The First Lady of Underfashions is a nonfiction saga-like memoir written by Christina Erteszek and including excerpts from her parents' (Jan and Olga) unpublished memoirs. It is a complex, layered, and nuanced story that bridges the violence of war, the innovation of thought, the singularity of religion, the quest for identity, and the intrigues and intricacies of family life. Jan and Olga escape from World War II Europe and arrive in the US with just a few dollars. They turn their paltry savings into a multi-million-dollar fashion business. Olga becomes a leading patent holder of female lingerie, a trendsetter in the industry, and is widely known for her innovative business tactics. But as this husband-and-wife team think of retiring, they decide to merge with another fashion company, which proves to be a fatal move when a loophole in the agreement allows for a hostile takeover. This is also a story of a daughter's need to find herself. Along her path to self-discovery, she discovers her parents have many secrets, some of which will never be revealed.

For most of human history, the garments women wore under their clothes were hidden. The earliest underwear provided warmth and protection. But eventually, women's undergarments became complex structures designed to shape their bodies to fit the fashion ideals of the time. In the modern era, undergarments are out in the open, from the designer corsets Madonna wore on stage to Beyoncé's pregnancy announcement on Instagram. This feminist exploration of women's underwear reveals the intimate role lingerie plays in defining women's bodies, sexuality, gender identity, and body image. It is a story of control and restraint but also female empowerment and self-expression. You will never look at underwear the same way again.

Jiggle: (Re)Shaping American Women explores the relationship between American women and their bodies as mediated by both traditional and contemporary foundation garments. This post-corsetry study begins in the 1930s with a discussion of traditional foundation garments and continues with an analysis of contemporary shapewear as these garments shape women physically, culturally, and socially. Jiggle focuses on the corporate, cultural, and individual practices and meanings of women's experiences with foundation garments. Referencing trade journals, industry data, statistics, advertisements, and telephone surveys and interviews with women, author Wendy Burns-Ardolino examines how the contested terrain of fashion and beauty culture reflect larger cultural power struggles. Jiggle argues that women should not be complicit in alienating themselves from their bodies, but rather should embrace their bodies' multiple capacities as they practice fasion, femininity, and gendered performatives.

This latest volume brings the project up to date, with entries on almost 500 women whose death dates fall between 1976 and 1999. You will find here stars of the golden ages of radio, film, dance, and television; scientists and scholars; civil rights activists and religious leaders; Native American craftspeople and world-renowned artists. For each subject, the volume offers a biographical essay by a distinguished authority that integrates the woman's personal life with her professional achievements set in the context of larger historical developments.

Presenting the history of corsetry and body sculpture, this edition shows how the relationship between fashion and sex is closely bound up with sexual self-expression. It demonstrates how the use of the corset rejected the role of the passive, maternal woman, so that in Victorian times it was seen as a scandalous threat to the social order.

In this “raw and heartbreaking” novel set in 1950s Louisiana, a compassionate prison cook uncovers the lives of death row prisoners (Historical Novel Review). Ginny Polk has come back to Louisiana’s Greenmount State Penitentiary, the place where her father worked and died, to become a prison cook. She knows the harsh reality of life within those walls. That’s why, among her duties, Ginny has taken on a special responsibility: preparing last meals for prisoners facing execution. Ginny prepares whatever the men ask for, even meeting with their heartbroken relatives to get each recipe just right. The prison board frowns on the ritual, as does Roscoe Simms, Greenmount’s Warden. Her daddy’s best friend before he was killed by an inmate, Roscoe has always watched out for Ginny. But when Ginny stumbles upon information about the man executed for killing her father, it leads to a series of dark and painful revelations. Truth, justice, mercy—none of these are as simple as Ginny once believed. And sometimes the most shocking crimes we commit are not inspired by anger or greed, but by love.

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