A celebration of Ms.—the most startling, most audacious, most norm-breaking of the magazine’s groundbreaking pieces on women, men, politics (sexual and otherwise), marriage, family, education, work, motherhood and reproductive rights, as well as the best of the magazine’s fiction, poetry, and letters. • Featuring Toni Morrison, Billie Jean King, Alison Bechdel, Brittney Cooper, Joy Harjo and Audre Lorde, among many others.

book cover
50 Years of Ms.

50 Years of Ms.

The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution

Hardcover

Ebook

$14.99

Sep 19, 2023ISBN9780593321577

Available for preorder from:

Since its earliest days, Ms. has been a brazen act of independence, demonstrating the untapped potential for journalism that centers news and analysis on women and their lives. The magazine’s new book, 50 YEARS OF Ms., showcases it all, decade by decade, as well as behind-the-scenes photographs that reveal and reflect the changes set in motion by Ms.—and, of course, the iconic covers that galvanized readers.

It is a stunning collection: 500-plus pages filled with the best of the magazine’s features and award-winning fiction and poetry. Naturally, no Ms. anthology would be complete without highlights from the thousands of letters to the editors that poured in over the years from women and men, girls and boys, from across the country and around the globe.

As it proudly features some of the most revolutionary writers and thinkers of the past half century, the book is as much a reflection on the era as it is a road map for the path forward.

Ms. on Tour

  • Sep. 18 New York, NY Roosevelt House Public Institute @ Hunter College RSVP
  • Sep. 18 New York, NY McNally Jackson Books (Seaport) RSVP
  • Sep. 20 New York, NY Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library RSVP
  • Sep. 22 Washington, DC Politics and Prose RSVP
  • Sep. 22 Austin, TX Texas Tribune Festival RSVP
  • Sep. 26 Greenwich, CT Athena Books RSVP
  • Sep. 26 Washington, DC Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia RSVP
  • Sep. 27 South Hadley, MA Odyssey Bookshop RSVP
  • Sep. 28 Northampton, MA Smith College RSVP
  • Oct. 02 Cambridge, MA Harvard Bookstore @ Cambridge Public Library RSVP
  • Oct. 03 Claremont, CA Claremont McKenna College RSVP
  • Oct. 05 Los Angeles, CA Hammer Museum RSVP
  • Oct. 10 Los Angeles, CA Vroman’s Bookstore RSVP
  • Oct. 10 Berkeley, CA Mrs. Dalloway’s RSVP
  • Oct. 11 Corte Madera, CA Book Passage RSVP
  • Oct. 14 Chicago, IL Journalism & Women Symposium Camp RSVP
  • Oct. 17 Chicago, IL Women & Children First RSVP
  • Oct. 26 Baltimore, MD The Ivy Bookshop RSVP
  • Oct. 29 Los Angeles, CA Skirball Cultural Center RSVP
  • Nov. 07 Virtual The 92nd Street Y RSVP
  • Nov. 27 San Francisco, CA Commonwealth Club RSVP
  • Dec. 04 New York, NY Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center RSVP
  • Dec. 07 Atlanta, GA Margaret Mitchell House Museum RSVP
  • Dec. 08 Decatur, GA Charis Books & More RSVP

Reviews

  • “An illustrated guide to toppling the patriarchy … 50 Years of Ms. recounts how the magazine upended norms, disrupted the print world, and made trouble.” The New York Times Read More
  • “Spillar, the executive editor of Ms. magazine, takes a lively and inspiring look at the pioneering feminist periodical. … This thorough survey makes a persuasive case for the magazine’s continued importance.” Publishers Weekly Read More
  • “This thoughtfully curated and zestful celebration of the first 50 years of Ms. would be fascinating under any circumstances, but given the renewed assaults on women’s rights it’s all the more compelling.” Booklist (Starred) Read More
  • “Verdict: A timely and thought-provoking collection of feminist essays, which shows how far society has come and how much work is left to do to obtain true gender equality.” Library Journal Read More
  • “The book, including pieces by Steinem, Barbara Ehrenreich, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde and other heavyweights, provides an essential look back while making an impassioned case for the critical role of feminist writing going forward.” Bookpage Read More
  • “The book is empowering because that's what Ms. has always been about. Helping women to seize the power we have and to use it, to act collectively, to realize that together we can make change happen, even if it takes 50 years.” Newsmax Read More

Ms. co-founder Gloria Steinem, Ms. Studios executive producer Michele Goodwin, Ms. executive director of strategy and 50 Years of Ms. contributor Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, and Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar at a New York City book launch event on Tuesday, Sept. 19.

Gloria Johnson, Senate candidate and member of the “Tennessee Three,” speaks at an event celebrating 50 Years of Ms. in New York City on Monday, Sept. 18. (Courtesy of Firehouseroad.com)

Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar; the Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney; journalist and former ERA Coalition president Carol Jenkins; Ting Ting Cheng, director of the ERA Project at Columbia Law School; Ms. publisher Eleanor Smeal; and Sign4ERA petition leader Bella Ramirez discuss 50 Years of Ms. at Hunter College in New York City on Monday, Sept. 18. (Courtesy of Firehouseroad.com)

  • 50 Years of Ms. on CBS Sunday Show

    Gloria Steinem was a 30-something columnist for New York magazine when she helped found a new publication aimed at pushing feminism into the mainstream. Correspondent Rita Braver talks with Steinem about the origin of Ms., and with executive editor Katherine Spillar, who has spent two-and-a-half years compiling the new anthology.

Full of practical guidance and thoughtful insight, today Ms. remains an indispensable resource for navigating the challenges of the 21st century.

Nancy Pelosi

Ms.—in 1972— normalized being a woman, abortion and all. And here we are, 50 years later, needing that now more than ever.

Sarah Silverman

Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine changed the course of history for modern women, period.

Whoopi Goldberg

For five decades, this groundbreaking publication has been at the forefront of the fight for women’s rights. Now … the work that Ms. magazine has pioneered is more important than ever.

President Joe Biden

Ms. is just as important in today’s world, as feminist leadership is needed to create a just international society.

Dolores Huerta

I can’t imagine our lives without Ms. magazine, that most radical, heart-wise, irreverent, outrageous and odd magazine!

Alice Walker

I look forward to the next fifty years of Ms. Together, let’s keep elevating women’s voices and ideas. Onward!

Hillary Rodham Clinton

The arrival of 50 Years of Ms. comes at the right moment in history and will serve as both a reminder of what we are capable of and a blueprint for how we continue the fight for women’s equality.

Soledad O'Brien

The magazine’s bold, boundary-breaking reporting has motivated me, infuriated me and inspired me. And now this one extraordinary book—50 Years of Ms.—captures it all.

Jane Fonda

50 Years of Ms. is a must-read for all feminists.

Loretta Ross

I’ve been a reader of Ms. for many years and am forever grateful for the ways it shaped my activism. 50 Years of Ms. is truly a national treasure.

Alyssa Milano

Who would have thought that today we would need Ms. more than we ever needed it before?

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Finding Ms. and Ms.-minded women as the women’s movement came of age helped me find my way.

Julia Alvarez

Ms. magazine has played a monumental role in building the women’s movement over the past fifty years. It’s more than a publication—it’s an urgently needed call to action.

Patricia Arquette

Ms. has been dogged in starting and continuing conversations our country needs to have about gender equality. I’m grateful.

Rep. Katie Porter

Ms. has never been afraid to put the real issues—and dreams— of women first.”

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark