JAWS Authors
Part of the power of JAWS is the encouragement and support that comes from other members for books, blogs, new jobs and new ventures. Elizabeth Weise, a reporter for USA Today, started researching “A Parents Guide to Mandarin Immersion” after floating the idea at the last JAWS symposium. “I just wanted to thank the women at JAWS who encouraged me to take on this project. It’s the most fun I’ve had in years, a new hobby for the early morning hours, and I wouldn’t have done it had not people told me ‘If you think that book needs to be written, you should write it.’”
Diana B. Henriques signs copies of "The Wizard of Lies," a book about the Bernie Madoff scandal. Photo by Nina Zacuto.
Bookshelf
JAWS members are thinkers and writers, artists, editors and scholars who have created an array of exceptional reading that we want to brag about and commend to you.
Purchase these books on Amazon by clicking the name of the book and you’ll save money, while JAWS earns up to 15 percent of the purchase price.
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2012
Mothers of Intention: How Women & Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America
by Joanne Bamberger
Want to get the “women’s” vote in 2012? Find out how in Joanne’s book.
Call of the Mild: Learning to Hunt My Own Dinner
By Lily Raff McCaulou
This book explains why an urban, animal-loving environmentalist decided to pick up a gun and hunt her own dinner. Part memoir and part journalism, it examines the practical challenges of learning to hunt from square one, the political implications of hunting and the waning American pastime’s intimate connection to death. Grand Central Publishing, scheduled for June, 2012.
Your Voice, Your Vote: The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Politics, Power, and The Change We Need
By Martha Burk
This is a comprehensive yet easy to read guide to political issues and how they affect women. Background and history of issues, how government works (or doesn’t) for women, and questions to ask candidates of all parties. CreateSpace, 2012.
Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know
By Jill Geisler
For as long as she’s been teaching leadership, Poynter’s Jill Geisler has been asked by managers to suggest just one book they could read to hone the most essential skills they need to succeed. So she wrote it. Center Street, scheduled for June 2012.
Finding Fernanda: Two Mothers, One Child, and a Cross-Border Search for Truth
By Erin Siegal
“Finding Fernanda” sheds light on the highly politicized landscape of Guatemala’s adoption industry, a multi-million dollar trade that was highly profitable while barely regulated. Children have been stolen, sold, and offered as orphans to well-intentioned Western parents since the industry began in the 1980′s. With help of documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests, leaked emails, and key sources inside both the Guatemalan and U.S. governments, journalist Erin Siegal traces the riveting story of two very different women brought together by the same kidnapped child. Winner of a 2012 Overseas Press Club Robert Spiers Benjamin Award Citation for Best Reporting on Latin America, a 2012 James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, a 2012 Independent Book Publisher Award (Best Book, Current Affairs II), and an International Latino Book Award (Women’s Issues). Beacon Press, 2012.
2011
The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World
By Shelley Emling
“The Fossil Hunter” is a biography of an unsung hero, Mary Anning, who discovered many of the first dinosaur skeletons and inspired the tongue-twister “She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore.” Mary’s peculiar finds helped lay the groundwork for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, laid out in his On the Origin of Species. Darwin drew on Mary’s fossilized creatures as irrefutable evidence that life in the past was nothing like life in the present. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Frank Batten: The Untold Story of the Founder of the Weather Channel
By Connie Sage
The story behind the media pioneer who gave the world something it didn’t yet know it would love: a TV channel all about the weather. University of Virginia Press, 2011.
PunditMom’s Mothers of Intention: How Women & Social Media Are Revolutionizing Politics in America
By Joanne C. Bamberger
From her vantage point in the nation’s capital, Joanne Bamberger, a journalist and political/media strategist known around the blogosphere as PunditMom — reveals the powerful impact social media tools have had an amplifying female voices in American politics today. Bright Sky Press, 2011.
The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust
By Diana B. Henriques
The inside story of Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme, with surprising and shocking details from Madoff himself, written by the New York Times financial journalist who covered the case. This book shows how the respected financier swindled friends, relatives and other investors through a fraud that lasted for decades. Times Books, 2011.
Small, Gritty and Green
By Catherine Tumber
Tumber, who has spent much of her life in Rust Belt cities, traveled to twenty-five cities in the Northeast and Midwest–from Buffalo to Peoria to Detroit to Rochester–interviewing planners, city officials, and activists, and weaving their stories into this exploration of small-scale urbanism. The MIT Press, 2011.
2010
The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation
By Sharon Lerner
Mothering in America has changed dramatically in the past few decades—but America has failed to keep pace. Moms have been blaming themselves for not being able to do it all, but Lerner explains why its not their fault. Wiley, 2010.
2009
Emerging Epidemics: The Menace of New Infections
By Madeline Drexler
Emerging Epidemics: The Menace of New Infections is a timely portrait of the world’s most ominous infectious diseases and the women and men who are racing to contain them. Penguin, 2009.
2008
Bella Abzug
By Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom
The subtitle says it all: how one tough broad from the Bronx fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, pissed off Jimmy Carter, battled for the rights of women and workers, rallied against the war and for the planet and shook up politics along the way. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.
Everyman News: The Changing American Front Page
By Michelle Weldon
This book examines the cultural trends and events– from advertising to blogs, 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina– in the first decade of the new century that contribute to an anecdotal, narrative approach to multi-platform news, resulting in a democratization of stories in a disruptive media environemnt. University of Missouri Press, 2008
2007
City Adrift: New Orleans Before & After Katrina
By Jenni Bergal
A group of reporters investigate what went wrong in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, and the systemic failures leading up to the disaster. Louisiana State University Press, 2007.
Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate
By Alicia Shepard
By the time this pair were 30, they had the kind of fame most journalists hope for by the end of their lives. This book details how their lives played out after breaking the Watergate story and their impact on journalism. Wiley, 2007.
2005
Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men–And What to Do About It
By EJ Graff
The average working woman will lose out on between $700,000 and $2 million in lost earnings—but the wage gap can be closed. Here’s how. Touchstone, 2005.
2004
What Is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution
By EJ Graff
Opponents of gay marriage say it will destroy “traditional marriage.” But what is marriage really about? Beacon Press, 2004.
2003
Taking Their Place: A Documentary history of Women and Journalism
By Maurine H. Beasley and Sheila J. Gibbons
The book is a comprehensive history of women journalists and the battles they have fought, plus information on the way women have been depicted in journalism. Strata Publishing, 2003.
Mind Over Matter: Conversations with the Cosmos.
By K.C. Cole
Having wound up her “Mind over Matter” science column for the Los Angeles Times, journalist Cole here corrals about 90 of her serial musings. Harcourt, 2003.
2002
Lone Star Heroines: Marooned on the Pirate Coast
By Melinda Rice
A book Lone Star Heroines series that brings Texas history to life. Republic of Texas Press, 2002.
Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs: How Eleven Women Escaped Poverty and Became Their Own Bosses
By Martha Shirk and Anna Wadia
The inspirational stories of 11 low-income women who transformed their lives after receiving micro loans from nonprofit organizations supported by the Ms. Foundation for Women. Westview Press, 2002
2001
The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything
By K.C. Cole
Most of science journalist K.C. Cole’s journey into nothing is about physical nothing. The nothingness of the vacuum is the background to space and time. Cole shows how physicists’ ideas about time, space, and reality flow out of their ideas about nothing, whether vacuum or ether. She writes with a half-smile and a glint of humor in her eye, colliding metaphors like particles at Fermilab. Harvest, 2001
Lone Star Ladies: A Travel Guide to Women’s History in Texas
By Melinda Rice
Lone Star Ladies: A Travel Guide to WomenÂ’s History in Texas explores places all over the state devoted to Texas women—the famous, infamous, and obscure but quirky—from Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Bonnie Parker to the Women Airforce Service Pilots. These women include artists, authors, astronauts, and athletes, politicians, musicians, reformers, healers, and characters of all kinds. Republic of Texas Press, 2001
Lone Star Heroines: Fire on the Hillside
By Melinda Rice
Comanche Indian girl makes friends with a German immigrant during the peace negotiations in Fredericksburg in 1847. The Lone Star Heroines series creates thrilling stories by putting fictional characters in real events from Texas history. Each book ends with a non-fiction summary of the real events featured in the book. Republic of Texas Press; 2001
Lone Star Heroines: Messenger on the Battlefield
By Melinda Rice
The sentiments of a Mexican girl’s family are divided during the war between Texas and Mexico. The Lone Star Heroines series creates thrilling stories by putting fictional characters in real events from Texas history. Each book ends with a non-fiction summary of events featured in the book. Republic of Texas Press; 2001
Lone Star Heroines: Secrets in the Sky
By Melinda Rice
A young girl investigates the plane crash of women test pilots at Avenger Field, Texas in WWII. The Lone Star Heroines series creates thrilling stories by putting fictional characters in real events from Texas history. Each book ends with a non-fiction summary of the real events featured in the book. Republic of Texas Press; 2001
Stepping Up to Power–the Political Journey of American Women
By Harriet Woods
This book, based on the author’s own career, looks backward in order to move women forward, recalling how those excluded from public life were inspired by events and the support of other women to take risks that changed political history. Westview Press, 2001.
My Country Versus Me: The First Hand Account By the Los Alamos Scientist who was Falsely Accused
By Wen Ho Lee and Helen Zia
The Taiwanese-born American scientist accused of spying tells his side of the story. Hyperion, 2001
2000
Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People
By Helen Zia
Frustrated by the relative invisibility of Asians in U.S. history and culture, Zia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, details the diverse cultural backgrounds of Asians in America. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000.
Gentle Medicine: Treating Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Successfully with Natural Medicine
By Lily Casura
Written by a journalist who survived her own five-year bout with chronic fatigue syndrome and taught herself how to recover. Included are sections on “what works” and “what doesn’t” about the most promising courses of natural treatment, including: diet and nutritional supplementation: vitamins, minerals and amino acids; herbal supplements; homeopathy; Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, T’ai chi and Qi Gong; Ayurveda; the mind-body connection; prayer, meditation and relaxation. Also, how to avoid ineffective treatment plans and practitioners who promise but don’t deliver, and a special section entitled, “What Your Spouse Can Do to Help.” Self Health Press, 2000.
Finding Celia’s Place
by Celia Morris. A memoir by the author of the author of Storming the Statehouse: Running for Governor with Ann Richards and Dianne Feinstein; Fanny Wright: Rebel in America; and Bearing Witness: Sexual Harrassment and Beyond—Everywoman’s Story. Texas A&M University Press, 2000.
1999
First You Build a Cloud: And Other Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life
By K.C. Cole
Though physics has long been a thing of mystery and complexity, K.C. Cole transforms it into the stuff of philosophy and poetry. Cole takes us on a tour of appreciation of the wonders of physics and shares her conversations with legendary scientific minds such as Richard Feynmann, Victor Weisskopf, brothers J. Robert Oppenheimer and Frank Oppenheimer, and Philip Morrison. Harcourt Brace, 1999.
Lives on the Line: American Families and the Struggle to Make Ends Meet
By Martha Shirk, Larry Aber, Neil G. Bennett and G. Lawrence Aber
Almost half of the nation’s children live in officially defined poverty or near-poverty. Putting a human face on this and other statistics, the authors present a disturbing and provocative composite portrait of 10 families struggling to make ends meet–four white, two Hispanic, three black and one Hawaiian/Samoan. Westview Press, 1999.
Jewish Stars in Texas: Rabbis and their Work
By Hollace Weiner
In Texas, where Jews are only six-tenths of a percent of the population, rabbis have evolved into public personalities. They minister to all the people and serve in multiple leadership roles. Historically, they are famous for fighting the Ku Klux Klan, defending academic freedom, launching symphonies and charities, resettling thousands of refugees, and initiating interfaith services. Texas A&M University Press, 1999.
1998
The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty
By K.C. Cole
In a poetic and passionate book that reveals how mathematics leads to fundamental truths of the universe, noted science writer K.C. Cole demystifies mathematics, relating it to such commonplace occurrences as the O.J. Simpson verdict, the voting theories that kept Lani Guinier out of office, and the errors that undermine the Bell Curve. If you saw her well-attended panel at Fall Camp 1997, you had a preview. Harcourt Brace, 1998.
Pride and Joy: The Lives and Passions of Women Without Children
By Terri Casey
This is an enlightening collection of first-person interviews with twenty-five women who have decided not to have children. This book shatters the stereotypes that surround voluntarily childless women–that they are self-centered, immature, workaholic, unfeminine, materialistic, child-hating, cold, or neurotic. Diversity is a strong suit of this book. Beyond Words Publishing, 1998.
Chicks on Film: A Guide to Videos for Women and Other Intelligent Forms of Life
By Gabrielle Cosgriff, Anne Reifenberg, Cynthia Thomas
From “Mary Poppins” to “Dracula’s Daughter,” from “Woman of the Year” to “The Nasty Girl,” this guide showcases more than 250 rentable domestic and foreign titles on video with women as the main theme. Avon Books, 1998.
Haunted City: An Unauthorized Guide to the Magical, Magnificent New Orleans of Anne Rice
By Joy Dickinson
Travel guide detailing the history, culture and minutia of sites frequented by author Anne Rice’s vampires Lestat, Louis and Claudia; her fictional family of Mayfair witches; and the author’s own New Orleans background. Also includes hotels, eateries, historic homes and other attractions appealing to those who favor a 19th-century ambiance. Citadel Press, 1998
The Hip Mama Survival Guide: Advice from the Trenches on Pregnancy, Childbirth, Cool Names, Clueless Doctors, Potty Training and Toddler Avengers
By Ariel Gore
“The Gen-X Dr. Spock” and the founder of “Hip Mama: The Parenting ‘Zine” gives readers advice from the trenches on pregnancy, childbirth, cool names, clueless doctors, potty training, domestic mayhem, right-wing losers, the evil patriarchy, nervous breakdowns, and way more. Hyperion, 1998.
Articles of Faith: The Abortion Wars: A Frontline History
By Cynthia Gorney
A meticulously researched contemporary history of the abortion wars, “a narrative so compellingly written that at times it reads like a novel,” one reviewer said. Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Something Better for My Children: The History and People of Head Start
By Kay Mills
As important as the issues facing Head Start may be, it is often easier to see the accomplishments of the program through the people it has affected, and this book features heartwarming stories from all over the nation. E.P. Dutton, 1998.
Camelot
By Caryl Rivers
From the bestselling author of “Virgins” comes this hilarious take on the sexual politics and high seriousness of the Kennedy years. A young White House reporter’s evolution from personal ambition to public spirit is brilliantly set against a background of advancing civil rights and the first stirrings of American involvement in Vietnam. Zoland Books, 1998.
1997
Cuttin’ the Rug Under the Moonlit Sky: Stories and Drawings About a Bunch of Women Named Mae
By Sharony Andrews Green
A collection celebrating the strength, endurance, pride and kinship of black women, some real, some imaginary, all noteworthy. Doubleday/Anchor, 1997.
Real Majority, Media Minority
By Laura Flanders
A collection of Flanders’ writing and broadcast work on why women are underrepresented in American media. Common Courage Press, 1997.
Inside Ms.: 25 Years of the Magazine and the Movement
By Mary Thom
Author Mary Thom was with the magazine from its earliest days, and as she introduces the striking personalities that shaped Ms., she traces the rise of one of the most transforming movements of 20th century America. Henry Holt, 1997.
Headline Justice: Inside the Courtroom — The Country’s Most Controversial Trials
By Theo Wilson
The great New York Daily News reporter’s memoir of the infamous trials she covered in a long, distinguished career. Sam Sheppard, Patty Hearst, Jean Harris and many others are all here, fresh from a remarkable memory and a lifetime of experience telling the news of the day with style and clarity. Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1997.
1996
Red, White and Oh So Blue: A Memoir of a Political Depression
By Mary Kay Blakely
This fluid essay reveals disturbing truths about how political, military, business, family and religious practices have compromised America’s national life. Scribner, 1996.
Verdict: The Chronicle of the O.J. Simpson Trial
By Linda Deutsch and Michael Fleeman
Illustrated highlights of the incredible Simpson criminal trial. Photos, graphics and stories by the reporters who covered the case. The Associated Press, 1996.
So You Want to be an Innkeeper: The Definitive Guide to Operating a Successful Bed-and-Breakfast or Country Inn
By Pat Hardy, with Mary E. Davies, Jo Ann M. Bell and Susan Brown
This volume contains savvy insider information on how to start, operate, and promote a successful establishment. Illustrations, charts & worksheets. Chronicle Books, 1996.
Hakeem Olajuwon
By Jane P. Marshall
Biography of the Houston Rockets superstar, written for young readers. Avon Books, 1996.
The Republican War Against Women: An Insider’s Report from Behind the Lines
By Tanya Melich
An impassioned call to arms to Republicans and all Americans to reject the extremist social agenda that dominates the GOP, from a woman who’s been an active player in the party for years. Bantam Books, 1996.
Slick Spins and Fractured Facts: How Cultural Myths Distort the News
By Caryl Rivers
A compelling case for why the white, middle-age male vantage point is considered the norm when determining “what’s news.” Columbia University Press, 1996.
She Works, He Works: How the Two-Income Family is Happier, Healthier and Better Off
By Caryl Rivers and Rosalind C. Barnett
Boston University scholar and JAWS member Rivers teams with her previous research partner to examine the evidence against the erosion of the 1950s-style family. Harper San Francisco, 1996.
1995
From Pocahontas to Power Suits: Everything You Need to Know About Women’s History in America
By Kay Mills
Q & A on the leading people and issues of women’s history in America. Plume paperback, 1995.
Super Family Vacations/Resort and Adventure Guide
By Martha Shirk and Nancy Klepper
The Los Angeles Times called this “among the best travel guide bargains for parents,”and Publishers Weekly described it as “inventive….(and) packed with nuts- and-bolts information.” Super Family Vacations features more than 150 great vacation destinations in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and the Caribbean, including resorts, guest ranches, ski areas, historical sites, cruises, adventure trips and nature places. Harperperennial, 1995.
1994
American Mom: Motherhood, Politics and Humble Pie
By Mary Kay Blakely
Married in the ’70s, Blakely expected to be the kind of mother society could admire. But, caught up in the women’s movement–and an increasingly chaotic world–she soon lost her innocence about “expert” wisdom and began to break the rules. With humor and insight, this acclaimed journalist explodes the myths of motherhood today. Algonquin, 1994.
Adoption Crisis: The Truth behind Adoption and Foster Care
By Carole A. McKelvey and Dr. JoEllen Stevens
This book goes beyond the feel-good myths of the adoption industry to expose the desperate problems that besiege the adoption and foster care systems. The co-authors propose solutions to the paralyzing problems. Fulcrum, 1994
This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer
By Kay Mills
Biography of the legendary Mississippi civil rights leader captures the excitement and hope of the civil rights movement as well as the extraordinary character of unassuming and unbowed Hamer. NAL Dutton, 1993; Plume paperback, 1994.
Bearing Witness: Sexual Harassment and Beyond
By Celia Morris
A collection of stories and a road map of protest, Bearing Witness explores the ways women have been crippled by ancient fears of female sexuality and examines the cultural heritage that has led to an imbalance of power between men and women. Little, Brown and Company; 1994.
The New York Times Practical Traveler Handbook: An A to Z Guide for Being Well Prepared on the Road
By Betsy Wade
The book with the same title as her weekly column in the New York Times travel section. Facts, clearly presented. Times Books, 1994.
Running as a Woman: Gender and Power in American Politics
By Linda Witt, Karen M. Paget and Glenna Matthews
Journalist Witt and scholars Paget and Matthews examine the implications of gender in the 1992 U.S. elections. Free Press, 1994.
1992
Storming the Statehouse: Running for Governor with Ann Richards and Dianne Feinstein
By Celia Morris
An insider’s examination of the 1990 campaigns when these two women ran for governor in two large, diverse, powerful states Scribners, 1992
The Girls in the Balcony: Women, Men and the New York Times
By Nan Robertson
Retired Timeswoman Robertson recounts the stories of her remarkable sisters at the Great Gray Lady. Central to the whole of this history is its exquisitely reported account of the women’s class action lawsuit, Boylan vs. the New York Times, over discriminatory practices at the bastion of American liberalism. Random House, 1992.
Forward Positions: The War Correspondence of Homer Bigart
Compiled by Betsy Wade
The war correspondence of the legendary reporter Homer Bigart of the New York Herald-Tribune and the New York Times. University of Arkansas Press, 1992.
1991
The Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity
By Carole Ashkinaze
Analyzing evidence from Atlanta, Ga., Ashkinaze and co-author Gary Orfield refute both the neoconservative argument that government programs have hurt the poor and the liberal argument that job-growth alone will sharply reduce racial inequalities. Their evidence demonstrates that segregation and discrimination remain potent structural forces. University of Chicago Press, 1991
1990-
Blue Jean: What Young Women are Thinking, Saying, and Doing (Blue Jean Press)
by Sherry Handel
Blue Jean holds fresh and uplifting insights on topics from body image and confidence, ethnicity and racism to the pitfalls and triumphs of everyday living. It reveals the originality possible when media is created by its own demographic. No mainstream teen magazine can compare in authenticity and honesty to Blue Jean because Blue Jean is the only publication teenage girls control and write for themselves. It reads like a breath of fresh air.
Wake Me When It’s Over: A Journey to the Edge and Back
By Mary Kay Blakely
In 1984, in the midst of a hectic week, feminist writer Blakely slipped into a coma that lasted nine days. The causes may be mysterious, but the lessons she took from it are crystal-clear. Times Books, 1989
A Place in the News: From the Women’s Pages to the Front Page
By Kay Mills
The history of American women in the newspaper business. A classic work, entertaining as well as informative, and sprinkled liberally with quotes from the women of JAWS. Columbia University Press, 1989.
Virgins
By Caryl Rivers
St. Martin’s Press, 1984
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