With women’s history month coming to an end, I wanted to share some biographies and autobiographies you should read by and about influential women in our society.
- I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai
“Malala Yousafzai became an international symbol of the fight for girls’ education after she was shot in 2012 for opposing Taliban restrictions on female education in her home country of Pakistan.” (un.org)
- Becoming – Michelle Obama
“In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.” (penguinrandomhouse.com)
- Maria Montessori – Rita Kramer
“Maria Montessori went on to create the Montessori method, an educational model that encourages free play and independence, and is now used all over the world in classrooms with children of all abilities. Publishers Weekly notes that this book about the groundbreaking woman behind the educational method is “highly recommended for educators, parents, and moderate feminists who seek inspiration from one of the most accomplished women of this or any other age.” (explorethearchive.com)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life – Jane Sherron de Hart
“In this large, comprehensive, revelatory biography, Jane De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg’s passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, her meticulous jurisprudence: her desire to make We the People more united and our union more perfect.” (amazon.com)
- The Diary of A Young Girl – Anne Frank
The Diary of a Young Girl (first published 1952; this edition 1977) tells the story of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who went into hiding with her family during the Second World War. It offers a remarkable portrait of a maturing young woman forced into an unbelievable situation but rising to the occasion. (blinkist.com)
- The Wives of Henry VIII – Antonia Fraser
“In a sweeping narrative, Fraser traces the cultural, familial and political roots of each of Henry’s queens, pushes aside the stereotypes that have long defined them, and illuminates the complex character of each. The result is a superb work of history through which these six women become as memorable for their own achievements–and mistakes–as they have always been for their fateful link to Henry VIII.” (goodreads.com)
- Red Scarf Girl – by Ji-li Jiang
“Red Scarf Girl is a historical memoir written by Ji-li Jiang about her experiences during the Cultural Revolution of China, with a foreword by David Henry Hwang. Ji-li Jiang was very important in her classroom and was respected until 1966 when the Cultural Revolution started.” (wikipedia.org)
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl – Harriet Ann Jacobs & Linda Brent
“The true story of an individual’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains among the few extant slave narratives written by a woman. This autobiographical account chronicles the remarkable odyssey of Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897) whose dauntless spirit and faith carried her from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to liberty and reunion with her children in the North.” (goodreads.com)
- All That She Carried – Tiya Miles
“Historian Tiya Miles tracks the story of Ashley’s Sack, which was passed down through three generations of Black women and evokes love, loss and resilience. The story starts with Rose, an enslaved woman in 1850s South Carolina, who gave this sack filled with precious items to her daughter, Ashley.” (nbcnews.com)
- Auschwitz and After – Charlotte Delbo (Author), Rosette C. Lamont (Translator), Lawrence L. Langer (Introduction)
“Charlotte Delbo’s moving memoir of life and death in Auschwitz and the postwar trauma of survivors, Auschwitz and After, is now a classic of Holocaust literature. Offering the rare perspective of a non-Jew, Delbo records moments of horror and of desperate efforts at mutual support, of the everyday deprivation and abuse experienced by everyone in the camps, and especially by children. Auschwitz and After conveys how a survivor must “carry the word” and continue to live after surviving one of the greatest catastrophes of the twentieth century.”