The Incomplete List of Feminist Memoirs


So I’m prepping to get started on my memoir in January and reading as many memoirs as possible to get a feel for different styles and such. The weird thing is, there doesn’t seem to be a list of “feminist” memoirs anywhere. Sure, there’s great reading lists like the Feminist Summer Reading List and the Best Feminist Young Adult Books, but there’s nada, zippo, zilch for feminist memoirs.

I want to change that. Let’s get a list started, shall we? Here are a few titles I’ve come up with. Please feel free to add your own in the comments!

  • Marjane Satrapi – The Complete Persepolis
  • Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  • Allison Bechdel – Fun Home
  • Maxine Hong Kingston – The Woman Warrior: Memoir of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
  • Barbara Ehrenreich – Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
  • Susan Brownmiller: In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution and Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape (via @gabrielleld on Twitter)
  • Wilma Mankiller – Mankiller: A Chief and Her People
  • Erica Jong – Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life
  • bell hooks – Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood
  • Zora Neale Hurston – Dust Tracks on a Road
  • Audre Lorde – Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
  • Azar Nafisi – Reading Lolita in Tehran
  • Temple Grandin – Thinking in Pictures**
  • Helen Keller – The Story of My Life**
  • Terry Galloway – Mean Little deaf Queer**
  • Harriet McBryde Johnson – Too Late to Die Young**

**feminists with disabilities

What do you think of this list? What books should be added? Leave a note in the comments!

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November 18, 2010 | danineAdmin | 4 Comments »

Book Review: “No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power” by Gloria Feldt

Win a free copy of No Excuses – see details below!!


Reading Gloria Feldt’s fab new book No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power is like sinking into a book-length letter of inspiration from a much-needed mentor. Feldt, a veteran of the second-wave fight for reproductive justice, reminds us of how many battles the women’s rights movement has already won and implores us to forge ahead with feminism’s “half-finished revolution”.

But Feldt isn’t saying that the second wave has worked their butts off and now it’s time for the younger generations to pick up the slack alone. No. Instead, “No Excuses” is a book of mentorship. Feldt shares the lessons she’s learned throughout her career as well as concrete steps each of us can take to create an even stronger feminist movement. I was particularly struck by her belief that we are each capable of changing the world – and not just in little ways, like voting for progressive candidates, either. (Although that’s very important, too!) Feldt profiles women like Michelle Robson, who founded the women’s health information portal, EmpowHER, and Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish, who started a successful campaign to get Brita to recycle their water filters.

Reading this book encourages you to think big. What are you passionate about? What are you ticked off about? What can be done about it? What can you do? Feldt makes the case that if we band together with other women (and males allies), anything is possible. We just need a lot of hard work and even more persistence.

This is a must-read for feminists, male allies and other progressives (who should call themselves feminists – ahem!). Get your copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or IndieBound.

Win a copy of No Excuses!
I have one copy of the book to give away – yay! To enter, ust drop me an email (danine@danine.net) or leave a note in the comments, and tell me how you are changing the world right now. Hurry, don’t delay! Contest ends this Friday, Nov. 19, at 5 PM CST.

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November 17, 2010 | Danine | Tags: , , | No Comments »