Books like The only woman in the room by Eileen Pollack

Between the World and Me is a memoir‑essay in letter form, where Ta‑Nehisi Coates addresses his teenage son about the history, violence, and ongoing reality of being Black in America.

A five‑year‑old boy and his mother are held in a small room, and the story unfolds through the boy’s perspective, highlighting the harrowing effects of captivity.

Twin African American sisters flee their hometown after their father's murder—one chooses to pass as white while the other stays true to her identity, exploring race, family, and the complexities of self through generations.

Caseworker Linus travels to a remote orphanage to investigate ragged kids and their enigmatic caretaker Arthur, only to discover that the island’s magical children—and his own heart—are part of something larger than he imagined.

A chilling memoir detailing Solomon Northup's harrowing experience as a captive on a Louisiana plantation for twelve years, from 1841 to 1853.

Jessica Valenti’s memoir, "Sex Object," recounts her New York City adolescence and young adulthood, exposing the everyday and extreme ways sexism shapes women’s lives through stories of harassment, assault, and personal struggle.

The Third Reconstruction is Rev. William J. Barber’s memoir of the Forward Together Moral Movement, documenting the seven‑year coalition that inspired North Carolina’s Moral Mondays civil‑rights protests.

"Blending a fascinating personal history with dramatic historical events, this book brings long-overdue attention to a brilliant woman whose work proved essential for America's early space program. This is the extraordinary true story of America's first female rocket scientist. Told by her son, it describes Mary Sherman Morgan's crucial contribution to launching America's first satellite and the author's labyrinthine journey to uncover his mother's lost legacy--one buried deep under a lifetime of secrets political, technological, and personal. In 1938, a young German rocket enthusiast named Wernher von Braun had dreams of building a rocket that could fly him to the moon. In Ray, North Dakota, a young farm girl named Mary Sherman was attending high school. In an age when girls rarely dreamed of a career in science, Mary wanted to be a chemist. A decade later the dreams of these two disparate individuals would coalesce in ways neither could have imagined. World War II and the Cold War space race with the Russians changed the fates of both von Braun and Mary Sherman Morgan. When von Braun and other top engineers could not find a solution to the repeated failures that plagued the nascent US rocket program, North American Aviation, where Sherman Morgan then worked, was given the challenge. Recognizing her talent for chemistry, company management turned the assignment over to young Mary. In the end, America succeeded in launching rockets into space, but only because of the joint efforts of the brilliant farm girl from North Dakota and the famous German scientist. While von Braun went on to become a high-profile figure in NASA's manned space flight, Mary Sherman Morgan and her contributions fell into obscurity--until now."--

Publisher's description: Why do so few women choose a career in science--even as they move into medicine and law in ever-greater numbers? In one of the most comprehensive studies of gender differences in science careers ever conducted, Women in Science provides a systematic account of how U.S. youth are selected into and out of science education in early life, and how social forces affect career outcomes later in the science labor market. Studying the science career trajectory in its entirety, the authors attend to the causal influences of prior experiences on career outcomes as well as the interactions of multiple life domains such as career and family. While attesting to the progress of women in science, the book also reveals continuing gender differences in mathematics and science education and in the progress and outcomes of scientists' careers. The authors explore the extent and causes of gender differences in undergraduate and graduate science education, in scientists' geographic mobility, in research productivity, in promotion rates and earnings, and in the experience of immigrant scientists. They conclude that the gender gap in parenting responsibilities is a critical barrier to the further advancement of women in science.

Hedy Lamarr, famed actress and secretly pioneering scientist, navigates love, survival, and the looming threat of the Nazis, using her intellect and daring to influence a world on the brink of war.