Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, And Fate

The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Writings on Politics, Family, And Fate

by Marjorie Williams

Beloved by readers and critics nationwide, The Woman at the Washington Zoo collects Marjorie Williams's brilliant writings-from sharp political profiles to witty commentary on gender and family life to tender, intensely personal explorations of illness and loss. A Washington Post columnist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair , Marjorie wrote political portraits that came to be considered the... (more)

Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography (Plus)

Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography (Plus)

by James Burge

New Revelations about One of the Greatest Romances in History Peter Abelard was arguably the greatest poet, philosopher, and religious teacher in all of twelfth-century Europe. In an age when women were rarely educated, Heloise was his most gifted young student. Their private tutoring sessions inevitably turned to passion, and their moments apart were spent writing love letters. Astoundingly, a few years ago a... (more)

A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

by Joan Anderson

Now available in paperback, the entrancing story of how one woman's journey of self-discovery gave her the courage to persevere in re-creating her life. Life is a work in progress, as ever-changing as a sandy shoreline along the beach. During the years Joan Anderson was a loving wife and supportive mother, she had slowly and unconsciously replaced her own dreams with the needs of her family. With her sons grown,... (more)

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship

by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writer's Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In Grealy's critically acclaimed memior, Autobiography of a Face , she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth &... (more)

Three Cups of Tea

One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time

by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain... (more)

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

by Caroline Weber

In this dazzling new vision of the ever-fascinating queen, a dynamic young historian reveals how Marie Antoinette’s bold attempts to reshape royal fashion changed the future of France Marie Antoinette has always stood as an icon of supreme style, but surprisingly none of her biographers have paid sustained attention to her clothes. In Queen of Fashion , Caroline Weber shows how Marie Antoinette developed... (more)

A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman

A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman

by Joan Anderson

Shortly after arriving on Cape Cod to spend a year by herself, Joan Anderson’s chance encounter with a wise, playful, and astonishing woman helped her usher in the transformations and self-discoveries that led to her ongoing renewal. First glimpsed as a slender figure on a fogged-in beach, Joan Erikson was not only a friend and confidante when one was most needed, but also a guide as Anderson stretched and grew... (more)

An Unfinished Marriage

by Joan Anderson

In this moving sequel to her national bestseller A Year by the Sea , Joan Anderson explores the challenges of rebuilding and renewing a marriage with her trademark candor, compassion, and insight. With A Year by the Sea , Joan Anderson struck a chord in many tens of thousands of readers. Her brave decision to take a year for herself away from her marriage, her frank assessment of herself at midlife, and her... (more)

Woman of Valor

by Ellen Chesler

A biography of the women's rights activist describes crusade to make contraceptives available to women, her struggles with the government and the Catholic church, and her personal life. Reprint.

Women of the Raj

by Margaret MacMillan

Looking at Britain's involvement in India over three and a half centuries, but particularly the period of empire from the 1850s to 1947, the author recreates the role of the women of the Raj from their own letters and memoirs, from novels, and from interviews with survivors. The text is complemented by a wide-ranging selection of contemporary illustrations.

Women of Ideas: And What Men Have Done to ThemDale Spender

Women of Ideas: And What Men Have Done to Them

by Dale Spender

This is a study of women's thoughts and ideas spanning three centuries. The author contends that men have removed women from literary and historical records and deprived women of the knowledge of their intellectual heritage. This book is an attempt to redress the balance.

A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House

A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House

by Oleg Cassini

There are moments in history where events converge to create something rare and special. Jacqueline Kennedy's selection of Oleg Cassini to design her personal wardrobe as First Lady was one of those moments, not only in fashion history, but political history as well. As creator of the "Jackie look," Cassini made the First Lady one of the best-dressed women in the world and a glamourous icon of the Kennedy era. ... (more)

Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business

Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business

by Virginia G. Drachman

Meet Katherine Goddard, owner of a print shop and publisher of the first signed copy of the Declaration of Independence; meet Madam C. J. Walker, whose hair care products brought her from her slave parents' dilapidated cabin to her own Hudson River estate; and meet Katharine Graham, publisher of the Pentagon Papers and owner of the Washington Post Company. These are just three of the diverse women whose lives... (more)

Spinsters abroad: Victorian lady explorers

Spinsters abroad: Victorian lady explorers

by Dea Birkett

What spurred so many Victorian women to leave behind the security and comfort of their middle-class homes to undertake perilous journeys of thousands of miles, tramping through rainforests, caravanning across deserts and scaling mountain ranges? How were they able to travel so freely in exotic lands, when in their own countries such independence was denied them? This book draws on the diaries, letters and other... (more)

Great Divides: Readings in Social Inequality in the United States

Great Divides: Readings in Social Inequality in the United States

by Thomas Shapiro

Drawing from classic and contemporary scholarship, the 47 readings in this anthology illustrate basic theories, concepts, and findings associated with social inequality in the United States. Many selections feature cutting-edge sociological research, providing students with new concepts and theories that inspire thought-provoking class discussion.

The Late Bloomer's Revolution

by Amy Cohen

The debut of a sparkling and reassuring memoirist -- an inspiration to late bloomers everywhere "I like to consider myself a late bloomer, meaning someone who will eventually, however late, come into bloom. Although when and if I will bloom remains a mystery. I wish I knew how to speak a foreign language fluently. I wish I knew how to cook a simple roast chicken, or that I had read The Idiot , whose main... (more)

The school of femininity: A book for and about women as they are interpreted through feminine writers of yesterday and todayMargaret Lawrence

The school of femininity: A book for and about women as they are interpreted through feminine writers of yesterday and today

by Margaret Lawrence

REINVENTING WOMANHOOD.

by Carolyn G. Heilbrun

Heilbrun's important investigation into issues of identity for 20th-century American women probes the problem with past models and the ongoing task of creating new ones today. "Essential reading for anyone interested not only in the future of womanhood but in the stimulating possibilities for liberation of both sexes."--Chicago Tribune Book World.

Sea Legs: Talees of a Woman Oceanographer

Sea Legs: Talees of a Woman Oceanographer

by Kathleen Crane

Sea Legs is the story of Kathleen Crane, one of the first women oceanographers out of the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. By turns personal and objective, Crane tells how her quest for freedom led her to the sea and her research of deep-sea underwater volcanoes. As research doors in the United States closed during the 1980s, Crane charted her scientific future with the... (more)

Generation Ex: Tales from the Second Wives' Club

Generation Ex: Tales from the Second Wives' Club

by Karen Karbo

A smart and hilarious look at husbands, wives, and exes, from the critically acclaimed novelist, and pundit of domesticity. Karen Karbo turns her signature wit and wisdom to the state of marriage, divorce, and remarriage in this wildly funny and often painfully accurate portrayal of a life rife with "exes": your ex, your husband or wife's ex, the ex of the ex, and of course, their children. Generation Ex is... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: women and society

by Marjorie Williams

by James Burge

by Joan Anderson

by Ann Patchett

One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time

by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

by Caroline Weber

by Joan Anderson

by Joan Anderson

by Ellen Chesler

by Margaret MacMillan

by Dale Spender

by Oleg Cassini

by Virginia G. Drachman

by Dea Birkett

by Thomas Shapiro

by Amy Cohen

by Margaret Lawrence

by Carolyn G. Heilbrun

by Kathleen Crane

by Karen Karbo