A Women in Resistance Reading List

A Women in Resistance Reading List

This article relates to Women of War

Suzanne Cope's Women of War details the efforts of four female resistance fighters in Italy during World War II, but it also highlights the efforts of countless unnamed women who supported revolutionary efforts. For those interested in learning more about the role of women in resistance movements, the following books explore stories on and off the battlefield:

Nonfiction

Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution by Anne Higonnet
While not an exhaustive history of the French Revolution, this book describes how revolutionaries like Térézia Tallien and Juliette Récamier actively participated in anti-monarchical activities and survived stints in jail during the Reign of Terror. Higonnet shows in exquisite detail how these women used their voices and their clothing to signal women's freedom and equality in a time of political upheaval.

The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, & Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age by Amy Sohn
While Anthony Comstock is the protagonist and villain, Sohn reveals the women who challenged his maniacal control of information about sex and abortion. Few people can name Ida C. Craddock, who advocated for women's bodily autonomy, or Ann Lohman, known as Madam Restell, who provided abortions at a time when they were extremely dangerous. Both died by suicide to avoid the prison sentences that Comstock initiated, and many other women fought against his puritanical laws and paid dearly. This book shows just how long women have been resisting legal control of their bodies.

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Initially supportive of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 against the Shah, Nafisi became increasingly disillusioned as women's rights were stripped away, and even reading becomes an act of resistance in a theocratic dictatorship.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
This captivating book (and new TV series) explores betrayals and killings during The Troubles in the 1970s. Sisters Dolours and Marian Price were guerilla fighters, and their story shows how women overcame male colleagues' initial hesitance and became part of the most violent activities of IRA resistance.

Fiction

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Harriet Tubman is a near-mythical leader of the resistance of enslaved people in this novel. Coates includes elements of the supernatural, but the very real strength of women to escape slavery is a central pillar of the story.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
As the Taliban exert control over Afghanistan, Laila and Mariam are trapped in violent oppression and must rely on each other to escape unspeakable brutality and suffering.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
A fictionalized account of 20^th-century conflicts in China, this book combines fantasy with female empowerment, as a peasant girl learns to harness supernatural powers to end a bloody war.

Filed under Reading Lists

This article relates to Women of War. It first ran in the May 7, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.