Good Girls Revolt may have only lasted one season on Amazon, but it made a lasting impression on its dedicated legion of viewers who were vocal in their requests (demands?) to bring the show back.  

For those who missed it, Good Girls Revolt was set in 1969 at the fictitious News of the Week magazine and focused on the female researchers who were paid significantly less than the male reporters they worked with. Women weren’t hired as reporters. And men couldn’t write their stories without the information provided by the female researchers. So you can see why those women were pissed. 

The show was inspired by The Good Girls Revolt, Lynn Povich’s 2013 memoir about the 1969 lawsuit that 46 female employees, including her, filed against Newsweek

Roy Price, then the head of Amazon Studios, canceled Good Girls Revolt in December 2016, a mere six weeks after it premiered, citing underperformance.  The move was controversial since the show was a hit based upon key metrics that supposedly mattered: Rotten Tomatoes scores, its influence on other Amazon purchases, and its success with the coveted 18-49 female demographic.  

The twist is that Roy Price resigned (after being suspended) from Amazon Studios in October 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations. Um, no wonder he didn’t like the show about women speaking up against female discrimination? 

Whatever this says about women needing to be better represented in programming decisions and about a missed opportunity to continue telling that important story, the fact is that many long for that dang show. If you’re one of them, I wish I could tell you it’s coming back, but I can’t. In the meantime, here are books that might fill the hole the show left in its wake. Some are new, some are old, some are fiction, some are not, but all are inspiring works featuring women who are using their voices and their power to stand up to the obstacles before them. 

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper

Elise Hooper’s Fast Girls is a historical fiction novel about three trailblazing women runners who overcame obstacles to make history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. 


The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick and described by Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers, as “A celebration of girls who dare to dream.” An emotional debut about a Nigerian girl who fights for her voice to be heard. 


The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich

The Goof Girls Revolt is Lynn Povich’s memoir of her time working at Newsweek and the true story of the famous 1970 discrimination lawsuit that made history. 


The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

A classic tale of how women cope and rebel in the face of the gravest of circumstances. It defies almost all description and one worth reading over and over again, along with Atwood’s sequel, The Testaments.  


No More Nice Girls: Gender, Power, and Why It’s Time to Stop Playing by the Rules by Lauren McKeon

No More Nice Girls is an exploration of all the paradoxes that face women trying to listen to society’s entreaties to them to be feminists, to use their voices, to stand up to what oppresses them. And a path forward for how to get ourselves out of this mess that’s been created over generations of institutionalized discrimination and inequality. 


The Power by Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman’s latest release is a dystopian novel where teenage girls have the power to harm and even kill, creating a new dynamic for interactions between men and women. This book will make you analyze and question current societal gender norms in an eye-opening way. 


This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female and Feminist in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins

A book of connected essays about Jerkins’ experiences along with timely and important commentary on what it’s like to be marginalized in America and how the mainstream feminist movement alienates black women. 

*Disclosure: The links above are affiliate links. These picks are editorially selected, but if you purchase, She Reads may get something in return. We are a participant in the Bookshop Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Bookshop.org while simultaneously supporting local bookstores.