Second Wave Feminist Books
Last updated: June 25, 2023
“Hillary Clinton is of a generation that was at the heart of the feminist movement. Books by Betty Friedan, Simone de Beauvoir and others had a profound influence on Hillary and millions of other women from her generation. In Hillary’s case, many people who knew her thought she would be the one to lead the movement. Yet in 1974, when she was in her twenties, she decided to move to Arkansas and attach her career to Bill Clinton’s. There is always that tension between family and career. Hillary’s life represents that. Betty Friedan’s book explains it.” Read more...
The best books on Hillary Clinton
David Maraniss, Biographer
“This is about Isadora, and her trip away from a psychoanalyst conference she is attending with her husband. She is 30, married for seven years, and she runs away. She has longings for other men and is confused because her husband is a very nice man. It’s a very funny book. She runs away with Adrian, whom she meets at the conference. You follow her background, childhood, how she grew up and how everything is linked together. It made a lot of people really upset.” Read more...
Maria Sveland, Journalist
“She looked at what biology, history and literature had to say about what it meant to be a woman and she came to the conclusion that these things really only gave people a definition of what it meant to be a woman from the standpoint of famous men. Nobody had ever asked, to her satisfaction, the question of what it means to be a woman to women themselves.” Read more...
The Best Simone de Beauvoir Books
Kate Kirkpatrick, Biographer
“When I read Germaine Greer back in 1971, I was just delighted, because here, suddenly, was somebody saying all the things we felt in our bones but didn’t dare say. And she said it with humour and outrageousness and I loved that. I think Germaine has written many important books. One of the ones that has been most neglected is The Obstacle Race, about the fortunes of women painters. I adore that book. The Female Eunuch is a very exciting book. It was to me. It made a lot of sense to me and I loved her witty treatment of these issues.” Read more...
The best books on Women in Society
Erica Jong, Novelist
“Rich touches on so many of the issues that women go on debating today, and it seems sad to me that a lot of the young mommy bloggers don’t even know about her.” Read more...
The best books on Women in Society
Erica Jong, Novelist
