Books

Spotlighting books that tell important feminist stories.

February 2026 Reads for the Rest of Us

PUBLISHED 2/5/2026 by and

Each month, Ms. provides readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.

There are hundreds of books being released every month, and it is challenging to narrow down the titles to a manageable list of 20-ish. I pride myself on finding the hidden gems—the ones you may not hear about otherwise. That means that I sometimes forgo some of the most buzzy books for ones that haven’t gotten as much publicity, even though they deserve it.  

So all that said, here is February’s list of 28 books. It was one of those months where it was tough to decide—enjoy the extra titles!

The New Misogyny, Violent Extremism and What It Will Take to Stop It: RSVP for a Live Conversation (Online or in L.A.; Wednesday, Feb. 18)

PUBLISHED 1/24/2026 by

Across ideologies, the clearest and most consistent predictor of mass shootings is not political extremism alone—it is rising gendered grievances, patriarchal backlash, and perpetrators’ histories of gender-based violence and misogyny.

That is the focus of Miller-Idriss’ groundbreaking new book, Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism.

On Feb. 18, 2026, Miller-Idriss and Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar will explore how misogyny fuels radicalization, how gender-based grievances are weaponized by extremist movements, and why confronting patriarchy is essential to preventing future violence. Join us in person or online.

‘Each of Us Has the Right to Define the Future’: Soraya Chemaly Takes Aim at Male Supremacy, Calls for Feminist Imagination

PUBLISHED 1/22/2026 by

Soraya Chemaly’s latest book, All We Want Is Everything: How We Dismantle Male Supremacy, is the manifesto we need for this current moment—a fascinating and infuriating exploration of the ways in which systems of male supremacy are hurting all of us, and how we can collectively chart courses to liberation.

Hockey’s Cultural Renaissance Can’t Ignore Domestic Violence

PUBLISHED 1/13/2026 by and

HBO’s recent juggernaut, Heated Rivalry, has blasted to the front of seemingly everyone’s consciousness over the last few months. While the press tour of the two lead actors promoting the show is, in a word, delightful, the attention being paid to fictional hockey players’ relationships off-the-ice is, unfortunately, a stark reminder of the reality of the state of gender-based violence in the sport.

Countless players for the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as the junior and minor leagues, have been accused of domestic and sexual violence. Yet many of those same players are retained on lucrative professional and semiprofessional contracts, and some have been able to keep playing even while under investigation for criminal sexual and domestic assault.

The NHL remains the only of the four major professional sports leagues (which also includes the NFL, NBA and MLB) that lacks a formal and specific domestic violence policy when players are accused of sexual or domestic violence.

Reads for the Rest of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2026

PUBLISHED 1/12/2026 by and

Happy new year, feminist readers! I hope you’ll make it a goal to carve out time to read, and I’m here to share the top books we are excited about this year. 

We’ve scoured catalogs and websites, searched our favorite authors, kept up with socials and tried to get through as much email as we can to find the gems that we know Ms. readers will love and learn from. We look for feminist, queer, anti-racist, anti-colonial, original, radical and reflective books. Subversive books. Books that’ll make you think and feel.

It’s a lot of work, but as a librarian and Ms. Feminist Know-It-All, it’s what I do! And it’s labor I love. 

Here are the top 94 books we’re looking forward to in 2026. 

A Feminist Historian’s Year-End Reading and Viewing Guide

PUBLISHED 12/7/2025 by

As the year winds down, I find myself returning—as I always do—to the stories, performances and ideas that have shaped my teaching and thinking. Feminism’s past is never really past; it’s a living archive we carry with us, full of unresolved questions, missteps, breakthroughs and beautiful, complicated people. This year’s reading and viewing list reflects that sensibility.

Liberation forces its contemporary narrator—and its audience—to reckon with the impossible expectations we’ve placed on small groups of women in church basements.

Molly Jong-Fast’s memoir presses on the tender, maddening ties between feminist foremothers and the daughters who grew up in their shadow.

Sarah Weinman’s study of spousal rape laws exposes just how recently the law stopped treating wives’ bodies as open territory—while showing how fiercely survivors and advocates have had to push for change that should never have been controversial.