Women writing history

Crypt

Alice Roberts

The new book by Sunday Times bestselling author of Ancestors and Buried - the final instalment in Professor Alice Roberts’ acclaimed trilogy.

In stock at 3 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 3 shops

Hardback

House of Lilies

Justine Firnhaber-Baker

A sweeping history of the Capetian monarchs

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Paperback

The Elements of Marie Curie

Dava Sobel

Dava Sobel, acclaimed and bestselling author of Longitude, chronicles the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science – and the untold story of…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Paperback

A Secretive Century

Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Australia's modern transformation as revealed through the life of an extraordinary woman

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Paperback

Unconventional Women

Sarah Gilbert

The lives of the women who joined a closed convent in Melbourne in a time of great upheaval

In stock at 6 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 6 shops

Paperback

The Witches: Salem, 1692

Stacy Schiff

A Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling historian explores one of the great mysteries of American history: the Salem witch trials

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Paperback

Uncivilised: Ten Lies that Made the West

Subhadra Das

Science historian Subhadra Das explores ten founding ideas of Western civilisation, uncovers their flaws and urges us to look at the world with fresh eyes

In stock at 3 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 3 shops

Hardback

Emperor of Rome

Mary Beard

A sweeping account of the social and political world of the Roman emperors by 'the world's most famous classicist' (Guardian)

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Divine Might

Natalie Haynes

The scintillating follow-up to Pandora's Jar from bestselling author Natalie Haynes.

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Hardback

Bismarck’s War

Rachel Chrastil

Less than a month after it marched into France in summer 1870, the Prussian army had devastated its opponents, captured Napoleon III and wrecked all assumptions about Europe’s pecking order…

Available to order, ships in approx 4 weeksAvailable to order

Paperback

Women and Whitlam

Michelle Arrow (ed.)

Three generations of women explore the trailblazing Whitlam era.

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials

Marion Gibson

A lively and immersive global history of witchcraft which shows its evolution from the Middle Ages to the present day and shines a light on the stories of the victims…

Available to order, ships in 10-14 daysAvailable to order

Hardback

Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages

Carmela Ciuraru

A witty look inside the tumultuous marriages of five famous writers-focusing on the wives of either gender-that illuminates the creative process as well as the role of money, fame, and…

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science

Kate Zernike

The remarkable untold story of how a group of sixteen determined women used the power of the collective and the tools of science to inspire ongoing radical change. This is…

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

Goddess

Bethan Johnson, Matt Millikan

A lively celebration of the bold, defiant screen goddess and the way film and television have shaped our view of womanhood

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

The Good Death Through Time

Caitlin Mahar

Can our forebears help us face complex questions of dying, now?

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

An Intimate History of Evolution

Alison Bashford

Two hundred years of modern science and culture, told through one family history

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Paperback

Bold Types: How Australia’s First Women Journalists Blazed a Trail

Patricia Clarke

Patricia Clarke recounts the chequered journey of women journalists in the fight for gender equality from 1860 to the end of World War II.

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly

The never-before-told true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space program.

Available to order, ships in approx 2 weeksAvailable to order

Paperback

Taking to the Field

Jane Carey

Taking to the Field is the first comprehensive history of Australian women in science from the colonial period to contemporary times.

Available to order, ships in approx 4 weeksAvailable to order

Hardback

Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage

Rachael Lennon

Wedded Wife is a feminist study of the institution of marriage and its history around the globe

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Other book format

Viking Women

Lisa Hannett

"Let's travel in time together, a thousand or so years back, and meet Viking women in their hearth-lit world...In this groundbreaking work, Lisa Hannett lifts the veil on the untold…

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

The Forgotten Girls: An American Story

Monica Potts

An unforgettable story of friendship and lost promise in 21st-century America

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Semut

Christine Helliwell

Winner of the Les Carlyon Literary Prize and the Prime Minister's Literary Awards Australian History Prize. First Runner Up for Templer Medal Book Prize (UK). Shortlisted for the NSW Premier's…

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Empress of the Nile

Lynne Olson

The fascinating story of the feisty French archaeologist who led the international effort to save ancient Egyptian temples from the floodwaters of the Aswan Dam.

In the 1960s, the world’s…

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Read review

Paperback

The Women of Little Lon

Barbara Minchinton

A vivid account of a remarkable but little-known chapter in Melbourne’s history

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Paperback

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris Between the Wars

Helen Rappaport

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanov Sisters comes the story of the Russian aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals who sought freedom and refuge in the City of…

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

A Village in the Third Reich

Julia Boyd,Angelika Patel

A stunningly evocative portrait of Hitler’s Germany through the people of a single village.

Available to order, ships in 10-14 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

The School That Escaped the Nazis

Deborah Cadbury

The extraordinary true story of progressive schoolteacher, Anna Essinger, the woman who defied Hitler, smuggling her school and its pupils from Nazi Germany to the safety of England

Available to order, ships in approx 2 weeksAvailable to order

Paperback

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990

Katja Hoyer

The definitive new history of East Germany by an acclaimed historian

In 1990, a country disappeared. For the previous forty-one years, East Germany had existed in Western minds as more…

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

Proving Ground

Kathy Kleiman

A fascinating, forgotten story of the six brilliant women who launched modern computing.

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

The Story of Art without Men

Katy Hessel

The bestselling category killer comes to paperback with a new chapter and a full publicity and marketing campaign

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Read review

Paperback

Making Australian History

Anna Clark

A bold and expansive history that traces the changing and contested project of Australia’s national story. You will think about this country differently after reading this book.

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Hardback

Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History

Eliza Reilly

An entertaining romp through Australian history that celebrates the badass sheroes we were never taught about in school and who deserve to be printed on our money, goddamn it!

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Sister Girl: Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconciliation (New Edition)

Jackie Huggins

A new edition of seminal Tiddaist classic by Murri historian and activist Jackie Huggins, featuring timely and compelling speeches and essays.

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Hardback

Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern

Mary Beard

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for…

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Read review

Paperback

Lies, Damned Lies: A Personal Exploration of the Impact of Colonisation

Claire G. Coleman

A deeply personal exploration of Australia’s colonisation past, present and future by one of Australia’s finest contemporary authors.

Available to order, ships in 10-14 daysAvailable to order

Read review

Paperback

Another Day in the Colony

Chelsea Watego

A ground-breaking work - and a call to arms - that exposes the ongoing colonial violence experienced by First Nations people.

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Paperback

You’re Doing it Wrong

Kaz Cooke

You’re Doing it Wrong is an outrageous tour through the centuries of bonkers and bad advice handed down and foisted upon women, told as only Kaz Cooke can - with…

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Hardback

The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing

Hannah Dawson

A powerful new anthology of feminist voices throughout history and from around the world

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Hardback

Forces of Nature

Anna Reser,Leila McNeill

Spanning the ancient period to the present day, this richly illustrated book seeks to redress the balance, with over 20 essays exploring how women have created space for themselves in…

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader

Maura Reilly

The definitive anthology of writings on women in art by the late Linda Nochlin, one of the most influential and revolutionary voices in feminist art history.

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

The Beauty and the Terror

Catherine Fletcher

An imaginative and revelatory new history of the Italian Renaissance that challenges our preconceptions of the era

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

The Secret of Emu Field

Elizabeth Tynan

Emu Field is overshadowed by Maralinga, the larger and much more prominent British atomic test site about 193 kilometres to the south. But Emu Field has its own secrets, and…

Available to order, ships in 5-9 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

Sea People

Christina Thompson

A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People is a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.

In stock at 6 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 6 shops

Read review

Paperback

Square Haunting

Francesca Wade

Five exceptional women; one London square. A spellbinding group biography by a luminous new talent.

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Paperback

These Truths: A History of the United States

Jill Lepore

In the most ambitious one-volume American history in decades, award-winning historian Jill Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation.

In stock at 2 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 2 shops

Paperback

The Unwomanly Face of War

Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear (trans.), Larissa Volokhonsky (trans.)

‘Why, having stood up for and held their own place in a once absolutely male world, have women not stood up for their history? A whole world is hidden from…

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Books, books & more books.

Straight to your inbox.

Women writing history

Crypt

House of Lilies

The Elements of Marie Curie

A Secretive Century

Unconventional Women

The Witches: Salem, 1692

Uncivilised: Ten Lies that Made the West

Emperor of Rome

Divine Might

Bismarck’s War

Women and Whitlam

Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials

Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages

The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science

Goddess

The Good Death Through Time

An Intimate History of Evolution

Bold Types: How Australia’s First Women Journalists Blazed a Trail

Hidden Figures

Taking to the Field

Wedded Wife: A Feminist History of Marriage

Viking Women

The Forgotten Girls: An American Story

Semut

Empress of the Nile

The Women of Little Lon

After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris Between the Wars

A Village in the Third Reich

The School That Escaped the Nazis

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990

Proving Ground

The Story of Art without Men

Making Australian History

Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History

Sister Girl: Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconciliation (New Edition)

Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern

Lies, Damned Lies: A Personal Exploration of the Impact of Colonisation

Another Day in the Colony

You’re Doing it Wrong

The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing

Forces of Nature

Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader

The Beauty and the Terror

The Secret of Emu Field

Sea People

Square Haunting

These Truths: A History of the United States

The Unwomanly Face of War