Women Sisters

Four acclaimed female authors—including Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley and In the Dream House author Carmen Carmen Maria Machado—reflect on their lifelong engagement with Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of girlhood and growing up. Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley explore their strong lifelong personal engagement with Alcott’s novel Little Women—what it has meant to them and why it still matters. Each takes her subject as one of the four March sisters, reflecting on their stories and what they can teach us about life. Meg March by Kate Bolick: The New York Times–bestselling author of Spinster finds parallels in oldest sister Meg’s brush with glamour at the Moffats’ ball and her own complicated relationship with clothes. Jo March by Jenny Zhang: The short story writer of Sour Heart confesses to liking Jo least among the sisters when she first read the novel as a girl, uncomfortable in finding so much of herself in a character she feared was too unfeminine. Beth March by Carmen Maria Machado: The In the Dream House author writes about the real-life tragedy of Lizzie Alcott, the inspiration for third sister Beth, and the horror story that can result from not being the author of your own life's narrative. Amy March by Jane Smiley: The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Thousand Acres rehabilitates the reputation of youngest sister Amy, whom she sees as a modern feminist role model for those of us who are, well, not like the fiery Jo. These four voices come together to form a deep, funny, far-ranging meditation on the power of great literature to shape our lives.

In 2014, the nation was rocked by the brutal violence against young Aboriginal women Loretta Saunders, Tina Fontaine and Rinelle Harper. But tragically, they were not the only Aboriginal women to suffer that year. In fact, an official report revealed that since 1980, 1,200 Canadian Aboriginal women have been murdered or have gone missing. This alarming official figure reveals a national tragedy and the systemic failure of law enforcement and of all levels of government to address the issue. Journalist Emmanuelle Walter spent two years investigating this crisis and has crafted a moving representative account of the disappearance of two young women, Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander, teenagers from western Quebec, who have been missing since September 2008. Via personal testimonies, interviews, press clippings and official documents, Walter pieces together the disappearance and loss of these two young lives, revealing these young women to us through the voices of family members and witnesses. Stolen Sisters is a moving and deeply shocking work of investigative journalism that makes the claim that not only is Canada failing its First Nations communities, but that a feminicide is taking place.

The Nagoskis explain why women experience burnout differently than men-- and provide a simple, science-based plan to help women minimize stress, manage emotions, and live a more joyful life. With insights from the latest science, prescriptive advice, and helpful worksheets and exercises, they explain why rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic are key to recovering from and preventing burnout. -- adapted from publisher info

WITH A NEW FOREWARD Journalist Seyward Darby's "masterfully reported and incisive" (Nell Irvin Painter) exposé pulls back the curtain on modern racial and political extremism in America telling the "eye-opening and unforgettable" (Ibram X. Kendi) account of three women immersed in the white nationalist movement. After the election of Donald J. Trump, journalist Seyward Darby went looking for the women of the so-called "alt-right" -- really just white nationalism with a new label. The mainstream media depicted the alt-right as a bastion of angry white men, but was it? As women headlined resistance to the Trump administration's bigotry and sexism, most notably at the Women's Marches, Darby wanted to know why others were joining a movement espousing racism and anti-feminism. Who were these women, and what did their activism reveal about America's past, present, and future? Darby researched dozens of women across the country before settling on three -- Corinna Olsen, Ayla Stewart, and Lana Lokteff. Each was born in 1979, and became a white nationalist in the post-9/11 era. Their respective stories of radicalization upend much of what we assume about women, politics, and political extremism. Corinna, a professional embalmer who was once a body builder, found community in white nationalism before it was the alt-right, while she was grieving the death of her brother and the end of hermarriage. For Corinna, hate was more than just personal animus -- it could also bring people together. Eventually, she decided to leave the movement and served as an informant for the FBI. Ayla, a devoutly Christian mother of six, underwent a personal transformation from self-professed feminist to far-right online personality. Her identification with the burgeoning "tradwife" movement reveals how white nationalism traffics in society's preferred, retrograde ways of seeing women. Lana, who runs a right-wing media company with her husband, enjoys greater fame and notoriety than many of her sisters in hate. Her work disseminating and monetizing far-right dogma is a testament to the power of disinformation. With acute psychological insight and eye-opening reporting, Darby steps inside the contemporary hate movement and draws connections to precursors like the Ku Klux Klan. Far more than mere helpmeets, women like Corinna, Ayla, and Lana have been sustaining features of white nationalism. Sisters in Hate shows how the work women do to normalize and propagate racist extremism has consequences well beyond the hate movement.

Psychological theory has traditionally overlooked or minimized the role of siblings in development, focusing instead on parent-child attachment relationships. The importance of sisters has been even more marginalized. Sue A. Kuba explores this omission in The Role of Sisters in Women's Development, seeking to broaden and enrich current understanding of the psychology of women. This unique work is distinguished by Kuba's phenomenological method of research, rooted in a single prompt: "Tell me about your relationship with your sister." Rich in detail, the responses (many of which are reproduced at length within the book) provide a complex picture of sister relationships across the lifespan. Integrating these stories with current literature about gender and family composition for sisters of difference (disabled and lesbian sisters) and ethnic sisters, this book provides useful recommendations for therapeutic understanding of the significance of sisters in everyday life, integrating diverse perspectives in order to address the ways clinicians can enhance psychological work with women clients. A valuable contribution to the field of mental health, The Role of Sisters in Women's Development is highly recommended for therapists who wish to broaden their inquiry into the sister connection, as well as anyone who wants to further understand the importance of sisterhood.

Tells the stories and documents the contributions of African American women involved in the struggle for racial and gender equality through the civil rights and black power movements in the United States.

Myrna Blyth, former editor-in-chief of Ladies' Home Journal, was part of the Spin Sisters media elite for over twenty years. In Spin Sisters, she tells the truth about the business she knows so well---its power and influence, its manipulations, and frequently misguided politics. Spin Sisters is an eye-opener that will change the way you think about a major influence on your life---and about yourself.