Recommendations based on "A Founding Mother"

"This book is a miraculous event." –Elizabeth Gilbert, from the forewordA transformative path for women to reclaim their power in a world all too eager to strip it awayWomen know what it’s like to feel powerless. We have had power taken from us and used over us, and sometimes we have had to give it away for our own safety. But when power is built internally, it is stronger and more enduring than that bestowed externally. In Power, renowned leadership coach Kemi Nekvapil introduces a new framework for cultivating your power from the inside out.When you tap into the power that comes from within, you have the capacity to rebuild yourself. You give yourself the opportunity to break free from chronic people-pleasing and start making choices that align with your needs and values. You stop living and leading with apology, and instead use your power as a force for good.Through the principles of Presence, Ownership, Wisdom, Equality, and Responsibility, Power invites you to stop waiting for power to be handed to you and instead choose it for yourself and on your own terms. Drawing on stories from her own life as a Black woman in a society where power is often used as a tool for fear and obedience, and from the lives of leaders, gamechangers, and everyday women who’ve learned to step into their power, Nekvapil shows you how to practice, build, and feel your inner force.

For readers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sheryl Sandberg and Mary Beard, Women and Leadership is a powerful call to arms about the lack of women at the top.'Who better qualified to delve into this topic?' Business Life_______________Women make up less than 10 per cent of national leaders. Behind this statistic lies a pattern of unequal access to power. Drawing on current research and in conversation with some of the world's most powerful and interesting women about their lived experience, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala explore gender bias and ask how we get more women into leadership roles.Speaking honestly and freely, women leaders such as Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Bachelet and Theresa May talk about their ideas receiving less acknowledgement than their male colleagues' ideas, what it's like to be body-shamed in the media, and the things they wish they had done differently. Their stories reveal how gender and sexism affect perceptions of women as leaders, their pathways to power and the circumstances in which their leadership comes to an end.The result is a rare insight into life as a leader and a powerful call to arms for women everywhere.

A collection of charmingly illustrated and inspiring profiles of fifty pioneering female artists, from the eleventh century to today—by the New York Times bestselling author of Women in Science“A beautifully illustrated, fact-filled breath of fresh air! Countless women have been left out of art history, but thanks to gorgeous books like this, future generations will begin to know their stories.”—Danielle Krysa, founder of The Jealous CuratorWomen make masterpieces! Through fifty fascinating profiles, Women in Art highlights the achievements and stories of fifty notable women in the arts—from well-known figures like painters Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keefe, to lesser-known names like nineteenth-century African American quilter Harriet Powers and Hopi-Tewa ceramic artist Nampeyo.Covering a wide array of artistic mediums, Women in Art also contains infographics about artistic movements throughout history, statistics about women’s representation in museums, and notable works by women. This fascinating bookcelebrates the success of the bold female creators who inspired the world and paved the way for the next generation of artists.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation—the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. From the bestselling authors of Tightrope,two of our most fiercely moral voicesWith Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

#1 BEST SELLER and #1 NEW RELEASEThey said women couldn't keep up.They said women weren't strong enough to do the military's toughest jobs.In 1995, a ragtag band of civilians came to prove them wrong."An important story...No pedestal for these young American lionesses! Cheers and accolades instead." --Pat Schroeder, former Congresswoman and member of the House Armed Services CommitteeTHE STRONG ONES will inspire a new generation with its cast of ordinary women overcoming daunting obstacles-and will thrill readers with a stunning and heartwarming twist.The Strong Ones is the inspiring true story of forty-five civilian women, including the author, who volunteered for a controversial seven-month Army strength study in 1995-and proved just how strong women can get. A hybrid of memoir and military history that will appeal to fans of Wild and Ashley's War, The Strong Ones lays bare the raw emotions, vulnerabilities and body image struggles of those who dug deep to show what it means to be a strong woman-in every sense.With females still banned from combat and their supposed lack of physical strength used as a reason to keep them out, women from around Massachusetts-including moms, teachers, a landscaper, a prison guard, a journalist and one solider-came to change the rules. Female soldiers were busy serving their country so these civilians stepped in, forming a sisterhood like no other through 75-lb backpack hikes, 110-lb trailer pulls, shared pain, keg parties, snowball fights and a refusal to fail.Author Sara Hammel, a test subject and reporter with exclusive access to the study, traces the women and their results through the years, revealing how their efforts came full circle decades later when all military jobs were opened up to women. Exclusive interviews with former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder and Shannon Faulkner add context to this historic shift in military policy, anchoring the study firmly in the present.

Educational and inspirational, this gift-worthy New York Times bestseller from the authors of Rad American Women A-Z, is a bold, illustrated collection of 40 biographical profiles showcasing extraordinary women from across the globe.   Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and amazing tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well-researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. The book features an array of diverse figures from 430 BCE to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world, from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica).  An additional 250 names of international rad women are also included as a reference for readers to continue their own research. This progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women's history and belongs on the shelf of every school, library, and home. Together, these stories show the immense range of what women have done and can do. May we all have the courage to be rad! For teachers, this book is appropriate for grades 6-8 and could be used in either Social Studies or English classes, or as part of a text for a multidisciplinary unit. It can also be used as a Common Core text for grades 6-8 Social Studies/History - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1-10.

A raw and lyrical exploration of the confining expectations of womanhood and, if we dare, what lies beyond those limitations--from a writer Roxane Gay calls "vibrant and thoughtful." Gorgeous, badass, and practically waiting to pounce, Good Woman: A Reckoning is acclaimed essayist Savala Nolan's follow-up to her "standout collection" (New York Times Book Review) Don't Let It Get You Down. A lifetime of playing by the rules of female social conditioning is not what it's cracked up to be for Nolan. The years of making herself smaller (literally and metaphorically); the sexual advances that led to more than she wanted; the bad marriage she fought like hell to keep; all the ways others questioned her identity or choices and she let it slide to keep the peace; her silence when requested; her body when desired--none of it worked. None of it protected her the way it was advertised to. Nolan noticed the same was true for the women around her and the women in history she read about. Across time and location, they were raised to be agreeable and "good." Hyper-visible as sexual objects but invisible as full people. Living in a physical world created by men for men. Taking on the ultimate role of birth-giver and caretaker, yet seeing it remain an unsung act, even as it's a God-like endeavor. Only in midlife did Nolan begin to realize she was capable of living outside these cages of conditioning so slyly insidious that they're nearly invisible. Good Woman elegantly probes the knotty conditions themselves, the costs of adhering to them, and what happens when one refuses to comply. The twelve stunning and unforgettable essays blend memoir, reportage, and history to create a collection that is alternately bold, brash, and explosive ... and ravishingly tender, sensual, and joyous. Nolan takes aim at big and old ideas, and she does not miss. Hers is a testimony to witness and to savor.

This essential biography of one of the most influential women of the past century shows how truly remarkable Jane Goodall's accomplishments have been. Goodall was a secretarial school graduate when Louis Leakey, unable to find someone with more fitting credentials, first sent her to Gombe to study chimpanzees. In this acclaimed work, Dale Peterson details how this young woman of uncommon resourcefulness and pluck would go on to set radically new standards in the study of animal behavior. He vividly captures the triumphs and setbacks of her dramatic life, including the private quest that led to her now-famous activism. Peterson, a longtime Goodall collaborator, has a unique knowledge of his subject. Candid and illuminating, this work will be a revelation even to readers who are familiar with the public Goodall as presented in her own writing.

When a Texas debutante bows her forehead to the floor in the famous "Texas dip", society columnists all across the country speculate interminably over what it is that sets Texas women apart. But really, how could they know? Even women born and bred in Texas - the daughters of generations of Texans - can't always answer that question. Prudence Mackintosh comes very close to an answer, though, in this endlessly entertaining book. Writing with both a wry sense of humor and an insider's compassion, she offers us a fascinating, nose-against-the-glass look into the world of privileged, educated, well-married, well-connected, and mostly wealthy white Texas women. What really sets these women apart, Ms. Mackintosh tells us, is the comfortable yet demanding path they follow from their idyllic girlhoods to positions of prominence - either in their own right or as the wives, mothers, and daughters of prominent men. In eleven essays, some of which originally appeared in Texas Monthly magazine, she charts the way stations that mark this path: summer camps in the Texas Hill Country, exclusive private schools like Dallas' Hockaday, sorority membership, and acceptance into the Junior League. Prudence Mackintosh has been both an outsider and an insider in this privileged world, and she knows its ways. Whether she's writing about the elaborate rituals of pledge week in the 1960s, or the ambivalent ties that bind white women and the women of color who work in their homes, or the achievements of such prominent figures as Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and Liz Carpenter, her observations are shot through with wit and real insight. Just As We Were may not be the final word on elite Texas women, but no oneelse has described their world with more irony and accuracy than Prudence Mackintosh.

The phenomenal bestseller, with more than 500,000 copies sold worldwide, now with a new epilogue from the author--The Chalice and the Blade has inspired a generation of women and men to envision a truly egalitarian society by exploring the legacy of the peaceful, goddess-worshipping cultures from our prehistoric past.