By bell hooks
182 pages; South End Press
Available at: Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

This landmark 1984 treatise by the noted African-American thinker is "a most extraordinary book," Ashley Judd says. "Her courage and insight are really phenomenal. And hooks emphasizes that we always need to consider class and race when we discuss gender. She has the courage of her convictions and such emotional and intellectual autonomy. And she was so young—32—when she wrote it. It's just remarkable."

— As told to Sara Nelson