Reads for the Rest of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024

Books can be a comfort in dark times. They can provide understanding and light. They provide ideas, knowledge and the bravery to speak up when others cannot and to act on their behalf. 

So I read to feel. Read and reflect. Read and take action. We all have gifts to share and strengths to utilize for others who need our help. Let books inspire you to find and develop your own power and courage to be a support through someone’s dark time. Let them relax you so you can get up and fight another day. I am looking for these 100 books to be of service to me so that I might be of service to others. I hope you’ll find some here that will do the same for you. 

So, let’s read. Read and encourage others to do so. Gift books to others. Read one and pass it on. Visit and support your local libraries. But please read. Read as though your life (or someone else’s) depends on it. Because it just might.   

A Story of the Unhoused: The Ms. Q&A with Author Roxanne Chester

How should you talk about unhoused people with children? Read them This is My Bag.

The children’s picture book looks at the day-to-day realities of diverse people—children and elderly, able-bodied and disabled and diverse in race—who are forced to carry their valuables with them because they lack a permanent residence.

The author, Roxanne Chester, spoke to Ms. reporter Eleanor J. Bader in late December, several weeks after the book was released.

Rest in Power: Alice Shalvi, the Mother of Israeli Feminism

The late Alice Shalvi was an Orthodox mother of six, a remarkable intellectual—and a breaker of glass ceilings who advanced women’s equality in realms both secular and religious. Her two enduring passions: promoting justice for all women and a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

(This article originally appears in the Winter 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

2023 ‘Best of the Rest’: Our Favorite Books of the Year!

Each month, we provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups. And each year, we review our monthly Reads for the Rest of Us lists and choose our favorite books of the entire year. 

You’ve read the other “Best of” lists—now read the other one. You know, for the rest of us. So here they are, our book critic’s top 38, in alphabetical order. 

The Ms. Q&A: Award-Winning Playwright Catherine Filloux Takes on Femicide, Trauma, War, Immigration and More

Catherine Filloux’s writing delves into the many ways that human rights are abrogated by gender-based, racial and economic violence. Filloux spoke to Ms. reporter Eleanor J. Bader about her work.

“As a writer, whether of a play or of an opera, I want to focus on the largely male dictators who allow trauma and genocide to exist and flourish. I can’t let this go.”

How Women’s Magazines Ignited a Revolution

When Ms. was founded in 1971, the vast majority of publications for women were about homemaking, parenting advice and fashion and beauty tips. Ms. was far from that, created with the intention of giving a national voice to the feminist movement of the ‘70s—and railing against the idea of the perfect homemaking housewife that was perpetuated by many of the other “for women” publications.

It’s a setting that doesn’t seem too foreign. “The levers of power are very imbalanced still to this very day, not only on sex but also race and ethnicity,” said Kathy Spillar, Ms executive editor. “Ms. has played a major role in constantly putting that in front of the public so that people understand.”

(This essay is part of the “Feminist Journalism is Essential to Democracy” project—Ms. magazine’s latest installment of Women & Democracy, presented in partnership with the International Women’s Media Foundation.)

November 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us

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

This November brings a brilliant selection of new book releases. From Native American Heritage Month to Trans Day of Remembrance, there are books for you to learn from, unwind with, and reflect upon. Which of these 24 titles will you be reading this month?