-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
by Mikki Kendall
A potent and electrifying critique of today's feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism.
Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?
In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.
"Kendall is a highly knowledgeable and inspiring guide, and she effectively builds on the work of black women who have, for ages, been working to better the lives of themselves and their communities... . A much-needed addition to feminist discourse." —Kirkus Reviews
"In this forceful and eloquent series of essays, [Kendall] takes on the feminist myopia that ignores the daily existential struggles of women of color and encourages a broader support of society's most vulnerable citizens. If such support is forthcoming and awareness expanded, then not only will those outside the feminist establishment be empowered, those within the current movement will also be enlightened as to their cause's true universal potential." —Booklist
"A frank account of who and what is still missing from mainstream feminism that will appeal to readers of women's and African American studies, and readers seeking a better grasp on history." —Library Journal
"An energizing critique of the feminist movement's preference for white women." —BookPage
"Mikki Kendall tells it like it is, and this is why she has long been a must-read writer for me: incisive, clear-eyed, and rightly willing to challenge readers when necessary. Her exploration of how feminists' fight for liberation has too often left poor people, Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color behind is critical reading for anyone who is or wants to be involved in work addressing complex and longstanding inequalities." —Nicole Chung, author of All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir
"Mikki has been writing for years about protection, 'problem children,' the limits and the usefulness of different kinds of anger, and the way sisterhood can be wielded as a demand. She's here for her community, and this book has everything to do with expanding access to it." —Daniel Mallory Ortberg, author of The Merry Spinster and Texts from Jane Eyre
This information about Hood Feminism was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mikki Kendall is a New York Times bestselling writer, speaker, and blogger whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, TIME, Salon, Ebony, Essence, and elsewhere. An accomplished public speaker, she has discussed race, feminism, violence in Chicago, tech, pop culture, and social media on The Daily Show, MSNBC, NPR, Al Jazeera's The Listening Post, BBC's Women's Hour, and Huffington Post Live, as well as at universities across the country. In 2017, she was awarded Best Food Essay from the Association of Food Journalists for her essay on hot sauce, Jim Crow, and Beyoncé. She is also the author of Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights and a co-editor of the Locus-nominated anthology Hidden Youth, as well as a part of the Hugo-nominated team of editors at Fireside Magazine. A veteran, she lives in Chicago with her family.
If you liked Hood Feminism, try these:
by Kellie Carter. Jackson
Published 2025
A radical reframing of the past and present of Black resistance—both nonviolent and violent—to white supremacy.
by Natasha Brown
Published 2022
A woman confronts the most important question of her life in this blistering, fearless, and unforgettable literary debut from "a stunning new writer" (Bernardine Evaristo).
by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Published 2022
Set in the Reconstruction era, this unforgettable story explores one young Black woman's attempt to find a place where she can be fully herself – out of the shadow of her accomplished mother in Brooklyn and her traditional husband in Haiti. Perfect for readers of Brit Bennett, Min Jin Lee, and Yaa Gyasi.
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
