Books with category đź‘“ Social Issues
Displaying 5 books

The Seed

The Seed: Infertility Is a Feminist Issue is a compelling exploration of how feminism has historically overlooked the struggles of infertile women. In pop culture as much as in policy advocacy, the feminist movement has often left these women out in the cold.

This book traverses the chilly landscape of miscarriage, and the particular grief that accompanies the longing to make a family. Framed by her own desire for a child, journalist Alexandra Kimball brilliantly reveals the pain and loneliness of infertility, especially as a lifelong feminist.

Her experiences in online infertility support groups—where women gather in forums to discuss IVF, surrogacy, and isolation—leave her longing for a real-life community of women working to break down the stigma of infertility.

In the tradition of Eula Biss’s On Immunity and Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-sided, Kimball marries perceptive analysis with deep reportage. Her findings highlight the paradoxical cultural attitudes towards women's rights to actively choose to have children.

Braiding together feminist history, memoir, and reporting from the front lines of the battle for reproductive rights and technology, The Seed inspires readers to envision a world where no woman is made to feel that her biology is her destiny.

An American Marriage

2018

by Tayari Jones

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined.

Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.

Little Bee

2012

by Chris Cleave

Little Bee, a novel by Chris Cleave, presents a tale of a precarious friendship between an illegal Nigerian refugee and a recent widow from suburban London. This story is told from the alternating and disparate perspectives of both women, exploring the tenuous bonds that form between strangers from vastly different worlds.

The narrative delves into themes of loss, identity, and the search for asylum, all while highlighting the resilience of human spirit in the face of adversity.

Gender Born, Gender Made

2011

by Diane Ehrensaft

Gender Born, Gender Made is a groundbreaking guide to caring for children who live outside binary gender boxes. We are only beginning to understand gender. Is it inborn or learned? Can it be chosen—or even changed? Does it have to be one or the other?

These questions may seem abstract—but for parents whose children live outside of gender “norms,” they are very real. No two children who bend the “rules” of gender do so in quite the same way. Felicia threw away her frilly dresses at age three. Sam hid his interest in dolls and “girl things” until high school—when he finally confided his desire to become Sammi. And seven-year-old Maggie, who sports a boys’ basketball uniform and a long blond braid, identifies as “a boy in the front, and a girl in the back.”

But all gender-nonconforming children have one thing in common—they need support to thrive in a society that still subscribes to a binary system of gender. Dr. Diane Ehrensaft has worked with children like Felicia, Sam, and Maggie for over 30 years. In Gender Born, Gender Made, she offers parents, clinicians, and educators guidance on both the philosophical dilemmas and the practical, daily concerns of working with children who don’t fit a “typical” gender mold. She debunks outmoded approaches to gender nonconformity that may actually do children harm. And she offers a new framework for helping each child become his or her own unique, most gender-authentic person.

Zeitoun

2009

by Dave Eggers

"Zeitoun" is the true story of one family, caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters: the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a house-painting business in New Orleans. In August of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kathy evacuates with their four young children, leaving Zeitoun to watch over the business.

In the days following the storm, he travels the city by canoe, feeding abandoned animals and helping elderly neighbors. Then, on September 6th, police officers armed with M-16s arrest Zeitoun in his home.

Told with eloquence and compassion, "Zeitoun" is a riveting account of one family’s unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water.

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