Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) foreshadowed the "second wave" of feminism that arrived in the United States in the 1960s with an analysis of Western gender roles.

Nancy Friday's My Mother/My Self (1977) explores the psychological inter-relationships between mothers and daughters in a provocative but accessible way.

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, first published in 1963, helped usher in the "second wave" of feminism. Friedan explores the conflicting pressures on adult women at the time.

Audre Lorde's poetry volume The Black Unicorn (1978) embraces African deities and myths and reinforces her lesbian identity.

In The Cancer Journals (1980), Lorde describes in detailed nonfiction form part of her harrowing battle with breast cancer.