Readalikes: If you enjoyed September's selection . . .

If you enjoyed The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore, then you might also enjoy these books suggested by our discussion group members: Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics by Noah Berlatsky; Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World's Most Famous Heroine by Tim Hanley; When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins; Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore; Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirshman (just published this month); and My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (to be published in October).

October Not Fiction Book Discussions

Our October book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, is an inspiring memoir by a real-life hero. Stevenson is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, and a professor of law at New York University Law School. He and EJI challenge bias against the poor and people of color and have won relief for dozens of prisoners who have been wrongly imprisoned and condemned. John Grisham says of Stevenson, "Not since Atticus Finch has a fearless and committed lawyer made such a difference in the American South. Though larger than life, Atticus exists only in fiction. Bryan Stevenson, however, is very much alive and doing God's work fighting for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, the vulnerable, the outcast, and those with no hope. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story."

We thought you might like to know that Starbucks is partnering with Stevenson by making his book available at their coffee shops nationwide at the great price of $10.40, and they are donating 100% of profits from the sale of the book to EJI. You can purchase a copy online or at your favorite neighborhood shop.

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, Esquire, and Time, Just Mercy is also the winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction, the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction, the Books for a Better Life Award, a Finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize, a Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize, and an American Library Association Notable Book.

We hope you will buy a copy at Starbucks to support EJI or check out a copy from your public library and join the discussion: Tuesday, October 6, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, October 22, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.

Watch Bryan Stevenson's inspiring TED talk:

Learn more about Equal Justice Initiative at www.eji.org.

And check back for some questions to consider as you are reading the book!

September Not Fiction Book Discussions

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore is another story of secret identities hidden in plain sight, illustrating the trope that things are not always what they seem. The most popular female superhero of all time, Wonder Woman, was created by a man, William Moulton Marston, who "braided together more than a century of women's rights rhetoric, his own very odd brand of psychology, and, inevitably, his peerless hucksterism."

As well as his complicated family life--an advocate of free love and "love bonds," he lived with two and sometimes three women at once, who became the inspiration for the character, yet kept their relationships a secret. What did you make of William Moulton Marston, Sadie Elizabeth Holloway, Olive Byrne, and Marjorie Wilkes Huntley, as individuals and in their relationships with one another? Why do you think they kept their life together a secret even though they advocated for free love?

Marston proclaimed, "Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world." He was inspired by the women's suffrage movement and the birth control movement, yet Wonder Woman's appearance was influenced by erotic pin-up art, and she was frequently depicted in bondage that went beyond the allegorical bonds of oppression of women. What did you make of Marston's feminism? Did he have an enlightened view of women, or was it, as portrayed in both his life and his art, "feminism as fetish"? What complexities of gender perception, gender equality, sexuality, and feminism does Wonder Woman embody? What if Holloway and Byrne had taken over the writing of Wonder Woman after Marston died? What kind of story lines do you think they would have written?

Lepore's central historical argument is that "The fight for women's rights hasn't come in waves. Wonder Woman was a product of the suffragist, feminist, and birth control movements of the 1900s and 1910s and became  a source of the women's liberation and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The fight for women's rights has been a river, wending." What do you think of this argument? Is it accurate? Overstated?

Is it any easier today than in the early days of the women's movement to "have it all"?

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, September 1, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, September 17, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.