Gloria Steinem

New York Times bestselling author

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Book Recommendations:

Recommended by Gloria Steinem

Whether you've grown up with the courage and conscience of Angela Davis, or are discovering her for the first time, Freedom Is a Constant Struggle is a small book that will be a huge help in daily life and action, from exposing the 'prison industrial complex' that she named long ago to understanding that leaders are only leaders if they empower others. She herself exposes facts and makes connections, but also leads in the most important way–by example. (from Amazon)

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world. Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine. Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "Freedom is a constant struggle." Angela Y. Davis is a political activist, scholar, author, and speaker. She is an outspoken advocate for the oppressed and exploited, writing on Black liberation, prison abolition, the intersections of race, gender, and class, and international solidarity with Palestine. She is the author of several books, including Women, Race, and Class and Are Prisons Obsolete? She is the subject of the acclaimed documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners and is Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. One of America's most provocative public intellectuals, Dr. Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his "ferocious moral vision." His many books include Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his autobiography, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. Frank Barat is a human rights activist and author. He was the coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine and is now the president of the Palestine Legal Action Network. His books include Gaza in Crisis and Corporate Complicity in Israel's Occupation.

Recommended by Gloria Steinem

Stacey Abrams has everything you want in a candidate: a good legal mind, experience in governance, and a deep knowledge of poverty and hard work. If you read Minority Leader, you will discover she also has the superpowers of inspiring trust and knowing how to organize. You will have her as a friend, and you will want her as a governor. (from Amazon)

Minority Leader is a necessary guide to harnessing the strengths of being an outsider by Stacey Abrams, one of the most prominent black female politicians in the U.S. Leadership is hard. Convincing others―and often yourself―that you possess the answers and are capable of world-affecting change requires confidence, insight, and sheer bravado. Stacey Abrams's Minority Leader is the handbook for outsiders, written with the awareness of the experiences and challenges that hinder anyone who exists beyond the structure of traditional white male power―women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and millennials ready to make a difference. In Minority Leader, Stacey Abrams argues that knowing your own passion is the key to success, regardless of the scale or target. From launching a company, to starting a day care center for homeless teen moms, to running a successful political campaign, finding what you want to fight for is as critical as knowing how to turn thought into action. Stacey uses her experience and hard-won insights to break down how ambition, fear, money, and failure function in leadership, while offering personal stories that illuminate practical strategies. Stacey includes exercises to help you hone your skills and realize your aspirations. She discusses candidly what she has learned over the course of her impressive career: that differences in race, gender, and class are surmountable. With direction and dedication, being in the minority actually provides unique and vital strength, which we can employ to rise to the top and make real change.

Recommended by Gloria Steinem

In Building a Life Worth Living, Marsha Linehan shares her experience of suicidal depression to help others who may be experiencing this themselves or in someone they love. Since using what happens to us to help others is the final stage of healing, this book is a victory on both sides of the page. (from Amazon)

Marsha Linehan tells the story of her journey from suicidal teenager to world-renowned developer of the life-saving behavioral therapy DBT, using her own struggle to develop life skills for others. “This book is a victory on both sides of the page.”—Gloria Steinem “Are you one of us?” a patient once asked Marsha Linehan, the world-renowned psychologist who developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy. “Because if you were, it would give all of us so much hope.” Over the years, DBT had saved the lives of countless people fighting depression and suicidal thoughts, but Linehan had never revealed that her pioneering work was inspired by her own desperate struggles as a young woman. Only when she received this question did she finally decide to tell her story. In this remarkable and inspiring memoir, Linehan describes how, when she was eighteen years old, she began an abrupt downward spiral from popular teenager to suicidal young woman. After several miserable years in a psychiatric institute, Linehan made a vow that if she could get out of emotional hell, she would try to find a way to help others get out of hell too, and to build a life worth living.  She went on to put herself through night school and college, living at a YWCA and often scraping together spare change to buy food. She went on to get her PhD in psychology, specializing in behavior therapy. In the 1980s, she achieved a breakthrough when she developed Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, a therapeutic approach that combines acceptance of the self and ways to change. Linehan included mindfulness as a key component in therapy treatment, along with original and specific life-skill techniques. She says, "You can't think yourself into new ways of acting; you can only act yourself into new ways of thinking." Throughout her extraordinary scientific career, Marsha Linehan remained a woman of deep spirituality. Her powerful and moving story is one of faith and perseverance. Linehan shows, in Building a Life Worth Living, how the principles of DBT really work—and how, using her life skills and techniques, people can build lives worth living.

Recommended by Gloria Steinem

When someone calls you a ‘Rich Bitch,’ say ‘thank you,’ (from Amazon)

Wall Street Journal BESTSELLER New York Times bestselling author of Rich Bitch and renowned money expert Nicole Lapin makes investing accessible and fun so women can make bank and become Miss Independent. You’ve worked hard for your money and now it’s time for your money to work for you. You will never earn or budget your way into real wealth. Growing your money significantly doesn’t require starting with a lot of money. It requires a little bit of knowledge about taking smart risks and as much time as possible to take advantage of the glorious power of compound interest, which Einstein refers to as the eighth wonder of the world. From automating your savings to easy, no-stress investing strategies, Nicole will teach you how to take your financial knowledge and portfolio to the next level and start you on your journey to your ultimate destination: true financial independence. In Miss Independent, you will learn: The freedom that wealth affords you, whether it’s the ability to leave a crappy job or significant other, go on the vacation of your dreams or otherwise live life on your own terms. The best method for establishing your “number”—the amount of wealth you want to accumulate before you retire—and getting it.The meaning of the most common investing terms, like stocks and bonds, (and some more exotic ones like REITs or cryptocurrency) and how to make them work to your advantage.The ins and outs of big financial decisions and concepts, like taking out a mortgage, owning investment properties, and buying life insurance. Miss Independent takes the fear out of money management and investing once and for all. Using her own vulnerable stories and her signature conversational style, let Nicole show you all the different ways and paths that you can take to become financially free at last.