Five Best-Selling Women’s History Books to Add to Your TBR
Celebrate Women’s History Month by diving into some of our best-selling women’s studies books, each offering a unique and powerful perspective on the lives and contributions of women throughout history. From groundbreaking biographies to in-depth analyses of women’s roles in social movements, our curated selection highlights the resilience, creativity, and impact of women across various fields and eras. Whether you’re a scholar, student, or avid reader, these books provide invaluable insights and inspiration, making them essential reads for honoring the legacy and achievements of women. Explore our top picks and join us in celebrating the remarkable stories of women who have shaped our world.
Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920, Second Edition by Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore
Gender and American Culture Series
Frederick Jackson Turner Award, Organization of American Historians
Lerner-Scott Dissertation Prize in U.S. Women’s History, Organization of American Historians
Heyman Prize, Yale University
Julia Cherry Spruill Prize, Southern Association for Women Historians
James A. Rawley Prize, Organization of American Historians
“An exquisitely written and conceived book about turn-of-the-century North Carolina.”—New Republic
“In this stunning reclamation of some largely bypassed aspects of Southern history, Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore casts a vivid light on the nexus of race, gender and power in North Carolina from the late 19th century through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment (which gave women the vote) in 1920. Gilmore’s finely crafted, engrossing book puts women at the center of its inquiry.”—Washington Post Book World
The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women: Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South edited by Kami Ahrens
“Captivating, resisting nostalgia with its authentic, honest, and sometimes contradictory experiences from women all over the region.”—Garden and Gun
“Anyone interested in Appalachia and the people who lived and continue to live there will find this book to be a great starting point.”—Georgia Library Quarterly
The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
2024 Publication Award, Kentucky Historical Society
Honorable Mention, 2024 Letitia Woods Brown Book Award, Association of Black Women Historians
Shortlisted, 2024 Museum of African American History Stone Book Award
“Myers carefully stitches together the story of Julia Ann Chinn, the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, Martin Van Buren’s vice president, recounting her life on his estate and the public controversy over their relationship.”—New York Times Book Review
“Illuminating. . . . Myers painstakingly pieces together this long-hidden history. The result is a revealing exploration of the intersection of race, gender, power, and property in eighteenth-century America.”—Publishers Weekly
Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era by Ashley D. Farmer
Justice, Power, and Politics Series
Honorable Mention, Darlene Clark Hine Award, Organization of American Historians
Finalist, 2018 Museum of African American History Stone Book Award
Honorable Mention, 2018 Letitia Woods Brown Prize, Association for Black Women Historians
“Through a rigorous multimedia analysis encompassing artwork, political cartoons, and manifestos, Farmer illuminates just how essential the women of the Black Power movement were, tracing their efforts in decades past to the continued centrality of Black women in the fight for social justice.”—Esquire
“Outstanding and nuanced. . . . Farmer traces the relationships between black women’s intellectual, artistic, and activist work.”—Journal of Southern History
The Women’s Fight: The Civil War’s Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation by Thavolia Glymph
Littlefield History of the Civil War Era Series
2021 Albert J. Beveridge Award, American Historical Association
2021 Joan Kelly Memorial Prize, American Historical Association
2021 Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award, Organization of American Historians
Julia Cherry Spruill Prize, Southern Association for Women Historians
“By telling the important, yet often-overlooked story of how enslaved women fought for their rights, and how white women often upheld the status quo, Glymph has written a much-needed account of Civil War historiography.”—Library Journal
“Powerful. . . . The Women’s Fight is a book that compels us to reckon not only with the wartime experience of women but the possibilities that can come from patient historical research. In both respects, Glymph succeeds brilliantly.”—American Nineteenth Century History
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