To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’ve put together a selection of memoirs and more featuring women at the frontlines of modern history – or “herstory.”

These are their stories…

“What I want young women and girls to know is: You are powerful and your voice matters. You're going to walk into many rooms in your life and career where you may be the only one who looks like you or who has had the experiences you've had.” – Vice President Kamala Harris (1964)

Madam Vice President’s book The Truths We Hold shares the principles of how to act during times of crisis or major challenges. Harris does so by using her own life experiences to outline examples of ways she worked through trials, both in and out of the courtroom. Learn about how one woman’s experiences lead her to be second in charge in the White House.

"The moment we decide to fulfill something, we can do anything."– Greta Thunberg (2003)

When climate activist and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Greta Thunberg was 11, she became so distraught over the realization of the severity of climate change that she stopped eating and speaking. With the help of her family, Greta found her calling in creating a global school strike that caught the attention of world leaders.  Our House is On Fire is one family’s memoir of how it overcame internal struggles while saving our planet one strike at a time.

“One can live without having survived.”― Carolyn Forché

Carolyn Forche (1950) is an award winning American poet, translator, professor and human rights advocate. She is a director and professor at Georgetown University and has received four honorary doctorates for her extensive work in translation, poetry and humanitarian reporting. What You Have Heard is True is about her humanitarian work during her time in El Salvador. 

“Whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into, that is who you always were.”― Tara Westover

An author and historian, Westover (1986) spent her childhood growing up in rural Idaho with no access to health care or formal education. Her memoir of her up-bringing details the unique ways she taught herself to read, write, and survive, leading her all the way to Cambridge University. You won’t look at your own childhood experience the same way after reading her fascinating memoir Educated.

“We are responsible for our own ignorance or, with time and openhearted enlightenment, our own wisdom.” – Isabel Wilkerson

First African-American woman Pulitzer Prize in Journalism winner Isabel Wilkerson (1961) is a university professor who tackles racial hierarchy in her journalism and books. She has been featured in the New York Times, been interviewed by Oprah and her books are a standard in college curriculum. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an intellectual researched book that weaves true life stories about the deep roots of inequality in race, gender, and ethnicity. Wilkerson uses real-life stories of people from Martin Luther King Jr. to her own life. Caste provides examples of opportunities to move past history and towards real change for all.