A pioneer in the battle to establish birth control as a basic human right and a founder of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Sanger — a nurse who witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of unwanted pregancy — triumphed over arrest, indictment, and exile. Her autobiography is a classic of women's studies. Reprint of Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography, published by W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1938.
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Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller This 1845 classic by prototypical feminist discusses the Woman Question, prostitution and slavery, marriage, employment, reform, many other topics. Enormously influential work is today a classic of feminist literature.
The Woman's Bible: A Classic Feminist Perspective by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Book-by-book examination of the Bible by pioneer in women's rights movement places events in their historical context, interprets passages as allegory and fact, and compares them with myths of other cultures.
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Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Delightfully humorous account of a feminist utopia in which 3 male explorers stumble upon an all-female society. An early-20th-century writer's once-unconventional views on male-female behavior, motherhood, individuality, other topics.