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In the words of the eight amazing women behind the Crunk Feminist Collective, “[W]hat others may call audacious and crazy, we call CRUNK because we are drunk off the heady theory of feminism that proclaims another world is possible.” The CFC espouses a hip hop generation feminism explicitly aimed at people of color, but you don’t have to be a member of those communities to enjoy and learn from this super smart, energetic, and often funny collection of essays, which includes both new work and favorites drawn from the CFC blog. If you’ve had questions about what intersectional feminism is or could be, The Crunk Feminist Collection is an excellent place to start.

Author Reni Eddo-Lodge brought this book to our attention in her Powell’s Q&A, remarking: “This is super sharp criticism and theory on black feminism, with an animal rights perspective. As a vegetarian, it affirmed some of my beliefs, challenged others, and totally opened my mind.” Aphro-ism takes three hot-button issues — race, feminism, and animal rights — and marries them in a sophisticated but accessible argument about the connectedness of different systems of oppression and the need to redefine advocacy to encompass all living creatures. It’s a radical proposal that makes a lot of sense, and, as with Crunk, is a must-read for anyone interested in intersectional studies.

This book is a continual bestseller at Powell’s, likely owing to Gay’s very funny and shrewd observations, admissions, and responses to the way femaleness is presented in pop culture. From her unabashed love of pink, Sweet Valley High, and fashion magazines to her critical responses to fat-shaming, sexual violence, and racial representations, Gay’s keen eye and empathy are vast, allowing for contradiction in the ways people approach feminism, but requiring an awareness of the personal and social impacts of those choices.

Perhaps best known as one half of the podcast 2 Dope Queens, Robinson is hilarious and cutting in her dissection of the intersections of race and feminism. She’s a little like Lindy West in that she aims (successfully) for laughs, all the while calling readers on their bullshit, whether that means skewering the term “postracial,” examining interracial friendship, or explaining the history behind why it’s not okay to touch a black woman’s hair. And there’s a lot in here about Michael Fassbender, because he’s central to the feminist enterprise. (What, you didn’t know that?)

This is a reissue of a groundbreaking anthology of feminist essays and poems by, for, and about women of color. Seizing on the whiteness of second-wave feminism, Editors Cherríe Moraga and the late Gloria Anzaldúa highlight the struggles, achievements, and politics of minority women — struggles, achievements, and politics that remain relevant today, as 21st-century feminism struggles to embrace and fight for a broader range of women and sexualities.

A beautifully written, vulnerable reflection on growing up wanting to be white, to inhabit a different body, and be desired by different men, This Will Be My Undoing traces Jerkins’s development into an up-and-coming social critic. Jerkins is young — 25 — and in fundamental ways her memoir feels very in keeping with millennial tropes of self-exposure and self-praise. But her youth and adamant refusal to soften either her intellect or the value of her emotional response to the world ultimately contribute to the power and authenticity of Jerkins’s narrative. It’s always a gift to be invited into someone’s innermost thoughts, and when those thoughts are clear, erudite, and provocative, the gift is all the greater.