My Summer of Watching Little Women
What the author learned from her mother, a feminist academic doing a research project on film adaptations of Little Women.
When Reading Inspired Women to Change History
The "Friday Night" group was a cohort of prominent nineteenth century Baltimore women who met each week to read, write, and debate social issues.
Michelle Dean: A Sharp Look at Criticism by Women
Dean on the obstacles women face in being taken seriously as intellectuals, feminist infighting, and the importance of being an outsider.
In Children’s Books, How Much Reality is Too Much?
While children will undoubtedly counter myriad difficulties as they navigate life--and it does them a disservice to pretend otherwise--exposure is a double edged sword.
The Merchandising Whiz Behind the Sunbonnet Babies
In the late 1890s, Bertha Corbett set up her own illustration studio in Minneapolis. Her simple drawing of children in sunbonnets became her ticket to success.
The Ultimate Bespoke Manuscript
In The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan, sections of text stack on top of one another, interlaced like fretwork. Bursts of flowers and tangles of vines fill the empty spaces.
A Forgotten Feminist Novel About the Creative Power of Rage
Remembering history helps us to parse the present, and it follows that women struggling to process these "decades of pent-up anger" can find apt reading material in the feminist fiction of the 1970s.
The Great American Game of Picking the Great American Novel
Arguing about the great American novel was perfect fodder for periodicals in the late 1800s, and it is catnip for a listicle-obsessed internet.
Celebrate Banned Books Week
The last week of September is Banned Books Week, when the American Library Association calls our attention to works that have been censored.
The 17th-Century Dutch Version of Bookstagram
Jan Davidszoon de Heem, one of the greatest still-life painters of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, brought particular brilliance to book still-lifes.