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
2191 The Witches Of Eastwick John Updike 1984 American English
2596 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2641 The Power Naomi Alderman 2016 British English
2693 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
2708 The Help Kathryn Stockett 2009 American English
2844 Sisterhood Is Powerful Robin Morgan 1970 American English
3230 This Bridge Called My Back Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa 1981 American English
3533 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3920 Staying Power Peter Fryer 1984 British English
4298 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Fannie Flagg 1987 American English
4676 Our Bodies, Ourselves Unknown 1970 American English
4723 The Negro Caravan Sterling Allen Brown, Arthur Paul Davis, Ulysses Lee 1941 American English
5923 In Search Of Our Mother’s Gardens Alice Walker 1983 American English
6192 Know My Name Chanel Miller 2019 American English
6491 A Voice From The South Anna Julia Cooper 1892 American English
6538 Black Feminist Thought Patricia Hill Collins 1990 American English
6973 Our Bodies, Ourselves Boston Women’s Health Collective 1970 American English
7646 Living, Loving And Lying Awake At Night Sindiwe Magona 1991 South African English
7691 Das Superweib Hera Lind 1995 German German
7849 The Birth House Ami McKay 2006 Canadian English
8051 Pedagogy Of The Oppressed Paulo Freire 1970 Brazilian Portuguese
8105 The Convert Elizabeth Robins 1907 British English
8243 The Work Of A Common Woman Judy Grahn 1978 American English
8289 Feminism Is For Everybody bell hooks 2000 American English
8333 Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin 2006 American English
8358 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
8501 Soul of a Citizen Paul Rogat Loeb 1999 American English
8669 How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan 1996 American English
9026 Desert Flower Waris Dirie, Cathleen Miller 1998 American English
9124 Lumberjanes Noelle Stevenson 2014 American English
9238 Ella Baker And The Black Freedom Movement Barbara Ransby 2003 American English
9287 It’s Been A Pleasure, Noni Blake Claire Christian 2020 Australian English
9309 The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo 2018 American English
9575 Happy Endings Thien-Kim Lam 2021 Unknown English
9687 Development As Freedom Amartya Sen 1999 Indian English
9790 Sassafrass, Cypress, And Indigo Ntozake Shange 1982 American English
9890 Bhimayana Srividya Natarajan, S. Anand 2011 Indian English
10236 The Apology Eve Ensler 2019 American English
10439 Rain Of Scorpions And Other Stories Estela Portillo Trambley 1975 American English
10774 Female Chauvinist Pigs Ariel Levy 2005 American English
10778 An Island Princess Starts A Scandal Adriana Herrera 2023 Unknown English
10784 The New Negro Jeffrey C. Stewart 2018 American English
10781 Cassandra Speaks Elizabeth Lesser 2020 American English
10828 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10977 The Maid Of The North Ethel Johnston Phelps 1980 American English
11210 Yes Means Yes Jessica Valenti, Jaclyn Friedman 2008 American English
11222 Becoming Michelle Obama 2018 American English
11252 Black Women Writers At Work Claudia Tate 1983 American English
11405 Women Who Run With The Wolves Clarissa Pinkola Estés 1992 American English
11486 I Shall Not Be Moved Maya Angelou 1990 American English
11542 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11579 Women's Ways Of Knowing Mary Field Belenky 1986 American English
11660 No Visible Bruises Rachel Louise Snyder 2019 American English
11827 The Mother Of All Questions Rebecca Solnit 2017 American English
11848 Of All Sizes Her Boydan Unknown Unknown
11859 Makes Me Wanna Holler Nathan McCall 1994 American English
11866 The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde Audre Lorde 1997 American English
12083 The Big Mama Stories Shay Youngblood 1989 American English
12083 Talking Back bell hooks 1989 American English
12258 The Women Outside Stephanie Golden 1990 American English
12248 Sister Citizen Melissa Harris-Perry 2011 American English
12410 As Good A Woman As Ever Broke Bread Alex McInnis Unknown English
12513 Bake Face And Other Guava Stories Opal Palmer Adisa 1991 Jamaican English
13266 Forged Under The Sun Fran Leeper Buss 1993 American English
13357 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
14344 The Woman Who Walked Into Doors Roddy Doyle 1996 Irish English
14984 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf Ntozake Shange 1975 American English
14984 Tender Morsels Margo Lanagan 2008 Australian English
14984 Hood Feminism Mikki Kendall 2020 American English
14984 The Paper Bag Princess Robert Munsch 1980 Canadian English
14984 Women Without Men Shahrnush Parsipur 1989 Iranian Persian
14984 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
14984 Normal Women Philippa Gregory 2023 British English
15561 The Moment Of Lift Melinda Gates 2019 American English
15898 The Black Woman Toni Cade Bambara 1970 American English
15898 We A Badd Ddd People Sonia Sanchez 1970 American English
15898 Rules For Radicals Saul D. Alinsky 1971 American English
17120 Dactyl Hill Squad Daniel José Older 2018 American English
17120 The Suffragette Scandal Courtney Milan 2014 American English
17120 Women & Money Suze Orman 2007 American English
17120 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
17120 Home Girls Barbara Smith 1983 American English
17120 When And Where I Enter Paula Giddings 1984 American English
17120 Black Eyed Susans And Midnight Birds Mary Helen Washington 1975 American English
17120 The Selected Poems Of Nikki Giovanni Nikki Giovanni 2003 American English
17120 Directed By Desire June Jordan 2005 American English
17120 Why Men Love Bitches Sherry Argov 2002 American English
17120 Finding Me Viola Davis 2022 American English
17120 Milk And Honey & The Sun And Her Flowers By Rupi Kaur 2 Books Collection Set Rupi Kaur 2014 Canadian English
17120 Dear Medusa Olivia A. Cole 2023 American English
17120 I Hope This Reaches Her In Time r.h. Sin 2017 American English
17120 She Fits Inside These Words r.h. Sin, Robert M. Drake, Samantha King Holmes 2021 American English
17120 She Felt Like Feeling Nothing r.h. Sin 2018 American English
17120 A Kick In The Belly Stella Dadzie 2020 British English
17120 My Body Emily Ratajkowski 2021 American English
17120 Redefining Realness Janet Mock 2014 American English
17120 You Can't Keep A Good Woman Down Alice Walker 1981 American English
17120 The Woman Who Owned The Shadows Paula Gunn Allen 1983 American English
17120 The Long Haul Myles Horton 1990 American English
17120 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership John C. Maxwell 1998 American English
17120 My Life On The Road Gloria Steinem 2015 American English
17120 Horse Barbie Geena Rocero 2023 Unknown English
17120 Teaching To Transgress bell hooks 1994 American English
17120 The Midwife's Apprentice Karen Cushman 1995 American English
17120 Eleven Minutes Paulo Coelho 2003 Brazilian Portuguese
17120 The Benevolent Society Of Ill Mannered Ladies Alison Goodman 2023 Unknown English
17120 Inés Da Minha Alma Isabel Allende 2006 Chilean Spanish
17120 Meet Danitra Brown Nikki Grimes 1984 American English
17120 Rickshaw Girl Mitali Perkins 2007 American English
17120 Audacious Hope Indrajit Roy Unknown English