An outstanding example of dystopian fiction sometimes compared to 1984, Katherine Burdekin’s Swastika Night examines the world of male violence by weaving a tale of feudal Europe seven centuries into a post-Hitlerian society, “when men rule the world.” Burdekin published the novel under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. In it, she explores the connection between gender and political power and anticipates modern feminist fiction by drawing attention to the implications of conventional notions of masculinity and femininity.

Iranian dissident and exile Shahrnush Parsipur uses magical realism and Persian myths to distill the first eight decades of the 20th century in Iran, including British and Russian imperialism, the reigns of two shahs – which a U.S.-backed coup ended – and the advent of the Islamic Revolution. Touba, the main character, marries at 14 to provide for her family, delves into sufism, marries and divorces a prince, participates in an honor killing and is haunted by the social and political traumas of the modern era.

Gender roles are changing dramatically in modern Japan. LGBT people are coming out of the closet; single mothers are an expanding population; ethnic minorities are mobilizing for change; women are becoming political leaders and even professional wrestlers. And some Japanese men are taking on the role of househusband. This is a comprehensive collection of essays from Japanese scholars and activists exploring gender, sexuality, race, discrimination, power, and human rights.

Helène Aylon was a good Jewish girl raised in orthodox Brooklyn, married to a rabbi, and another of two when her world split apart. A widow at thirty, she broke free of tradition to become an eco-feminist artist whose work deals in transgressive images about war and peace, women’s bodies, women and god, and the deeply religious world that continues to influence her work to this day. The memoir is a charming dash through the years of a structured orthodox life and the artistic life that feed her to question the misogyny of her beloved religion. It is also a tell-all about the art world, with fascinating details about luminaries such as Ana Mendieta, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, and Betty Parsons. Examples of Aylon’s work included are her early doors for the Jewish chapel at JFK airport, her peace pillowcases (including one worn by Grace Paley), and her current search for the links between feminism and Judaism

Witches, Midwives & Nurses describes the corruption of the medical establishment and its role in demonizing women healers. With insight and originality, Ehrenreich and English relate witch hunts in the Middle Ages to the decline of midwives, and document the emergence of the Popular Health Movement and the current state of medicine in relation to women's rights. 

Women in Science explores the persistent sexism and gender bias in the male-dominated world of science. In the 1980s, author and essayist Vivian Gornick interviewed women who were often the only ones in their laboratory. In this new edition she follows up with many of them to uncover that not much has changed. Though little progress has been made toward gender equality in scientific fields, Gornick shows that women still continue to defy gender stereotypes and persist in pushing the boundaries of possibilities.

Women Who Kill, Anne Jones’s classic analysis of female violence, contributed to greater understanding of the battered woman’s syndrome and explores the connections between domestic violence and women's violence. The new edition adds material on soldiers returing from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, post traumatic syndrome and intimate violence, while adding notorious new cases to an extraordinary history of crime and punishment.

A modern literary masterpiece, Women Without Men creates an evocative and powerfully drawn allegory of life in contemporary Iran. Internationally acclaimed writer Sharnush Parsipur follows the interwoven destinies of five women-including a prostitute, a wealthy middle-aged housewife, and a schoolteacher-as they arrive by different paths to live together in a garden in Tehran. Shortly after the 1989 publication of Women Without Men in her native Iran, Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her frank and defiant portrayal of women's sexuality. This volume is the first author-approved translation of Women Without Men.

Since 1972 WSQ (formerly Women's Studies Quarterly) has been an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of emerging perspectives on women, gender, and sexuality. WSQ is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published in June and December. Each thematic issue is guest edited and combines contemporary developments in feminist theory and scholarship with essays, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and the visual arts.

In this extraordinary debut novel, Laurie Weeks captures the freedom and longing of life on the edge in New York City. Ranting letters to Judy Davis and Sylvia Plath, an unrequited fixation on a straight best friend, exalted nightclub epiphanies, devastating morning-after hangovers, Zipper Mouth chronicles the exuberance and mortification of a junkie, and transcends the chaos of everyday life.