In honor of Women’s History Month, the DePaul University Library presents a selection of new books and e-books that highlight the lives of women and the impact they’ve made. Explore women’s contributions to everything from global politics to the blues and popular music, digital media, medicine, and more.
Journalist and New York Times comment moderator Marie Tessier examines the absence of women’s voices in online forums, as well as the ways that women are attacked, demeaned, and dismissed in these digital spaces, in her new book Digital Suffragists: Women, the Web, and the Future of Democracy. She argues that democracy is threatened when women are excluded from this form of political communication and outlines how gender and racial representation can be achieved online.
A new open access book, Women and the UN: A New History of Women’s International Human Rights, spotlights the women who helped shape United Nations conventions, declarations and policies on international human rights. Scholars from various disciplines challenge western, colonial notions of feminism and gender equality and explore the role women have played in human rights on the international stage.
In Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, Daphne A. Brooks traces a century of women musicians from Bessie Smith to Beyoncé, as well as music critics, audiences, collectors, and labels. Part music history, part cultural criticism and full of striking photographs, Brooks makes connections between the radical intellectualism of Aretha Franklin, Zora Neale Hurston, Janelle Monae, Pauline Hopkins, Valerie June and many more.
Finally, let’s acknowledge the toll taken on women doing social justice work and fighting for equal rights. Activist Denise Collazo’s Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change shares a framework for wholistic well-being in the face of challenges encountered by Latina activists. She draws on her own experiences to inspire women of color activists in self-advocacy, leadership and staying motivated in the continuing fight for social change.
And keep reading with these additional new books that highlight more women in history and contemporary society:
