11 Non-Fiction Books About Famous Women That You Should Read

Cover to first edition of Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang. Image via publisher Anchor Books.

5. Empress Dowager Cixi

Time to learn a bit about modern Chinese history. Author Jung Chang takes on an often-controversial figure in this book that bears the subtitle of The Concubine Who Launched Modern China.

Yeah, a concubine, chosen at 16 to enter the palace, ended up as the primary power at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Speaking of that dynasty, it lasted just four more years after Cixi’s death.

Chang digs into a wealth of new material, primarily from Chinese sources, to present a new look at the empress. Essentially, the argument states that Cixi has been misunderstood as a conservative instead of someone who actively attempted to change China. (The New York Times includes some more details about Cixi’s more common portrayal in its review of the book. Long story short: the phrase “she dragon” got thrown around a lot.)

Goodreads praises the fact that it doesn’t read like a typical biography and provides a fresh look at a figure that doesn’t always get a lot of credit for what she managed to accomplish. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself fascinated by the politics and the history detailed within, either.

Additional reading includes Anchee Min’s two novels, Empress Orchid and The Last Empress, as well as Pearl S. Buck’s Imperial Woman, also a novel.