The Columbia Guide to American Women in the Nineteenth Century (2000) presents a comprehensive history of the conditions of American women in the nineteenth century.

The Awakening, published in 1899, is Chopin's masterful novel about a young woman who struggles to find self-knowledge and inevitably suffers the consequences of trying to establish herself as an independent spirit.

In his play A Doll's House (1879), Henrik Ibsen examines a woman's restricted role in the nineteenth century and the disastrous effects of these limitations on her marriage.

Kate Millet's Sexual Politics (1969) studies the history and dynamics of feminism.

"Wiser than a God," published along with "A Point at Issue!" in 1889, presents a different view of an unconventional woman who tries to determine her own life and destiny. It is available in Chopin's Collected Works.