The Greatest Books of All Time on Empowerment

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
157 The Color Purple Alice Walker 1982 American English
306 The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 1965 American English
521 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou 1969 American English
913 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass 1845 American English
1037 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
1328 Parable Of The Sower Octavia E. Butler 1993 American English
1620 Sister Outsider Audre Lorde 1984 American English
2192 The Witches Of Eastwick John Updike 1984 American English
2597 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2642 The Power Naomi Alderman 2016 British English
2694 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
2709 The Help Kathryn Stockett 2009 American English
2846 Sisterhood Is Powerful Robin Morgan 1970 American English
3230 This Bridge Called My Back Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa 1981 American English
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3919 Staying Power Peter Fryer 1984 British English
4299 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Fannie Flagg 1987 American English
4677 Our Bodies, Ourselves Unknown 1970 American English
4724 The Negro Caravan Sterling Allen Brown, Arthur Paul Davis, Ulysses Lee 1941 American English
5926 In Search Of Our Mother’s Gardens Alice Walker 1983 American English
6196 Know My Name Chanel Miller 2019 American English
6493 A Voice From The South Anna Julia Cooper 1892 American English
6540 Black Feminist Thought Patricia Hill Collins 1990 American English
6973 Our Bodies, Ourselves Boston Women’s Health Collective 1970 American English
7647 Living, Loving And Lying Awake At Night Sindiwe Magona 1991 South African English
7692 Das Superweib Hera Lind 1995 German German
7850 The Birth House Ami McKay 2006 Canadian English
8052 Pedagogy Of The Oppressed Paulo Freire 1970 Brazilian Portuguese
8107 The Convert Elizabeth Robins 1907 British English
8245 The Work Of A Common Woman Judy Grahn 1978 American English
8291 Feminism Is For Everybody bell hooks 2000 American English
8335 Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin 2006 American English
8360 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
8503 Soul of a Citizen Paul Rogat Loeb 1999 American English
8672 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English
9029 Desert Flower Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller 1998 American English
9127 Lumberjanes Noelle Stevenson 2014 American English
9240 Ella Baker And The Black Freedom Movement Barbara Ransby 2003 American English
9290 It’s Been A Pleasure, Noni Blake Claire Christian 2020 Australian English
9312 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
9578 Happy Endings Thien-Kim Lam 2021 Unknown English
9691 Development As Freedom Amartya Sen 1999 Indian English
9794 Sassafrass, Cypress, And Indigo Ntozake Shange 1982 American English
9894 Bhimayana Srividya Natarajan, S. Anand 2011 Indian English
10241 The Apology Eve Ensler 2019 American English
10443 Rain Of Scorpions And Other Stories Estela Portillo Trambley 1975 American English
10779 Female Chauvinist Pigs Ariel Levy 2005 American English
10783 An Island Princess Starts A Scandal Adriana Herrera 2023 Unknown English
10789 The New Negro Jeffrey C. Stewart 2018 American English
10786 Cassandra Speaks Elizabeth Lesser 2020 American English
10832 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10982 The Maid Of The North Ethel Johnston Phelps 1980 American English
11215 Yes Means Yes Jessica Valenti, Jaclyn Friedman 2008 American English
11227 Becoming Michelle Obama 2018 American English
11257 Black Women Writers At Work Claudia Tate 1983 American English
11409 Women Who Run With The Wolves Clarissa Pinkola Estés 1992 American English
11489 I Shall Not Be Moved Maya Angelou 1990 American English
11545 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11582 Women's Ways Of Knowing Mary Field Belenky 1986 American English
11663 No Visible Bruises Rachel Louise Snyder 2019 American English
11829 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11850 Of All Sizes Her Boydan Unknown Unknown
11861 Makes Me Wanna Holler Nathan McCall 1994 American English
11868 The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde Audre Lorde 1997 American English
12084 The Big Mama Stories Shay Youngblood 1989 American English
12084 Talking Back bell hooks 1989 American English
12259 The Women Outside Stephanie Golden 1990 American English
12249 Sister Citizen Melissa Harris-Perry 2011 American English
12412 As Good A Woman As Ever Broke Bread Alex McInnis Unknown English
12515 Bake Face And Other Guava Stories Opal Palmer Adisa 1991 Jamaican English
13269 Forged Under The Sun Fran Leeper Buss 1993 American English
13360 Period Power Maisie Hill 2019 British English
14022 Becoming Unbecoming Una 2015 British English
14087 The Girl With The Louding Voice Abi Daré 2020 Nigerian English
14232 We Should All Be Feminists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2014 Nigerian English
14345 The Woman Who Walked Into Doors Roddy Doyle 1996 Irish English
14985 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf Ntozake Shange 1975 American English
14985 Tender Morsels Margo Lanagan 2008 Australian English
14985 Hood Feminism Mikki Kendall 2020 American English
14985 The Paper Bag Princess Robert Munsch 1980 Canadian English
14985 Women Without Men Shahrnush Parsipur 1989 Iranian Persian
14985 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
14985 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
15567 The Moment Of Lift Melinda Gates 2019 American English
15916 The Black Woman Toni Cade Bambara 1970 American English
15916 We A Badd Ddd People Sonia Sanchez 1970 American English
15916 Rules For Radicals Saul D. Alinsky 1971 American English
17164 Dactyl Hill Squad Daniel José Older 2018 American English
17164 The Suffragette Scandal Courtney Milan 2014 American English
17164 Women & Money Suze Orman 2007 American English
17164 All The Women Are White, All The Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, Barbara Smith 1982 American English
17164 Home Girls Barbara Smith 1983 American English
17164 When And Where I Enter Paula Giddings 1984 American English
17164 Black Eyed Susans And Midnight Birds Mary Helen Washington 1975 American English
17164 The Selected Poems Of Nikki Giovanni Nikki Giovanni 2003 American English
17164 Directed By Desire June Jordan 2005 American English
17164 Why Men Love Bitches Sherry Argov 2002 American English
17164 Finding Me Viola Davis 2022 American English
17164 Milk And Honey & The Sun And Her Flowers By Rupi Kaur 2 Books Collection Set Rupi Kaur 2014 Canadian English
17164 Dear Medusa Olivia A. Cole 2023 American English
17164 I Hope This Reaches Her In Time r.h. Sin 2017 American English
17164 She Fits Inside These Words r.h. Sin, Robert M. Drake, Samantha King Holmes 2021 American English
17164 She Felt Like Feeling Nothing r.h. Sin 2018 American English
17164 A Kick In The Belly Stella Dadzie 2020 British English
17164 My Body Emily Ratajkowski 2021 American English
17164 Redefining Realness Janet Mock 2014 American English
17164 You Can't Keep A Good Woman Down Alice Walker 1981 American English
17164 The Woman Who Owned The Shadows Paula Gunn Allen 1983 American English
17164 The Long Haul Myles Horton 1990 American English
17164 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership John C. Maxwell 1998 American English
17164 My Life On The Road Gloria Steinem 2015 American English
17164 Horse Barbie Geena Rocero 2023 Unknown English
17164 Teaching To Transgress bell hooks 1994 American English
17164 The Midwife's Apprentice Karen Cushman 1995 American English
17164 Eleven Minutes Paulo Coelho 2003 Brazilian Portuguese
17164 The Benevolent Society Of Ill Mannered Ladies Alison Goodman 2023 Unknown English
17164 Inés Da Minha Alma Isabel Allende 2006 Chilean Spanish
17164 Meet Danitra Brown Nikki Grimes 1984 American English
17164 Rickshaw Girl Mitali Perkins 2007 American English
17164 Audacious Hope Indrajit Roy Unknown English