Experts Tell Us the Best Feminist Coffee Table Books

This book is a beautiful collection of images of famous women throughout the twentieth century. Aarons captures models, actresses politicians, and even royalty in stunning portraits. A must-have coffee table book.

This powerful photography collection drawn from the celebrated National Geographic archive celebrates the lives of women from around the globe, accompanied by revelatory new interviews and portraits of contemporary trailblazers including Oprah Winfrey, Nancy Pelosi, and Christiane Amanpour. #MeToo. #GirlBoss. Time’s Up. From Silicon Valley to politics and beyond, women are reshaping our world. Now, in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, this bold and inspiring book from National Geographic mines 130 years of photography to showcase their past, their present, and their future. With 300+ stunning images from more than 50 countries, each page of this glorious book offers compelling testimony about what it means to be female, from historic suffragettes to the haunting, green-eyed “Afghan girl.” Organized around chapter themes like grit, compassion, and joy, the book features brand-new commentary from a wide swath of luminaries including Laura Bush, Gloria Allred, Roxane Gay, Melinda Gates, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, and the founders of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. Each is accompanied by a bold new portrait, shot by acclaimed NG photographer Erika Larsen.

I think a great Coffee table book for your home is the ‘That’s What She Said’ book by Kimothy Joy, comprising wise words from influential women. A mixture of watercolour and biography provides a unique experience for those who read it. You can really feel the words on the page and be connected to these women. There are so many wonderful women out there to learn from, and this book gives you a greatly shortened version of their biographies for you to get sucked in to.

This book is a big deal for my former self. As a girl I struggled with math and science and I think a big part of that was the lack of proper roles models in school. This would have been the perfect gift for my 12 year old self.

Female artists have been routinely excluded from the mainstream art canon, and art historian Bridget Quinn has collected the stories and works of 15 female artists in a gripping read that will also look wonderful displayed on your coffee table. It covers major female artists from 1600 to present day, and it’s a new look into art history that any art enthusiast or feminist will love.

Published to coincide with Rookwood’s 140th anniversary, this beautiful, collectible, fully illustrated volume tells the rich story of this female-founded, female-owned great American art pottery company. Author and historian Bob Batchelor tells the compelling story of this artisanal ceramics company, still operating in the heart of the Ohio River Valley from its founding to present day. Filled with behind-the-scenes artist and creator interviews, stories of Rookwood’s avid collectors, as well as never-before-seen images and documents from the company’s historic archives, you will see why Rookwood remains a pillar of true craftsmanship.

The Happening is the story of an illicit abortion the writer, Annie Ernaux had, as a young woman, before abortion was legal. As a psychotherapist that extensively work with topics surrounding about suppression and oppression, also a woman of color, I found this book very painful to read, however, it deeply reflects a single fact: lack of options is the reality for many women worldwide, and the pain is not only associated with being women, but also a women in a certain class.

You Are A Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero is a great coffee table feminism book because it has a bright, interesting cover, as well as contains great financial mindset tips for women, written by a woman. Having that book sitting on your coffee table is inspiring to look at and reminds anyone in the room to have a positive financial mindset, and that women have great financial ability.