<\/a><\/p>\nHere are the top ten nonfiction books, according to Ms Magazine’s readers:<\/p>\n
10. The Purity Myth: How America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women
\nby Jessica Valenti
\nSeal Press, 2009
\nJessica Valenti combats a nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s virginity complex, arguing that myths about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153purity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are damaging to both girls and women. She points the way forward toward a world where women are perceived as more than vessels of chastity.<\/p>\n
9. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
\nby bell hooks
\nSouth End Press, 1985
\nCementing her place as one of the most influential feminist theorists, hooks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Feminist Theory explores Kimberle Crenshaw\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conversation-changing idea of intersectionality: the way racism, classism and sexism work together to foster oppression.<\/p>\n
8. Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
\nby bell hooks
\nSouth End Press, 1999
\nNamed after the famous speech by Sojourner Truth, this must-read by bell hooks discusses black women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle with U.S. racism and sexism since the time of slavery and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shirk from how white middle- and upper-class feminists have at times failed poor and non-white women.<\/p>\n
7. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
\nby Ariel Levy
\nFree Press, 2005
\nWhat do phenomena such as Girls Gone Wild say about feminism? This book looks at the ways women today make sex objects of themselves, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not impressed. She chews out false \u00e2\u20ac\u0153empowerment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d based on self-objectification and offers feminist alternatives.<\/p>\n
6. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women
\nby Susan Faludi
\nCrown, 1991
\nThis landmark book sounded the alarm about a pervasive backlash against feminism. She painstakingly refutes each insidious anti-feminist argument\u00e2\u20ac\u201cfor instance, that feminism is responsible for a supposed epidemic of unhappiness in women. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really wrong, she says, is that equality hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been achieved; in fact, the struggle has only just begun.<\/p>\n
5. Nickel and Dimed
\nby Barbara Ehrenreich
\nMetropolitan Books, 2001
\nLong-time Ms. columnist Barbara Ehrenreich posed undercover as a low-income worker to gain material for this empathetic portrait of how the bottom half lives. She reveals that simply making ends meet is a silent struggle for many Americans, especially for women with families to support.<\/p>\n
4. A Room of One\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Own
\nby Virginia Woolf
\nHarcourt Brace, 1929
\nThis classic from the 1920s makes a devastatingly eloquent argument with a simple takeaway: For a women artist to thrive, she must have space in which to work and some money for her efforts.<\/p>\n
3. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
\nby Audre Lorde
\nCrossing Press, 1984
\nThis master work by Audre Lorde, a Caribbean American lesbian feminist writer, collects her prose from the late 70s and early 80s. Many of these pieces made feminist history, including her candid dialogue with Adrienne Rich about race and feminism, her oft-quoted critique of academia \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s House\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and her Open Letter to Mary Daly.<\/p>\n
2. C*nt: A Declaration of Independence
\nby Inga Muscio
\nSeal Press 2002
\nInga Muscio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2002 feminist manifesto radicalized a new generation. She argues for the reclaiming of the tarnished word cunt, and discusses her personal experiences with self-protection, sex work, abortion and solidarity.<\/p>\n
1. Feminism is For Everybody: Passionate Politics
\nby bell hooks
\nSouth End Press, 2000
\nFittingly, in Ms. readers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 favorite feminist book of all time, bell hooks argues that feminism is for everybody, regardless of race, gender or creed. She urges all to live a feminism that finds commonality across differences and makes room for impassioned debate.<\/p>\n
via Ms Magazine Blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are the top ten nonfiction books, according to Ms Magazine’s readers: 10. The Purity Myth: How America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti Seal Press, 2009 Jessica Valenti combats a nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s virginity complex, arguing that myths about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153purity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are damaging to both girls and women. She points the way … Continue reading Top Ten Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time (according to Ms. Magazine)<\/span>