Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art

I've been slowly working my way through this 900 page tome for the last few years. It's fascinating—I've just been picking up other nonfiction reads in between chapters. You don't have to be an art expert to appreciate the way Gabriel weaves the stories of five groundbreaking women artists into a powerful narrative. At a time when women were mainly muses or collectors in the art scene, these artists entered the male-dominated world of abstract art and opened the art world to a new generation of women. Gabriel connects their stories to the larger cultural shifts of post-war America and shares inspiring accounts of what happens when you're brave enough to break all the rules.