Non-Fiction

Content type
Collection
Pauline Bebe headshot

Pauline Bebe

Pauline Bebe’s struggles to become the first women rabbi to serve in France have made her sensitive to the importance of welcoming people of all backgrounds to participate in Jewish life.

Our Bodies Ourselves Covers

Episode 2: Body of Knowledge

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45 years ago a group of women in the Boston area collectively published Our Bodies Ourselves—a groundbreaking book that put forward the radical notion that women should get to know their own bodies and take charge of their health and sexuality. Since its first publication, the book has sold more than four million copies and been adapted into 30 languages.

Sheyna Gifford

Sheyna Gifford

Sheyna Gifford’s passion for both scientific exploration and writing has enabled her to work for NASA in many different capacities, from science journalist to health and safety officer on a year-long simulated mission to Mars.

Pauline Bebe

Pauline Bebe

The first woman rabbi in France, Pauline Bebe has worked to reach out to addicts, HIV-positive people, and others who often struggle to find an inclusive community.
Betty Berzon Surviving Madness

Betty Berzon

Two years after psychologist Betty Berzon came out as a lesbian in 1971, she won the fight to have the American Psychiatric Association declassify homosexuality as a mental illness.
Starhawk

Starhawk

The bestselling author of multiple books on Neopaganism, feminism, and peaceful political advocacy, Starhawk helped shape the resurgence of Goddess worship in the West.
Joani Blank

Joani Blank

Sex-positive activist Joani Blank created one of the first woman-friendly sex stores in America, Good Vibrations, as well as sex toys like the Butterfly vibrator.
Radia Perlman, 2009

Radia Perlman

A software designer and network engineer, Radia Perlman earned a place in internet history for creating the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) which governs how information is sent between servers.
Fifty Shades of Grey Books
November 18, 2015

Anti-Pornography Values Are Patriarchal

Elisabeth Eigerman

Andrea Dworkin was one of the greatest feminist minds of the 20th century, and a huge influence on second wave feminism, the dominant feminist ideology of the 1960s and 70s.  Second wave feminism held that sex work and sexual entertainment were harmful and degrading to women, and should be abolished. 

Topics: Feminism, Women's Rights, Non-Fiction
Ruth Fredman Cernea

Ruth Fredman Cernea

While she spent her career studying Jewish communities from Washington, DC to Myanmar, Ruth Fredman Cernea may be best known for her part in creating the annual Latke Hamantash Debate at the University of Chicago.
Hanne Blank
May 20, 2015

Q&A with Hanne Blank

Tara Metal

Welcome to the JWA Book Club! We are excited to gather today to discuss Hanne Blank's rousing history of heterosexual relations, Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality. 

Topics: Non-Fiction
Nicolette Mason, Fashion and Style Icon

Nicolette Mason

Body-positive blogger Nicolette Mason has become a leader in creating and celebrating fashion for women of all sizes and shapes.

Debbie Stoller

Debbie Stoller has been hailed as a pioneer of “girlie feminism” for reviving interest in traditionally feminine activities like knitting through Bust and Stitch ‘n Bitch.
Paper Love by Sarah Wildman
March 11, 2015

Video Interview with Sarah Wildman

Tara Metal

Welcome to the JWA Book Club! We are excited to gather today to discuss Sarah Wildman's Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind.

Topics: Non-Fiction
Hanne Blank, 2007

Hanne Blank

Both as a historian and as a fiction writer, Hanne Blank has questioned how we relate to our bodies and our sexuality, from gender norms to fat-shaming.
Flora Lewis

Death of Flora Lewis, “the world’s greatest correspondent”

June 2, 2002
“More and more people are coming to realize that they can choose their history. What a wonderful time to have been able to watch up close!”
Leah Berkenwald

JWA Writer Leah Berkenwald Wins Blogging Award

June 11, 2012
JWA blogger Leah Berkenwald made “connections between the themes of freedom and equality in the most widely read story of her generation to the movement for equal rights for women and resistance to bigotry in a clear, energetic and youthful voice.”
Judith Rosebaum Interviews Roger Cohen, 2015
February 25, 2015

An Interview with Roger Cohen

Judith Rosenbaum

New York Times columnist Roger Cohen sat down with JWA's Executive Director Judith Rosenbaum to discuss his latest book, The Girl from Human Street, a memoir of his mother.

Topics: Non-Fiction

Katya Gibel Mevorach

In her most famous book, Black, Jewish and Interracial: It’s Not the Color of Your Skin but the Race of Your Kin and Other Myths of Identity, anthropologist Katya Gibel Mevorach (nee Azoulay) explored identity politics, “passing” as white, and other social constructs of race.
Sarah Brandstein Smith, 1945

Death of writer Sarah Brandstein Smith, “Queen of the shundroman"

April 29, 1968
“Sarah B. Smith is the most beloved Jewish newspaperwoman, the first who ever served as a reporter on a Jewish paper, and the one who has triumphantly overcome the misgivings of editors who mistrusted the abilities of a mere woman writer.”
Tara Metal Reads "The Boston Girl"
January 7, 2015

Announcing the JWA Book Club

Tara Metal

Chances are, no two people reading this post have the same favorite book. From month to month, I don’t even have the same favorite book—my tastes range from nonfiction crime thrillers to mid-century poetry, and hit quite a few unusual notes in between. I seek out novels I can get lost in. I like all kinds of mythology and the occasional graphic novel. Choosing what to read next can be overwhelming and generally, I need a little guidance.

Topics: Fiction, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Publishing
Jane Eisner

Jane Eisner

In 2008 Jane Eisner became editor-in-chief of the Forward, making her the paper’s first female head in its 111-year history.
Emily Bazelon

Emily Bazelon

From cyberbullying to abortion rights, reporter Emily Bazelon has tackled controversial legal issues for Slate and the New York Times Magazine.
Leslie Feinberg

Leslie Feinberg, 1949 - 2014

And in the reflection of the glass, finally, literally and metaphorically, I could see myself, and Leslie, at once. I think I started to understand what I could be in that moment, that I belonged to a proud tradition of Butch women. That there was a place for me in this world. That I could grow up. For the first time, I understood that I was looking at who and what I would become as an adult. It was breathtaking.

Margot Adler, 2010

Margot Adler, 1946 - 2014

In 1972 she made a deal with WBAI management to get her own free-form live radio show. At the time, WBAI went off the air loosely between 3 or 5 AM and came back on at 7 AM. Margot talked them into giving her the 5–7 AM timeslot and called it Hour of the Wolf after the film by Ingmar Bergman, a phrase which refers to the morning twilight.

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