Why am I passionate about this?

In my college days, I majored in dance and political science. It was the 1960s, so marrying art with politics made countercultural sense. After realizing I wouldn’t become the next Martha Graham, I chose to pursue a doctoral degree in political science. But I never abandoned my first love, the arts. Following a more than twenty-year career teaching about women and politics at several universities, I returned to school myself, completed an M.F.A. in creative writing, and published my debut novel, Cities of Women


I wrote

Cities of Women

By Kathleen B. Jones,

Book cover of Cities of Women

What is my book about?

Cities of Women is a dual-timeline narrative about the lives of both real and fictional women, who dared to challenge…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

Kathleen B. Jones Why did I love this book?

The traditional view of the Middle Ages classifies the era as the “Dark Ages.” The Oxford historian, Janina Ramirez, provides a compelling counter-narrative in her fascinating new book. Drawing on interdisciplinary sources to shift perspectives, she documents medieval women’s extensive contributions to every aspect of their societies, from the arts to zealous political leadership.

Among the many women who shaped medieval society but either were erased from or underrepresented in recorded history are such influential women as Hild, the Abbess of Whitby, who established her own monastery in England’s north and led a major religious Synod in 664 A.D.; the encyclopedic scholar, Hildegard of Bingen; and Jadwiga, the ruling monarch of 14th century Poland.

In Ramirez’s revised account of their life and times, we’re introduced to a medieval world much more accommodating to women’s participation in a broader range of endeavors than the “Dark Ages” moniker or the idea of progress suggests. 

By Janina Ramirez,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Femina as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE

'Revelatory' GUARDIAN

'A firecracker somehow captured between two covers' LUCY WORSLEY

An instant bestseller and one of the most celebrated history books of the year, Femina reveals the power and influence of medieval women who have been written out of our history. From royalty and religion to fame and fury, see the medieval world - and the women erased from it - with fresh eyes.

'Absolutely brilliant and highly recommended' CAITLIN MORAN

'Femina is a ground-breaking history of the Middle Ages' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE


Book cover of Every Rising Sun

Kathleen B. Jones Why did I love this book?

Readers may be familiar with The Arabian Nights, the source material behind this fascinating novel. Yet, what distinguishes Jamila Ahmed’s retelling is her focus on the famed storyteller, Shaherazade, whose exposure of the Seljuk king’s wife’s infidelity sets in motion a violent chain of events in twelfth-century Persia.

In lush, sensuous prose, Ahmed fills this vividly imagined, action-packed novel with compelling characters and labyrinthine tales within tales populated with mythical adventurers and creatures with magical powers.

The elaborate, psychologically complex portrait of Shaherazade at the heart of the novel celebrates the power of storytelling while paying homage to the agency of the storyteller.

By Jamila Ahmed,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Every Rising Sun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named a Best Book of 2023 by NPR

In this riveting take on One Thousand and One Nights, Shaherazade, at the center of her own story, uses wit and political mastery to navigate opulent palaces brimming with treachery and the perils of the Third Crusade as her Persian homeland teeters on the brink of destruction.

In twelfth century, Persia, clever and dreamy Shaherazade stumbles on the Malik’s beloved wife entwined with a lover in a sun-dappled courtyard. When Shaherazade recounts her first tale, the story of this infidelity, to the Malik, she sets the Seljuk Empire on fire.

Enraged at…


Book cover of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

Kathleen B. Jones Why did I love this book?

Today’s book-banning efforts replicate the dynamics of past political and religious upheavals when books were destroyed, including thousands of medieval manuscripts, many written by women.

Among those that survived were two mystical treatises: The Book of Margery Kempe discovered by chance in the 1930s in a dusty cupboard on an English country estate, and Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, given its first complete printing in 1901.

Victoria MacKenzie’s delicate, meditative novel evokes the lives of the two female mystics who authored these texts. In exquisite, spare prose, she conjures the distinctive voices of Margery and Julian, two souls seeking solace from the crushing orthodoxy threatening to envelop them.

Read this book slowly, in a quiet place.

By Victoria MacKenzie,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An astounding debut, both epic and intimate, about grief, trauma, revelation, and the hidden lives of women - by a major new talent 'Miraculously conjured ... Brilliantly done' THE TIMES, Book of the Month 'A beautiful book ... It warmed my heart' MAX PORTER 'Electrifying ... A pocket epic' GUARDIAN 'The best first novel I've read in years ... So full and so vivid; it is amazing' RODDY DOYLE 'A vibrant portrait of female courage' OBSERVER In the year of 1413, two women meet for the first time in the city of Norwich. Margery has left her fourteen children and…


Book cover of Disobedient

Kathleen B. Jones Why did I love this book?

In seventeenth-century Rome, a talented young woman artist, Artemesia Gentileschi, is put on trial for accusing her painting instructor of rapeUnwilling to bow to convention, Artemesia pours her rage into her art, inventing an aesthetic against the voyeurism and female submissiveness found in traditional artistic representations of women.

Fremantle heightens the drama and contemporary relevance of Artemisia’s life and art by telling her story in the present tense. Drawing subtle connections between women’s struggles for autonomy and dignity in the past and those in the present, this page-turner of a novel is a searing, nuanced portrait of a woman’s passion for art, determination to right being wronged, and steadfast resolve to be recognized as a great artist. 

By Elizabeth Fremantle,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Disobedient as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'This is the ring that you gave me, and these are your promises.'

Rome 1611. A jewel-bright place of change, with sumptuous new palaces and lavish wealth on constant display. A city where women are seen but not heard.

Artemisia Gentileschi dreams of becoming a great artist. Motherless, she grows up among a family of painters - men and boys. She knows she is more talented than her brothers, but she cannot choose her own future. She belongs to her father and will belong to a husband.

As Artemisia patiently goes from lesson to lesson, perfecting her craft, a mysterious…


Book cover of Lilith

Kathleen B. Jones Why did I love this book?

Move over Eve; make room for Lilith, the first woman, a revolutionary defender of the earth and its bounty against the forces of exploitation and greed. A warrior woman for all time.

Drawing on extensive research into ancient Western and Eastern creation narratives, Nikki Marmery invents an alternative cosmogony and a radical religion eschewing conquest and domination in favor of cooperation.

Written in a poetic voice, at once ancient and modern, this timely novel conjures a feminist counter-narrative, an ecological manifesto to cherish this earth as a gift and each other as equals. 

By Nikki Marmery,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Lilith as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A triumphantly feminist retelling of ancient creation myths in the tradition of Madeline Miller and Claire North.

Lyrically rendered, this epic U.S. debut tells the story of the woman known as Adam's first wife and her fall from Paradise and quest for revenge.

Before Eve, there was Lilith.

Lilith and Adam are equal and happy in the Garden of Eden. Until Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will and lie beneath him. She refuses—and is banished forever from Paradise.

Demonized and sidelined, Lilith watches in fury as God creates Eve, the woman who accepts her submission. But Lilith has…


Explore my book 😀

Cities of Women

By Kathleen B. Jones,

Book cover of Cities of Women

What is my book about?

Cities of Women is a dual-timeline narrative about the lives of both real and fictional women, who dared to challenge the social norms of their times, risking their reputations and livelihoods for the sake of their passions.

In the twenty-first century, we meet Verity Frazier, a disillusioned professor determined to prove that the artist responsible for the illuminated artwork in Christine de Pizan’s medieval manuscripts was an unacknowledged woman named Anastasia. As Anastasia’s story unfolds against the medieval backdrop of moral disaster, political intrigue, and extraordinary creativity, Verity finds her career on the brink of collapse through her efforts to uncover evidence of the lost artist’s existence. 

Book cover of Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It
Book cover of Every Rising Sun
Book cover of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

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The Atrahasis Epic

By Ken Goudsward,

Book cover of The Atrahasis Epic

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Ken Goudsward Author Of Fermi's Paradox Is Bullshit: the Evidence for Extraterrestrial Life

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I was fascinated with astronomy but discouraged from investigating the UFO phenomenon due to religious reasons. Not until I was in my forties, did I begin to see the strange Biblical hints of what ended up in my writing my book UFOs In The Bible. Along the way, my research led me to diverse related topics including Sumerian mythology and astrobiology which have resulted in a few more books (and more to come). I see logic as a fundamental tool for this line of investigation, and so, I embrace books that engage with the evidence logically. I firmly believe we must all make room for experiencers to tell their stories without recrimination.

Ken's book list on rational UFO stories

What is my book about?

Contrary to popular belief, the Atrahasis Epic is not merely a flood myth. In some ways it can be called a creation myth. However, it does not concern itself with the creation of the universe or even of the earth. Rather, the created work in question is one of culture and civilization. The work ostensibly includes, but may not be limited to, modern humans.

The goals of this new paraphrase are to examine the ancient story in a new light free of religious and gender biases and to integrate geological and archaeological evidence that ties the story to a specific…

The Atrahasis Epic

By Ken Goudsward,

What is this book about?

Contrary to popular belief, the Atrahasis Epic is not merely a flood myth. In some ways it can be called a creation myth. However, it does not concern itself with the creation of the universe or even of the earth. Rather, the created work in question is one of culture and civilization. The work ostensibly includes, but may not be limited to, modern humans.

The goals of this new paraphrase are to examine the ancient story in a new light free of religious and gender biases and to integrate geological and archaeological evidence that ties the story to a specific…


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Interested in the Crusades, the Middle Ages, and the Bible?

The Crusades 54 books
The Middle Ages 432 books
The Bible 368 books