STARRED review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Masterful. A thinking women's (and man's) valentine, a fitting conclusion to hooks' groundbreaking work on love in American life." -- Los Angeles Times "A powerful guidebook to life." -- Library Journal

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Book SynopsisRise Sister Rise is a call to arms for our sacred feminine to rise up, tell the truth, and lead. From Rebecca Campbell, a writer, mystic, devotional creative, and visionary who supports hundreds of thousands of people to connect with their soul and weave the sacred back into their everyday life.It is for those who agreed at soul level to be here at this stage in history to lead this global shift that the mystics of the ages have predicted: the return of the mother and the rise of the feminine. Rebecca says: Rise for you, rise for me, when you rise first you rise for She. Many of us have spent much of our working lives "making it" in a man’s world, leaning on patriarchal methods of survival in order to succeed, dulling down our intuition, and ignoring the fierce power of the feminine. We have ignored the cycles of the feminine in order to survive in a patriarchal linear system – but now the world has changed.Here Are Some of the Chapters in Rise, Sister Rise:Part I - Rebecca's Story · The Unbinding· The Wise Women· Work Baby· Shakti Rising· Returning to Avalon· Tools for Your Rising Part II - Birthing A New Age· We Were Made for These Times· Shakti Always Rises· The Holy Grail is Within YouPart III - Remembering Our Cyclic Nature · You Are Spirit Earthed· You'll Find Your True Nature in Nature· When Whispers Turn into ShoutsPart IV - Unbinding the Wise, Wild Woman· The Suppression of the Female Voice· The Mystic Always Rises · Finding Mary· The Return of the MagdalenesPart V - Redefining Sisterhood· The Reunion· The Ones Who Came Before Us· When Women Circle· Your Constellation of Sisters· Calling in Your SistersPart VI - Doing the Work· What Is Rising in You?· Rising Feminine Archetypes· New World RIsing Birthed by You· Let the Universe Use You· Be a Clear Channel· A Prayer for Times of Remembering· It's Not Your Job to Save the World · Keep on Rising“I’m a super-fan of Rebecca Campbell... Rebecca guides her reader to step into their authentic power so that they can live and lead at their highest potential.”– Gabrielle Bernstein, New York Times bestselling author of Miracles NowRise Sister Rise is a transmission that calls the innate divine feminine wisdom to rise. It is about healing the insecurities, the fears, and the inherited patterns that stop people from trusting the Shakti (power) and wisdom (intuition) that effortlessly flows through them.It's about recognizing all of the ways we have been keeping ourselves contained and restrained in effort to dim to fit into a certain archetype. It’s about co-creating a whole new archetype – someone who does not keep themself small in order to make others feel more comfortable.Full of activations, spiritual tools, calls to action, contemplative questions, rituals, and confrontational exercises, this inspirational book teaches that it is safe to let Shakti rise, safe to trust your intuition, and safe to take leaps of faith – because in healing ourselves we are healing the world.“You have an ancient wisdom within you that is waiting for you to remember, hear, and heed it. These Rise Sister Rise calls to action have been carefully designed to assist you in reclaiming your voice, unbinding your power, unlocking your wisdom, unleashing your true nature, and aligning yourselves with the sacred flow of all of Life.”Rise Sister Rise.Love, Rebecca xTrade ReviewI'm a super-fan of Rebecca Campbell [...] Rebecca guides her reader to step into their authentic power so that they can live and lead at their highest potential. -- Gabrielle Bernstein, New York Times bestselling author of Miracles Now Rebecca Campbell is a modern day High Priestess led by the Divine. I've never in my life met anyone who shines like she does. -- Kyle Gray, author of Raise Your Vibration

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Every woman will find herself in one or more of the Greek heroines, and no woman . . . will find herself criticized. Godesses in Everywoman supplies powerful concrete images that can be used effectively to produce self-understanding and change. Highly recommeneded.” — ALA Booklist “The highest value of Goddesses in Everywoman lies in the moments of recognition it provides. The author labels them as moments of “Aha!’: that insightful second when we understand and internalize; when we recognize what we ourselves have experienced, feel trust because of that truth, and then are taken one step further to an understanding of ‘Yes, that’s why.’” — Gloria Steinem “A glorious book. Jean Shinoda Bolen’s weaving of myth, science and keen observation makes this an outstanding contribution to the humanities.” — Rita Mae Brown “Dr. Bolen dreams big...hers is a strong voice as a leader in the women’s empowerment movement.” — Dallas Morning News “Every woman will find herself in one or more of the Greek heroines, and no woman . . . will find herself criticized. Goddesses in Everywoman supplies powerful concrete images that can be used effectively to produce self-understanding and change. Highly recommended.” — Booklist “A creative departure from Jungian orthodoxy...Bolen’s book is interesing, even fascinating, and rings true psychologically.” — Nashville Tennessean Praise for Goddesses in Older Women “Wow! This is an empowering book. It helped me to better understand the energy of my mature years, how to use it with compassion and humor, and where to get it when it seems to fail.” — Isabel Allende “Goddesses in Older Women offers a brilliant and exhilarating perspective that will revolutionize every woman’s thinking about aging and free her to see the face in her mirror in a completely different way.” — Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom

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Book SynopsisAn artist and activist committed to the empowerment of women and girls has created a gorgeous illustrated volume, blending watercolor and short biography to showcase the contributions of more than fifty influential female leaders whose words and actions are a passionate call to arms.Distraught by the results of the 2016 election and the realization that the nation was not ready for its first female president, Kimothy Joy found herself poring over the biographies of brave women throughout history—those who persisted in the face of daunting circumstances—to learn from their experiences.Turning to art, Joy channeled her feelings to the canvas, bringing these strong women to life in bold watercolor portraits surrounded by inspirational hand-lettered quotes. With each creation, Joy found catharsis and hope. She shared her watercolors with her online community and encouraged everyone to raise their own voices and recharge for the battles ahead.Now, in this beautiful gift book, Joy has gathered her stunning illustrations and quotes and paired them with surprising, illuminating biographies of her subjects to inspire women of all ages, races, and backgrounds. That’s What She Said honors a powerful and diverse group of over fifty women—from Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, and Virginia Woolf to Sojourner Truth, Malala Yousafzai, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—role models whose words and insights remind us that we must never give up the fight for a more just and equitable society.Reclaiming the derogatory cultural barb that’s what she said, this stunning book celebrates strong female leadership throughout history and empowers current and future generations to find their voices and inspire change in their communities.Trade Review“Kimothy’s illustrations are some of The Huffington Post’s most successful graphics to date. They consistently engage our audiences in conversations about intersectional feminism, legacy and resistance.” — Savannah O’Leary, Multimedia Producer, The Huffington Post “Kimothy’s illustrations are a beautiful addition to The Huffington Post’s Women’s History Month campaign because she presents these historic women in such an artistic and unique way. The beautiful portraits paired with these groundbreaking women’s words have been shared widely by the Huffington Post audience.” — Alanna Vagianos, Editor, Huffpost Women “A stunning book that celebrates a diverse group of inspirational women, from Maya Angelou to Malala Yousafzai. The book features illustrations and quotes with illuminating biographies to inspire women of all ages and backgrounds.” — Hello Sunshine “[Joy’s] work combines art and insight in the same tradition as Kalman’s. I reach for That’s What She Said whenever I’m looking to feel re-energized in the fight for women’s issues.” — Alexandra Sacks, for TED’s Winter Reading List

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Book SynopsisA revised and updated edition of Emily Nagoski’s game-changing New York Times bestseller Come As You Are, featuring new information and research on mindfulness, desire, and pleasure that will radically transform your sex life.For much of the 20th and 21st centuries, women’s sexuality was an uncharted territory in science, studied far less frequently—and far less seriously—than its male counterpart. That is, until Emily Nagoski’s Come As You Are, which used groundbreaking science and research to prove that the most important factor in creating and sustaining a sex life filled with confidence and joy is not what the parts are or how they’re organized but how you feel about them. In the years since the book’s initial publication, countless women have learned through Nagoski’s accessible and informative guide that things like stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman’s sexual wellbeing; they are central to it—and that even if you don’t always feel like it, you are already sexually whole by just being yourself. This revised and updated edition continues that mission with new information and advanced research, demystifying and decoding the science of sex so that everyone can create a better sex life and discover more pleasure than you ever thought possible.

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Book Synopsis*A New Statesman and Daily Mail BOOK OF THE YEAR**Longlisted for the 2024 Women''s Prize for Non-Fiction*''The best book I''ve ever read about motherhood'' Jude Rogers, Observer''I kept scribbling in the margins: ''We need to know this stuff!'''' Joanna Pocock, SpectatorA radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind, brain and bodyDuring pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood, women undergo a far-reaching physiological, psychological and social metamorphosis.There is no other time in a human''s life course that entails such dramatic change-other than adolescence. And yet this life-altering transition has been sorely neglected by science, medicine and philosophy. Its seismic effects go largely unrepresented across literature and the arts. Speaking about motherhood as anything other than a pastel-hued dream remains, for the most part, taboo.

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Book SynopsisA fresh new jacket design brings this classic self-help guide up to date for a contemporary readership. One of the forerunners to today''s pop psych market along with Women Who Love Too Much, this multimillion bestseller shows us how anger affects women''s relationships and explains how to turn this often destructive force into a constructive one.For many women, anger is a destructive force that perpetuates all the harmful dynamics of their most intimate relationships.This classic, inspirational book from internationally respected feminist psychologist Harriet Lerner explores the ways in which anger can lead into a destructive dance' within women's relationships- permanent fighting with your nearest and dearest, distancing yourself through silence or blaming others for the failure of your relationships.Practical and accessible, this book also shows women how the destructive dance of anger' can be turned into a constructive force- women should neither suppress their anger nor vent it thTrade Review‘A careful and compassionate exploration of women’s anger.’ SUSIE ORBACH‘An inspirational book.’ RELATE NEWS‘Provides a whole new way of looking at your problems. A good investment.’ Amazon reader, 2001

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Book SynopsisArgues that a commitment to diversity is frequently substituted for a commitment to actual change. This title traces the work that diversity does, examining how the term is used and the way it serves to make questions about racism seem impertinent.Trade Review“Ahmed’s book is not a how-to guide to ‘what works.’ But On Being Included would be an excellent choice for a faculty-staff reading group about social justice in the academy, because Ahmed provides a rich resource for serious rethinking: ‘My aim is not to suggest that we should stop doing diversity, but that we need to keep asking what we are doing.’” - Meryl Altman, Academe“For those of us interested in diversity work, Ahmed’s On Being Included provides a novel way of thinking about diversity. In her readings of institutional documents interwoven with the voices of diversity workers, Ahmed cautions us to think about diversity as a tool deployed to further crystallize institutionally sanctioned racist practices that recede to the background of everyday life.” - Andres Castro Samayoa, Somatechnics“[A] unique account of diversity as an institutional practice and also of what people do and feel when they do not quite fit the norms of an institution orare ‘out of place’. Ahmed captures the experience of diversity in liberal institutions through the image of a coming up against a brick wall and an important part of this book is the ‘physical and emotional’ labour of confronting that wall.” - Karim Murji, Ethnic and Racial Studies“Regardless of positionality and lived experiences, this text is engaging both intellectually and emotionally. Ahmed’s unflinching candor compels reflection and tough (hopefully productive) conversations far more effectively than a conventional ‘diversity document’. This is a text that moves to confront and change the status quo.” - Corin de Freitas and Alex Pysklywec, Society and Space, Environment and Planning D“Despite having read widely within the field of diversity and higher education, it is rare for a book to so powerfully call to mind my own identities as did this one. . . . This work is most appropriate for an educational anthropology course or unit focused on applied work within higher education. . . . It would also be useful for researchers looking for a new theoretical approach to how discourse and documents perform within institutions or, more provocatively, how they fail to do so.” - Lauren Miller Griffith, Anthropology and Education Quarterly"Just when you think everything that could possibly be said about diversity in higher education has been said, Sara Ahmed comes along with this startlingly original, deeply engaging ethnography of diversity work. On Being Included is an insightful, smart reflection on the embodied, profoundly political phenomenology of doing and performing diversity in predominantly white institutions. As Ahmed queers even the most mundane formulations of diversity, she creates one eureka moment after another. I could not put this book down. It is a must-read for everyone committed to antiracist, feminist work as key to institutional transformation in higher education."—Chandra Talpade Mohanty, author of Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity"Sara Ahmed's sensitive and respectful analysis of the complexities faced by diversity workers in higher education institutions arrives at a moment when we urgently need ways to rethink institutional dynamics and the animating effects of policy regimes and processes. This is a vital book: vital as a compass guiding the eye, heart, and mind to the knowledge that can emerge from the labor of institutional transformation, and vital in the sense of being life-giving to those involved in the process."—Gail Lewis, coauthor of Citizenship: Personal Lives and Social Policy"There are no other books of this caliber examining the institutional culture of diversity in higher education. Sara Ahmed not only offers a rigorous empirical study of how diversity operates in the real world; she also develops a brilliant theoretical framework exploring the affective reproduction of inequality. At the same time, as a black feminist, she draws on her own embodiment of difference and experience as a diversity practitioner."—Heidi Safia Mirza, author of Race, Gender and Educational Desire: Why Black Women Succeed and Fail“Ahmed’s book is not a how-to guide to ‘what works.’ But On Being Included would be an excellent choice for a faculty-staff reading group about social justice in the academy, because Ahmed provides a rich resource for serious rethinking: ‘My aim is not to suggest that we should stop doing diversity, but that we need to keep asking what we are doing.’” -- Meryl Altman * Academe *“Regardless of positionality and lived experiences, this text is engaging both intellectually and emotionally. Ahmed’s unflinching candor compels reflection and tough (hopefully productive) conversations far more effectively than a conventional ‘diversity document’. This is a text that moves to confront and change the status quo.” -- Corin de Freitas and Alex Pysklywec * Environment and Planning D *“[T]he book links deeply theoretical questioning to personal experience, empirical findings in interviews, informal discussions and engaged participant observation. It provides the reader with many insights, some created within different varieties of collective intellectual labor that are referred to as discussions in a seminar, meeting or informal talk, that nourish the quest for reading that is simultaneously compelling and delightful. In its combination of theory and practice, the book offers food for thought to theorists and practitioners alike.” -- Anitta Kynsilehto * International Feminist Journal of Politics *“On Being Included is one of those books that took over my life. It seemed like, for a while, I inserted this text into just about every conversation I had. ‘Oh, that’s similar to what Sara Ahmed talks about when she says … ‘ Maybe it’s because I want people to associate me with this brilliant author! It’s also partially because this book is really smart about dealing with the ways that terms–specifically, diversity–are taken up within the institution (and she does a neat job of thinking through what institution means) and used to obscure particular kinds of work.” -- Erin Frost * Theorizing Feminist Apparency blog *“On Being Included does an excellent job of bringing to life, in highly perceptive ways, the experience of doing diversity work. As ethnography, its strength indeed may lie in bracketing other times and places. However, the resonance with other documented experiences in Britain and Australia contributes to the book’s value in offering not just a picture of diversity politics but a vivid account of the persistent features of contemporary organisational life when faced with projects seeking change.” -- Davina Cooper * British Journal of Educational Studies *“Drawing from interviews and informal conversations with higher education diversity practitioners across the United Kingdom and Australia, scholar Sara Ahmed has crafted a keen meditation on the meaning of diversity in higher education and its implications for inclusion.... Focusing on what practitioners can learn about institutions as they work to transform them, her book will be of interest to anyone seeking to promote greater inclusion at their institution.” * On Campus with Women *“This book offers a grounded and open exploration of what it means to ‘do’ diversity, to ‘be’ diverse. It challenges the reader, both in style and in content, to reconsider relations of power that stick to the multiple practices, meanings, and understandings of diversity, and to reconsider how we engage, reproduce, and disrupt these relations.” -- Juliane Collard and Carolyn Prouse * Gender, Place & Culture *“A key finding in Ahmed’s rich analysis of race relations is how diversity policies can become a mechanism for preserving whiteness. . . . Above all, Ahmed’s corpus of work on race and cultural studies continues to remind us that race is a ‘sticky sign’. . . . The wonder of Ahmed’s book is that it allows us insight into some of the more ephemeral ways whiteness, privilege and institutional discrimination come to operate as normative.” -- Anoop Nayak * British Journal of Sociology of Education *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. On Arrival 1 1. Institutional Life 19 2. The Language of Diversity 51 3. Equality and Performance Culture 83 4. Commitment as a Non-performative 113 5. Speaking about Racism 141 Conclusion. A Phenomenological Practice 173 Notes 191 References 221 Index 235

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Book SynopsisTrade Review‘Watching Women and Girls is a searing meditation on the moments that make, and break, us. As canny as they are entertaining, these stories are packed with emotional intelligence, capturing the dark and the light of the female experience in a series of vignettes that every one of us will in some way relate to. I loved it.’CHARLOTTE PHILBY, AUTHOR OF THE SECOND WOMAN Vibrant, intense and darkly comic this is a powerful and thoughtful collection told through closely observed, spellbinding characters that stay with you.’ABIGAIL BERGSTROM, AUTHOR OF WHAT A SHAME ‘A page-flipping joy of a read. Pender is a generous writer and observer of society who incisively captures what it is to be a woman in our times.’CHARLOTTE JANSEN, AUTHOR OF GIRL ON GIRL ‘Smart and astute, funny and wry; a catalogue of the modern conditions of dating, working and being. It encouraged me to pay more attention to the world around me and the secret lives of those in it.’AMELIA ABRAHAM, AUTHOR OF QUEER INTENTIONS ‘To see, be seen and know that you are, always, being watched. That is the experience of being a woman today. This thoughtful, meditative and, at times, absurdly funny collection is a reminder that someone is, always, looking right back.’VICKY SPRATT, AUTHOR OF TENANTS ‘A beautifully written exploration of woman and girlhood, with all of its contradictions and quirks. Danielle is a sharp new talent.’SIRIN KALE Chosen as one of the ‘best new book releases’ by COSMOPOLITAN A ‘best summer read’ by ELLE MAGAZINE

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Book Synopsis''They will have to choose between giving us freedom or giving us death''So said,in 1913 ,the brilliant orator and suffragette ,Emmeline Pankhurst, just one of the inspiring women who won the vote for women. She remains a heroine for those determined to go to any lengths to change our world and one of those inspirational souls who feature in Rosalind Miles'' gallery of famous, infamous and little-know rebels. We begin with the French Revolution when women took on the fraternite of man, then it''s off to America to round up the rebels fighting side by side for freedom with their men, before heading back to Britain to witness the courage of the suffragettes. From Australia to Iceland, from India to China and from many other countries, we track women who - often at a very high cost to themselves - have stood up to age-old cruelties and injustices. Recording the important milestones in the long march of women towards equality through a colourful pageant of astonis

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Book SynopsisAt twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America - from the Mojave Desert, through California and Oregon, and into Washington state - and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise - a promise of piecing together a life that lay in ruins at her feet. Strayed's account captures the agonies - both mental and physical - of her incredible journey; how it maddened and terrified her, and how, ultimately, it healed her. Wild is a brutal memoir of survival, grief and redemption: a searing portrayal of life at its lowest ebb and at its highest tide.Trade ReviewClear, honest, and quietly riveting * Marie Claire *A spectacular book... Both a literary and a human triumph * New York Times *A deeply honest memoir about mother and daughter, solitude and courage, and regaining footing, one step at a time * Vogue *Strayed's language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way - and herself - one brave step at a time. * People *Table of ContentsPART ONE: THE TEN THOUSAND THINGS 1: The Ten Thousand Things 2: Splitting 3: Hunching in a Remotely Upright Position PART TWO: TRACKS 4: The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California 5: Tracks 6: A Bull in Both Directions 7: The Only Girl in the Woods PART THREE: RANGE OF LIGHT 8: Corvidology 9: Staying Found 10: Range of Light PART FOUR: WILD 11: The Lou Out of Lou 12: This Far 13: The Accumulation of Trees 14: Wild PART FIVE: BOX OF RAIN 15: Box of Rain 16: Mazama 17: Into a Primal Gear 18: Queen of the PCT 19: The Dream of a Common Language

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Book SynopsisCaitlin Moran is the eldest of eight children, home-educated on a council estate in Wolverhampton, believing that if she were very good and worked very hard, she might one day evolve into Bill Murray.She published a children's novel, The Chronicles of Narmo, at the age of 16, and became a columnist at The Times at 18. She has gone on to be named Columnist of the Year six times. At one point, she was also Interviewer and Critic of the Year - which is good going for someone who still regularly mistypes the' as hte'. Her multi-award-winning bestseller How to Be a Woman has been published in 28 countries, and won the British Book Awards' Book of the Year 2011. Her two volumes of collected journalism, Moranthology and Moranifesto, were Sunday Times bestsellers, and her novel, How to Build a Girl, debuted at Number One, and is currently being adapted as a movie. She co-wrote two series of the Rose d'Or-winning Channel 4 sitcom RaTrade Review"I adore, admire and - more - am addicted to Caitin Moran's writing" Nigella Lawson "I have been waiting for this book my whole life" Claudia Winkleman "This might just be the funniest intelligent book ever written .. Moran's work packs a feminist punch in a way that Germaine Greer and an entire army of female eunuchs could never do, because she writes about things we've all done, thought, and said - but not quite so eloquently...the book everyone will be talking about" Stylist "Moran's writing sparkles with wit and warmth. Like the confidences of your smartest friend" Simon Pegg "It would almost be unkind to call this an important book, because what it mostly is is engaging, brave and consistently, cleverly naughtily funny, but actually it is important that we talk about this stuff" -- Katy Guest Independent on Sunday

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Book SynopsisAs a young girl in China Xinran heard a rumour about a soldier in Tibet who had been brutally fed to the vultures in a ritual known as a sky burial: the tale frightened and fascinated her. Several decades later Xinran met Shu Wan, a Chinese woman who had spent years searching for her missing husband who had been serving as a doctor in Tibet; her extraordinary life story would unravel the legend of the sky burial. For thirty years she was lost in the wild and alien landscape of Tibet, in the vast and silent plateaus and the magisterial mountain ranges, living with communities of nomads moving with the seasons and struggling to survive.In this haunting book, Xinran recreates Shu Wen''s remarkable journey in an epic story of love, loss, loyalty and survival. Moving, shocking and, ultimately, uplifting Sky Burial paints a unique portrait of a woman and a land, both at the mercy of fate and politics.Trade ReviewA romantic epic of loss and redemption, of stoic constancy in the face of the vagaries of fate * Financial Times *Part family story, part mystical adventure in an alien culture, it's like Wild Swans crossed with Seven Years in Tibet * Condé Nast Traveller *This little-known culture has been brought vividly to life through the incredible love story of Shu Wen. This story of an extraordinary woman written by an extraordinary woman will stay with you long after closing the book * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBelinda (1801) tackles issues of gender and race in a manner at once comic and thought-provoking. Braving the perils of the marriage market, Belinda learns to think for herself as the examples of her friends prove singularly unreliable.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of Maria Edgeworth Belinda Appendix Explanatory notes

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Book Synopsis2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of V-Day, the radical grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls, inspired by Eve Ensler''s international sensation The Vagina Monologues. This special edition features six never-before-published monologues, a new foreword by National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson, a new introduction by the author, and a new afterword by One Billion Rising director Monique Wilson on the stage phenomenon''s global impact.A landmark work in women''s empowerment, as relevant as ever after a year marked by unprecedented social and political protest in the face of unapologetic racism and misogyny, The Vagina Monologues honours women''s sexuality in all its complexity, mystery and power. Witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, this award-winning masterpiece gives voice to real women''s deepest fantasies, fears, anger and pleasure, and calls for a world where all women are safe, equal, free and alive in their bodies.Trade ReviewThis play changed the world. Seeing it changed my soul. Performing in it changed my life * Kerry Washington *'Probably the most important piece of political theatre of the last decade' * New York Times *'Filled with generous energy and delight'The Times * The Times *Spellbinding, funny, and almost unbearably moving ... a work of art and an incisive piece of cultural history, a poem and a polemic, a performance and a balm and a benediction * Variety *

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Book SynopsisSimple, effective exercises to reduce stress and renew your sense of contentment and joyNo matter who we are, or what stage of life we are at, we all long for similar things; to be happy, connected with others, in touch with a sense of calm and peace, vital, alive and joyful. And we long to be able to ride out the tough patches that hit all of us from time to time with some degree of grace and dignity.The good news is that we can fulfil these longings at any time, in any place. They are only a moment away, a breath away. We can learn how to be comfortable with our body, know and understand our mind, and love our heart. It isn''t difficult, long-winded or time-consuming. In doing so you''ll feel happier in your own skin, less stressed, more confident, more capable and more at ease with yourself and life.This is what Mindfulness for Women is about. It is a practical guide for busy women to coming home to yourself in each present moment. To findingTrade ReviewMindfulness for Women demystifies meditation techniques and the philosophy of mindfulness that underlies them, aiming to bring a sense of calm and stillness - an 'inner compass' for active lives, fostering 'being' rather than 'doing'. The combination of Vidyamala's experience and practicality with Claire's excited discovery of using mindfulness makes a joyful combination. Evidence, examples, strands of self-compassion, plenty of exercises and challenges: all are infused with the same generosity of spirit that the book will help readers to cultivate. * Dr Amanda C de C Williams, Reader in Clinical Health Psychology, University College London *

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Book SynopsisReaders of Princess Sultana's extraordinary biography Princess were gripped by her powerful indictment of women's lives behind the veil within the royal family of Saudi Arabia.Trade ReviewWomen with everything but freedom... gripping revelations * Daily Mail *Brutality hidden behind the veil... more horrific stories * Sunday Express *If it didn't come from within palace walls, no one would believe it... Sad, funny, and gripping * Daily Mail *Sasson's sequel is yet another page-turner... An eye-opening account * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisIn The Power of a Praying® Woman Book of Prayers, Stormie shares with you her most-loved prayers for women in this collection ideally sized to keep in purse or pocket for quick conversations with God about your heart, life, and walk with Him.

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Book SynopsisIn this powerful and value-priced volume of uplifting devotions, Elizabeth George shares practical everyday wisdom from her celebrated cornerstone book A Woman After God's Own Heart to help women experience the reward of a close walk with God.

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Book SynopsisA collection of twenty-four interviews with women in electronic music and sound cultures, including club and radio DJs, remixers, composers, improvisers, instrument builders, and performance artists.Trade Review“[Rodgers] conducted thoughtful, detailed interviews with a wide range of artists. . . . Even when I don't much care for the artist Rodgers is talking to . . . the discussion is lively and interesting. . . . Rodgers clearly understands many disparate modes of music making, and sounds equally authoritative whether she's talking about elaborate programming schemes, the language of analog synthesizers, or record buying.” - Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader“One of the best music books of 2010, Tara Rodgers’s Pink Noises, gave an accessible window into what looks to be many years of research into gender, identity and electronic music. . . .” - Frances Morgan, The Quietus“Pink Noises is an extremely well informed, informative and inspiring discussion of some of the most crucial aspects and developments in electronic music. The innovators and actors behind these developments happen to be women and Pink Noises thereby highlights the astounding male centeredness in standard accounts and representation in electronic music.” - Anna Gavanas, Dancecult“[A] vitally needed book, and it really is wonderful to read so many women talking passionately about the subject.” - Emily Manuel, Bitch“Pink Noises touches upon nearly every aspect of female involvement in the evolution of electronic music and sound. . . . This book would be worthwhile if only for its excellent, clearly written glossary of essential terms and its basic primer on the history of the speed-of-light changes of a mega-industry and tools that most westerners use—in our current climate of relatively affordable consumerism: (if not necessarily civilization)—on a virtually daily basis and that we take for granted.” - Deborah Frost, Women’s Review of Books“Pink Noises is an original and important contribution to discourse inelectronic music, musicology, and gender studies. Rodgers’s unique background as both electronic musician and scholar allows her to ask incisive questions about both creative process and cultural situation. And the introductory essay is nothing less than groundbreaking in its attempt to birth an alternate historiography for electronic music and to theorize the language and systems of electronic music.” - Betsey Biggs, Women & Music“Pink Noises is a breath of fresh air when you look at how many electronic music books are about more of the same: boys with toys. From the Middle Eastern–inflected electronica of DJ Mutamassik, to the Punjabi rhythms of DJ Rekha, to the academix of Pamela Z and Pauline Oliveros, Tara Rodgers’s examination of women as central figures in the creative processes of twenty-first-century art and music is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of music in our hyper-connected and hyper-post-everything contemporary life.”—Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky“What does it mean to be a female electronic musician? This seemingly simple question lies at the heart of Pink Noises, Tara Rodgers’s compelling exploration into the relationship between technology and gender. . . . Rodgers’s book serves as both an introduction to the world of music and technology, even providing an extensive glossary, and inspirational manifesto, revealing that to succeed as an artist is to follow one’s own unique path, no matter what.” -- Nick Zurko * Tom Tom Magazine *“Pink Noises is an extremely well informed, informative and inspiring discussion of some of the most crucial aspects and developments in electronic music. The innovators and actors behind these developments happen to be women and Pink Noises thereby highlights the astounding male centeredness in standard accounts and representation in electronic music.” -- Anna Gavanas * Dancecult *“Pink Noises is an original and important contribution to discourse in electronic music, musicology, and gender studies. Rodgers’s unique background as both electronic musician and scholar allows her to ask incisive questions about both creative process and cultural situation. And the introductory essay is nothing less than groundbreaking in its attempt to birth an alternate historiography for electronic music and to theorize the language and systems of electronic music.” -- Betsey Biggs * Women and Music *“Pink Noises touches upon nearly every aspect of female involvement in the evolution of electronic music and sound. . . . This book would be worthwhile if only for its excellent, clearly written glossary of essential terms and its basic primer on the history of the speed-of-light changes of a mega-industry and tools that most westerners use—in our current climate of relatively affordable consumerism: (if not necessarily civilization)—on a virtually daily basis and that we take for granted.” -- Deborah Frost * Women's Review of Books *“[A] vitally needed book, and it really is wonderful to read so many women talking passionately about the subject.” -- Emily Manuel * Bitch *“[Rodgers] conducted thoughtful, detailed interviews with a wide range of artists. . . . Even when I don't much care for the artist Rodgers is talking to . . . the discussion is lively and interesting. . . . Rodgers clearly understands many disparate modes of music making, and sounds equally authoritative whether she's talking about elaborate programming schemes, the language of analog synthesizers, or record buying.” -- Peter Margasak * Chicago Reader *“One of the best music books of 2010, Tara Rodgers’s Pink Noises, gave an accessible window into what looks to be many years of research into gender, identity and electronic music. . . .” -- Frances Morgan * The Quietus *"I love opening this book and flipping to a random interview. Each one is extremely personal but also technical and conceptual, exploring the artist's unique relationship to sound and space. It's refreshing to read about these women's musical journeys in the context of a male-dominated field like electronic music." -- Lyra Pramuk * Artforum *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part 1. Time and Memory 25 Pauline Oliveros 27 Kaffe Matthews 34 Carla Scaletti 43 Eliane Radigue 54 Part 2. Space and Perspective 61 Maggi Payne 63 Ikue Mori 73 Beth Coleman (M. Singe) 81 Maria Chavez 94 Part 3. Nature and Synthetics 105 Christina Kubisch 107 Annea Lockwood 114 Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix) 128 Jessica Rylan 139 Part 4. Circulation and Movements 157 Susan Morabito 159 Rekha Malhotra (DJ Rekha) 169 Giulia Loli (DJ Mtuamassik) 178 Jeannie Hopper 190 Part 5. Language, Machines, Embodiment 201 Antye Gueie (AGF) 203 Pamela Z 216 Laetitia Sonami 226 Bevin Kelley (Blevin Blectum) 235 Part 6. Alone/Together 243 Le Tigre 245 Bev Stanton (Arthur Loves Plastic) 255 Keiko Uenishi (o.blaat) 263 Riz Maslen (Neotropic) 273 Glossary 283 Discography 295 References 301 Index 313

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Book SynopsisIn a culture of distorted love, sisters and speakers offer real-life stories, biblical truths, and down-to-earth advice to help single women break free from false views of romance and uncover God's vision for lasting love and satisfying relationships.

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Book SynopsisMedicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. Over centuries, women''s bodies have been demonised and demeaned until we feared them, felt ashamed of them, were humiliated by them. But as doctors, researchers, campaigners and most of all as patients, women have continuously challenged medical orthodoxy. Medicine''s history has always been, and is still being, rewritten by women''s resistance, strength and incredible courage. In this ground-breaking history Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding, mystification and misdiagnosis of women''s bodies, illness and pain. From the ''wandering womb'' of ancient Greece to today''s shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation and menopause, Unwell Women is the revolutionary story of women who have suffered, challenged and rewritten medical misogyny. Drawing on Elinor''s own experience as an unwell woman, this is a powerful and timely exposé of the medical world and woman''s place

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Book SynopsisThe changing role of women in warfare, a neglected aspect of military history, is the subject of this collection of perceptive, thought-provoking essays. By looking at the wide range of ways in which women have become involved in all the aspects of war, the authors open up this fascinating topic to wider understanding and debate. The discuss how, particularly in the two world wars, women have been increasingly mobilized in all the armed services, originally as support staff, then in defensive combat roles. They also consider the tragic story of women as victims of male violence, and how women have often put up a heroic resistance, and examine how women have been drawn into direct combat roles on an unprecedented level, a trend that is still controversial in the present day. The collection brings together the work of noted academics and historians with the wartime experiences of women who have remarkable personal stories to tell. The book will be a milestone in the study of the recent history of the parts women have played in the history of warfare. Authors Dr Juliette Pattinson, Professor Mark Connelly, Georgina Natzio, Christine Halsall, Jonathan Walker, Major Imogen Corrigan, Dr. Halik Kochanski, Dr T.A. Heathcote, Elspeth Johnstone, Mike Ryan, Grace Filby, Dr George Bailey, Tatiana Roshupkina, Leicester Chilton, Paul Edward Strong, Celia Lee, John Lee

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewBFF? ... inspired me to try to be braver about confronting niggling issues with friends in future. -- Helen Brown * The Telegraph *Claire's writing is as clever as it is kind - cheering, wise and reassuring. BFF is like having a best mate on your bookshelf, and I'll be giving it to all of the women I love! -- Daisy Buchanan * author of Careering, Insatiable and How to Be a Grown Up *Having seriously struggled with friendship over the years, I picked up this wonderful book feeling like an imposter and put it down feeling hugely relieved. Claire Cohen calmly and brilliantly irons out the shaming crinkles in how we can think about female friendship, reframing it with analysis, understanding, and appreciation. This terrific book more than stands its ground against the tyrannical memories of Forever Friends merchandise while making a heartening case for a portfolio of friendship types. -- Kat Brown * editor of No One Talks about This Stuff *GRAZIA SUMMER READ. With input from psychologists, experts and women's women like Jane Garvey and MP Jess Phillips, Cohen interrogates the myths and pop culture tropes around female friendship and highlights the pressure points. -- Summer reads * Grazia *

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How bitches, trainwrecks, shrews, and crazy women have taken over pop culture and liberated women from having to be nice.Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap that is likeability. Any woman who dares to reveal her messy side has been treated as a cautionary tale. Today, unlikeable female characters are everywhere in film, TV, and wider pop culture. For the first time ever, they are being accepted by audiences and even showered with industry awards. We are finally accepting that women are-gasp-fully fledged human beings. How did we get to this point?Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable female characters, from Samantha Jones as "The Slut" in Sex and the City to the iconic Mean Girl, Regina George, examining what exactly makes them popular, how audiences have reacted to them, and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of being a woman. Anna Bogutskaya, film programmer, broadcaster, and co-founder of the horror film collective and podcast The Final Girls, takes us on a journey through popular film, TV, and music, looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture-and society-is finally ready to embrace complicated women.

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Book SynopsisNow in B-format paperback, this book describes ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces their footsteps, from eighteenth-century parson’s daughter Elizabeth Carter – who desired nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond in the wilds of southern England – to modern walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed. For each, walking was integral, whether it was rambling for miles across the Highlands, like Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, or pacing novels into being, as Virginia Woolf did around Bloomsbury. Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing – of being – articulated by these ten pathfinding women.Trade Review‘Andrews features a wonderful cast of characters . . . It still feels somehow radical to talk about women ramblers and flâneuses; the sensitive, well-researched portraits in Wanderers rightly begin to redress the balance.’ — The Idler ‘The reader of Kerri Andrew's Wanderers: A History of Women Walking laces her boots and strikes out with ten women who walked, wrote and wrote about walking . . . there are some lovely vignettes . . . The book is at its best when imaginatively recreating the sole-tiring, soul-stirring, stomping simplicity of walking alone. Then the reader shares the rapture of Virginia Woolf's cry: "Oh the joy of walking!"’ — Laura Freeman, The Critic ‘Think of famous walkers and it's men like Wordsworth and Keats who likely spring to mind. But that's only half the story: here Andrews fills in the blanks with a history of women walkers of the last 300 years.’ — Country Walking Magazine ‘This book not only brings to light some women who walked and have been hidden in the shadows, but inspires us to consider our own reasons for walking and what we get from it. Kerri brings her own experiences and connections with the women she introduces in the book into each chapter, and her own love of walking shines through . . . If I hadn't read this book already, it would be on my wish list this Christmas!’ — Scottish Mountaineer ‘Historically, women were consigned to domestic tasks that hemmed them in. For a woman to walk as freely as a man was a radical act and fraught with potential danger. Here Andrews turns a scholarly eye on ten women throughout history, most of whom lived in Great Britain, who walked or, rather, hiked long distances. . . . Andrews interacts with each walker by either tracing similar paths herself or reflecting upon those paths' significance.’ — Booklist ‘In Wanderers, the reader finds him or herself in excellent company. We accompany literary legends such as Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Wordsworth as well as less well known, but equally exceptional, figures such as Ellen Weeton and Sarah Stoddard Hazlitt as they stride out through the landscapes that inspired and sustained them . . . Although Wanderers does show its readers that there have, historically, been barriers to women’s freedom to walk, its great achievement is to remind us of the prize worth challenging convention and facing those risks, that the freedom to walk is.’ — The Pilgrim ‘A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of "knowing" that they found along the path.’ — Raynor Winn, author of 'The Salt Path' ‘For centuries, women have walked for freedom, pleasure, identity and solace: they have walked-for-their-lives. Kerri Andrews’s remarkable history of these wanderers is timely and exciting. Enchanted by Andrews’s accessible, engaging, rigorous work, I opened this book and instantly found that I was part of a conversation I didn’t want to leave. A dazzling, inspirational history.’ — Helen Mort, author of 'No Map Could Show Them' ‘The remarkable women in Wanderers walk in the face of restrictive corsets and crinolines, the demands of motherhood, nay-saying medical advice, and an ever-present fear of male violence. When we picture a walker, it is usually a man, alone on a mountain summit. But Andrews opens up a very different and vastly more expansive vista, in which “the history of walking has always been women’s history”, and every present-day walker, male and female, should be grateful to her.’ — Rachel Hewitt, author of 'Map of a Nation'Table of ContentsSetting Off Chapter 1: Elizabeth Carter Chapter 2: Dorothy Wordsworth Chapter 3: Ellen Weeton Chapter 4: Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt Chapter 5: Harriet Martineau Chapter 6: Virginia Woolf Chapter 7: Nan Shepherd Chapter 8: Anaïs Nin Chapter 9: Cheryl Strayed Chapter 10: Linda Cracknell and a Female Tradition Coda Appendix References Further Reading Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisHenrietta Leyser considers the problems and attitudes fundamental to every woman of the time: medieval views on sex, marriage and motherhood; the world of work and the experience of widowhood for peasant, townswoman and aristocrat. The intellectual and spiritual worlds of medieval women are also explored.MEDIEVAL WOMEN celebrates the diversity and vitality of English women's lives in the Middle Ages.

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Book SynopsisThe multi-award-winning series, Strangers In Paradise, gets a brand new update in four exciting volumes! The past finally catches up to Katchoo and threatens Francine, the love of her life. Katchoo has no choice but to return to her toxic ex, Darcy Parker, and the world of organized crime. But losing Katchoo is not an option for Francine, who rises to the challenge to track down and save her. Just as the future looks bright, catastrophe sends Katchoo spiraling into the clutches of Veronica, a beautiful psychopath with one thing in mind—revenge. Strangers In Paradise Volume Two is a deep dive into the star-crossed lives of Francine and Katchoo. From their first awkward meeting in high school to the complications of building a life together in their 20s, a deep bond ties the women together through thick and thin. This entire award-winning series is collected into four trade paperback volumes!Trade Review“I discovered SiP a few years after it started in 1996, and it was very influential in my interest in telling relationship stories 'with a twist’...Terry made us notice the day to day relationships between the main characters…Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary has always been a good way to make people pay attention (to) the details of the characters’ lives and as a result, reflect on their own lives.” – Fabio Moon, Co-creator of Daytripper

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Book SynopsisAt a time when women are more vocal than ever about our lives, there's one last taboo.We need to talk about porn.‘Briskly confronting...porn is an inescapable part of the environment we all share and should be talked about honestly… this book is an important start.’THE SUNDAY TIMES'Celebrates women's sexuality but also unflinchingly reveals the truth of how women are perceived - and used - in society by men.'A STYLIST best non-fiction pick for 2024When we think about porn today, we still mostly think about men. Men as the producers and the consumers. Women as the product. Most women aren't talking to each other about what they do and don't do with porn - not really. And when we do talk about it, we are divided into unhelpful binaries: for or against? Liberation or coercion? Too sexual or not sexual enough? But in a world where porn sites get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon plus Twitter combined, and one of the leading sites claims a third of its users are women, isn't it time to change that?In this book, interviews with 100 women result in an extraordinary and powerful conversation on pornography. How they first encountered it. How they consume it. How it has affected their sex lives. What they like and what they don't. And what it means for their relationships.Eye-opening, provocative and deeply moving, this book navigates the polarised public debates, to open an intimate window into porn and the sexual lives of women today.Trade Review‘Briskly confronting...porn is an inescapable part of the environment we all share and should be talked about honestly… this book is an important start.’ * Sunday Times *'Celebrates women's sexuality but also unflinchingly reveals the truth of how women are perceived - and used - in society by men.' * Stylist best non-fiction for 2024 *‘A sensitively written and generous piece of work’ * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisA TOP BOOK FOR 2024 IN: THE OBSERVER, INDEPENDENT, SUNDAY TIMES AND BOOKSELLER''He understands only the women he invents the others not at all''Thomas Hardy is one of the most beloved and most-read British authors. His influence on literature and the minds of his readers is singular. But how is it that the novelist who created some of the most memorable and modern female characters in literature had such troubled relationships with real women?In this highly innovative book, acclaimed biographer Paula Byrne re-examines Hardy's life through the eyes of the women who made him mother, sisters, girlfriends, wives, muses. The story veers from shocking scenes such as his obsession with the sight of a woman hanged, to poignant vignettes of unfulfilled passion, to fascinating details of working women's lives in the nineteenth century.Hardy Women is the story of how the magnificent fictional women he invented would not have been possible without the hardship and hardiness of the real ones who Trade Review EARLY PRAISE FOR HARDY WOMEN ‘Absorbing… a treat for Hardy fans and unhappy wives’ The Times ‘Novelist and poet Thomas Hardy created some of literature’s most enduring female characters . . . but it is the real women who shaped the life of the tortured genius that a book vividly reanimates’ Independent 'By turns infuriating and inspiring, but always fascinating, this page-turner of a book offers a genuinely fresh perspective on one of Victorian Britain’s most famous writers' Gareth Russell, author of The Palace ‘A fascinating re-examination of the life of Thomas Hardy through the eyes of the women who profoundly influenced him-his mother, his sisters, girlfriends, wives and muses. Drawing on access to some neverbefore-seen passages in Hardy's journals, she shows that it is through these hardy women that we can truly appreciate his much-loved works’ The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice

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Book SynopsisA TOP BOOK FOR 2024 IN: THE OBSERVER, INDEPENDENT, SUNDAY TIMES AND BOOKSELLER''He understands only the women he invents the others not at all''Thomas Hardy is one of the most beloved and most-read British authors. His influence on literature and the minds of his readers is singular. But how is it that the novelist who created some of the most memorable and modern female characters in literature had such troubled relationships with real women?In this highly innovative book, acclaimed biographer Paula Byrne re-examines Hardy's life through the eyes of the women who made him mother, sisters, girlfriends, wives, muses. The story veers from shocking scenes such as his obsession with the sight of a woman hanged, to poignant vignettes of unfulfilled passion, to fascinating details of working women's lives in the nineteenth century.Hardy Women is the story of how the magnificent fictional women he invented would not have been possible without the hardship and hardiness of the real ones who Trade Review EARLY PRAISE FOR HARDY WOMEN ‘Absorbing… a treat for Hardy fans and unhappy wives’ The Times ‘Novelist and poet Thomas Hardy created some of literature’s most enduring female characters . . . but it is the real women who shaped the life of the tortured genius that a book vividly reanimates’ Independent 'By turns infuriating and inspiring, but always fascinating, this page-turner of a book offers a genuinely fresh perspective on one of Victorian Britain’s most famous writers' Gareth Russell, author of The Palace ‘A fascinating re-examination of the life of Thomas Hardy through the eyes of the women who profoundly influenced him-his mother, his sisters, girlfriends, wives and muses. Drawing on access to some neverbefore-seen passages in Hardy's journals, she shows that it is through these hardy women that we can truly appreciate his much-loved works’ The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice

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Book Synopsis Winning strategies of one of football’s most successful coaches Trade Review‘Since Sarina joined, we’ve really taken our football to the next level and fully expressed ourselves on the pitch.’ Millie Bright, Lionesses defender and captain ‘Sarina gave me the chance to fulfil my wildest dreams. We won the Euros, and I was honoured as the best goalkeeper in the world.’ Mary Earps, Lionesses goalie ‘By establishing and strengthening my connections with others through my experience and skills, I can contribute significantly to the team's success. Sarina encouraged me to do just that, and it has had a positive effect.’ Lucy Bronze, Lionesses defender ‘She has brought us all together. She is a special person and puts us first as human beings.’ Leah Williamson, Lionesses defender and captain ‘Under Sarina's guidance, I am having the best years of my career with the Lionesses.’ Beth Mead, Lionesses striker

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Book SynopsisThroughout the centuries, royal mistresses have been worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled. They set the fashions, encouraged the arts, and, in some cases, ruled nations. Eleanor Herman''s Sex with Kings takes us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe''s most powerful monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous humor, and stirring poignancy, this glittering tale of passion and politics chronicles five hundred years of scintillating women and the kings who loved them.Curiously, the main function of a royal mistress was not to provide the king with sex but with companionship. Forced to marry repulsive foreign princesses, kings sought solace with women of their own choice. And what women they were! From Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV, who kept her position for nineteen years despite her frigidity, to modern-day Camilla Parker-Bowles, who usurped none other than the glamorous Diana, Princess of Wales.The successful royal mistress made herself irreplaceable. She was ready to converse gaily with him when she was tired, make love until all hours when she was ill, and cater to his every whim. Wearing a mask of beaming delight over any and all discomforts, she was never to be exhausted, complaining, or grief-stricken.True, financial rewards for services rendered were of royal proportions -- some royal mistresses earned up to $200 million in titles, pensions, jewels, and palaces. Some kings allowed their mistresses to exercise unlimited political power. But for all its grandeur, a royal court was a scorpion''s nest of insatiable greed, unquenchable lust, and vicious ambition. Hundreds of beautiful women vied to unseat the royal mistress. Many would suffer the slings and arrows of negative public opinion, some met with tragic ends and were pensioned off to make room for younger women. But the royal mistress often had the last laugh, as she lived well and richly off the fruits of her sins.From the dawn of time, power has been a mighty aphrodisiac. With diaries, personal letters, and diplomatic dispatches, Eleanor Herman''s trailblazing research reveals the dynamics of sex and power, rivalry and revenge, at the most brilliant courts of Europe. Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, Sex with Kings is a chapter of women''s history that has remained unwritten -- until now.Trade Review"Sexy, Dishy and Funny" -- New York Times "An irreproachably researched and amusingly written history of European monarchs' jezebels." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Sex With Kings is...a lot more fun than Danielle Steel or Dan Brown." -- Washington Post Book World "Addictively Good Dish" -- Entertainment Weekly An enlightening social history that is great fun to read" -- New York Times Book Review "With all the suspense of a thriller... this book is simply ideal for a historical bestseller!" -- Barbara Wegmann, Amazon Germany in-house critic "Herman's spirited history of royal "mistresshood" is certainly a catchy read... History made as buoyant as fiction." -- Booklist "An irresistible book... Deliciously bawdy, outrageously entertaining... Herman's writing sparkles off the pages." -- Boston Globe "A smart, keenly researched history written with wry wisdom." -- Dallas Morning News

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Book SynopsisIn order to penetrate Tibet and reach Lhasa, Madame Alexandra David-Neel used her fluency of Tibetan dialects and culture, and inked skin and tackled some of the roughest terrain and climate in the World. This title presntes her intensive study and daring adventure in mysterious territories of the East.Trade Review"David-Neel was indisputably a fearless traveler, a rogue's rogue. Her account has the power to awe even today." -- Outside magazine

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Book SynopsisA history of Riot Grrrl, a group of extraordinary young women coming of age angrily, collectively, and publicly. It tells the story of a time when America thought feminism was dead, and feminism seemed to buy into the slacker myths of Generation X, but a generation of noisy girls rose up to prove everybody wrong.Trade Review"For a Second Wave feminist like myself, Girls to the Front evokes wonderfully the way the generation after mine soaked up the promise and the punishment of feminist consciousness: all in all, a richly moving story." -- Vivian Gornick "Compelling... A brash, gutsy chronicle of the empowering music and feminist movement of the early 1990s... Marcus enthusiastically tracks the 'scattered cartographies of rebellion' and captures the combustible excitement of this significant if short-lived moment." -- Publishers Weekly "Marcus has done a commendable job of telling the little-known history of an important social and cultural movement... A compelling history." -- Booklist (starred review) "Original, witty, idealistic and down-to-earth, Girls to the Front is a chronicle of women, girls, music, sexism-and, best of all, what it means to be alive. Reader take heart: Feminism is not dead." -- Brenda Wineapple, author of White Heat "Sara Marcus's Girls to the Front is a great & true & real history. Thank God. At last." -- Eileen Myles, author of Chelsea Girls and Inferno (A Poet's Novel) "Feminism seems to change every five years. It's hard to grasp the movement... Girls to the Front is not just a keeper of the flame but brings you to yr own fire." -- Kim Gordon "Stirring... Eloquent... Like Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain did in Please Kill Me... Sara Marcus's Girls to the Front tells the story of riot grrrl, one person at a time." -- Bitch Magazine "Ambitious and convincing... Girls to the Front makes narrative sense out of events that had so far been recorded only in mythic, unverified, and fragmentary form." -- Johanna Fateman, Bookforum "A historical rockument of the revolutionary 90s counterculture Riot Grrrl movement... A rousing inspiration for a new generation of empowered rebel girls to strap on guitars and stick it to The Man." -- Vanity Fair "Girls to the Front is more than just a historical account of the riot grrrl movement. It is a reliving. For those who missed the happenings of that era, this book will make you feel as though you were right there." -- Venus Zine "One hell of an empowering read... A scorching history of the Riot Grrrl movement... There's inspiration here. Read this book and feel it-a renewed energy, in talking about the roles women play in the scenes that we live in today." -- HTMLGIANT "A painstakingly researched and well thought-out tribute to a punk feminist era Sara Marcus clearly holds dear... It should be heralded as an uncannily insightful revelation of the motivations and inner-workings of Riot Grrrl." -- Allison Wolfe, New York Press "Exhilarating... Girls to the Front is the well-documented history Riot Grrrl deserves... Marcus writes with the empathy, grace, and balance of a good war correspondent... Her book will undoubtedly prompt a whole new generation of teenage girls." -- The Los Angeles Times "A fascinaqting social history... In her impassioned study, Marcus focuses on the girls in the crowd as much as stars like Bikini Kill, placing the story in the context of liberalism's post-Reagan crisis and mapping a civilization of Xeroxed jeremiads." -- Rolling Stone

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Book SynopsisFor eight years, during Bill Clinton's two presidential terms, Madeleine Albright was an active participant in some of the most dramatic events of our time-from the pursuit of peace in the Middle East to NATO's humanitarian intervention in Kosovo. This title tells the story of former Secretary of State.Trade Review"One of the most diverting political bios in recent memory." -- Entertainment Weekly "Her portraits of foreign leaders are lively and evocative... The result is a book that creates a sense of policy made by real people." -- The New Yorker "Madeleine Albright has written a different kind of memoir... It's Albright unplugged." -- USA Today "Albright is frank, assertive... straight-shooting." -- The New York Times "The fascinating story of a remarkable person who has served her country well." -- The Dallas Morning News

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Book Synopsis

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