One of my go-to home decor items is coffee table books and over the years, I have amassed quite a collection, including these good coffee table books and books about North Carolina. Coffee table books are a subtle, yet stylish way to showcase your personality. In addition, I always appreciate coffee table books with colorful covers, cookbooks, and ones designed by brands that I follow. Over the past several years, I have added more women’s empowerment books to my collection and they also serve as an excellent source of inspiration for our guests and me. Today, I am sharing a roundup of beautifully crafted women’s empowerment books that can serve as coffee table decor or stacked on nightstands or end tables.
12 Women’s Empowerment Books for the Coffee Table
Ambitious Girl by Meena Harris
I fell in love with Meena Harris a few years ago and this book is what I pick up whenever I need a little pep talk!
Anyone who’s ever been underestimated or overshadowed will find inspiration in this empowering new picture book from Meena Harris, New York Times-bestselling author of Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea. When a young girl sees a strong woman on TV labeled as “too assertive” and “too ambitious,” it sends her on a journey of discovery through past, present, and future about the challenges faced by women and girls and how they can reframe, redefine, and reclaim words meant to knock them down. As Ambitious Girl says: No “too that” or “too this”will stop what’s inside us from flowering.
Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World by Ann Shen
This was my first book in my women’s empowerment collection after seeing it at a local, woman-owned boutique and it is such a wonderful book with amazing illustrations.
Bad Girls Throughout History is an empowering book for girls and women of all ages. From Maya Angelou to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, this gorgeously illustrated book celebrates 100 influential women who made history and made their mark on the world by being bad in the best sense of the word: they challenged the status quo and changed the rules.
From pirates to artists, warriors, daredevils, scientists, activists, and spies, the accomplishments of these badass women who dared to push boundaries vary as much as the eras and places in which they effected change. A distinctive, gift-worthy tribute to rebel girls everywhere, this bestselling book is one you can be proud to display in your home.
Change Sings by Amanda Gorman
After hearing Amanda Gorman’s gorgeous poem at the 2021 presidential inauguration, I immediately pre-ordered her children’s book.
In this stirring, much-anticipated picture book by presidential inaugural poet and activist Amanda Gorman, anything is possible when our voices join together. As a young girl leads a cast of characters on a musical journey, they learn that they have the power to make changes–big or small–in the world, in their communities, and most importantly, in themselves.
With lyrical text and rhythmic illustrations that build to a dazzling crescendo by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long, Change Sings is a triumphant call to action for everyone to use their abilities to make a difference.
The Collars of RBG: A Portrait of Justice by Sara Bader and Elinor Carucci
I have quite a collection of books dedicated to RBG and am constantly inspired by her and her work. I loved her collection of collars and how she used them to communicate.
The collar is a powerful point of entry for exploring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and her tireless work on America’s highest court. The twenty-five neckpieces captured here–in over eighty stunning photographs by award-winning photographer Elinor Carucci–offer insight into RBG’s legacy. Her sharp use of language, a linchpin of her notorious dissents, is celebrated throughout, with quotes to support each collar and its story. The bold, ornate, and subversive collars she chose to wear on the bench communicated so much more.
Shortly after RBG’s passing in September 2020, Carucci was commissioned by Time magazine for a commemorative piece on the late justice, focused on the stories behind her legendary collars. Here, Carucci and co-author Sara Bader use each collar to highlight a defining career moment, from RBG’s earliest argument for gender equality to her support of immigration and marriage equality throughout her twenty-seven years on the bench. Some of her collars are well-known, like her dissent collar, or her favorite white beaded neckpiece that she wore for important portraits. Other collars are less familiar but tell poignant stories of artists, colleagues, friends, and fans whose gifts to Justice Ginsburg found meaning in her hands.
Icons: 50 Heroines Who Shaped Contemporary Culture by Micaela Heekin and Monica Ahanonou
Someone recommended this for me and I have given it as a gift to more people than I can count. It makes an excellent housewarming or hostess gift!
From singers to writers, activists to artists, politicians to filmmakers, Icons is a celebration of the strength of women. Illustrated by Monica Ahanonu, each portrait is accompanied by a short biography about what makes each woman a force to be reckoned with.
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley
I received this book as a gift last year and it is such a cute book. It is the first picture book about RBG’s life and would make a great gift idea.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality, arguing against unfair treatment, and standing up for what’s right for people everywhere. This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.
The Little Book of Feminist Saints by Julia Pierpont and Manjit Thapp
I keep this book by my bed and flip through it each morning with my coffee. The artwork is incredible and the mini-biographies are short and digestible for a little morning inspiration.
In this luminous volume, New York Times bestselling writer Julia Pierpont and artist Manjit Thapp match short, vibrant, and surprising biographies with stunning full-color portraits of secular female “saints” champions of strength and progress. These women broke ground, broke ceilings, and broke molds
Nevertheless, She Wore It: 50 Iconic Fashion Moments by Ann Shen
When Ann Shen released this book as a follow-up to Bad Girls Throughout History, I went ahead and ordered it for my collection without hesitation. In fact, this book is perfect for your friend who is into fashion and making connections to history through style.
From the revolutionary bikini to the presidential pantsuit, this book explores 50 fashions through bold paintings and insightful anecdotes that empower readers to make their own fashion statements.
Roar! A Collection of Mighty Women by Ashley Longshore
Ashley Longshore does no wrong in my eyes! She is hands down my favorite artist of the time and she is also an incredibly fun Instagram follow, too. She is so inspiring and so talented, so I loved adding this book to my collection this year!
Ashley Longshore now turns her eye toward badass women throughout history with Roar! A Collection of Mighty Women. Longshore’s pop art paintings are never shy of daring; her art makes noise, and her singular portraits of legendary stateswomen, artists, and notable women from all walks of life include Marie Curie, Maya Angelou, Mother Teresa, Peggy Guggenheim, First Lady Michelle Obama, Greta Thunberg, Queen Elizabeth II, Cleopatra, Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, Josephine Baker, Amanda Gorman, and even Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman! Many of these striking and vibrant portraits were previously exhibited at Diane von Furstenberg’s flagship store in New York.
That’s What She Said: Wise Words from Influential Women by Kimothy Joy
Kimothy Joy is another favorite artist of mine and I love the use of her art mixed with empowering and inspiring quotes. When I was in college, I had a quote journal and this book reminds me of that as a source of comfort and a pep talk whenever I need it.
Reclaiming the derogatory cultural barb “that’s what she said,” this stunning book celebrates strong female leadership throughout history and empowers current and future generations to find their voices and inspire change in their communities.
The Women Who Made New York by Julie Scelfo & Hallie Heald
I picked this up in New York back in December and have loved reading about the women involved with making New York City what it is! This is a great book for your friend who loves the Big Apple and I really like the simple, yet eye-catching cover.
The Women Who Made New York reveals the untold stories of the phenomenal women who made New York City the cultural epicenter of the world. Many were revolutionaries and activists, like Zora Neale Hurston and Audre Lorde. Others were icons and iconoclasts, like Fran Lebowitz and Grace Jones. Some women led quieter private lives but were just as influential, such as Emily Warren Roebling, who completed the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her engineer husband became too ill to work.
Paired with striking, contemporary illustrations by artist Hallie Heald, The Women Who Made New York offers a visual sensation — one that reinvigorates not just New York City’s history but its very identity.
Women: Our Story by DK
I received this as a gift for my birthday a couple of years ago from my hairstylist-turned-friend, Katy, and I just absolutely adore it. I also love that the cover has historic, influential images from different periods and I often display this on top of a stack with nothing blocking the cover.
Packed full of evocative images, this gloriously illustrated book reveals the key events in women’s history–from early matriarchal societies through women’s suffrage, the Suffragette movement, 20th-century feminism, and gender politics, to recent movements such as #MeToo and International Women’s Day–and the key role women have had in shaping our past.
Learn about the everyday lives of women through the ages as well as the big names of women’s history–powerful, inspirational, and trailblazing women such as Cleopatra, Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eva Peron, and Rosa Parks–and discover the unsung contributions of lesser-known women who have changed the world, and the forgotten events of women’s history.
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