Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World
The page-turning story of three women reporters and the way they changed the world, work, and journalism.

Emily “Mickey” Hahn, Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn. The lively salons of Shanghai, Yugoslavia on the brink of World War II, the shot-marked streets of the Spanish Civil War, Hong Kong under Japanese occupation, Germany and Italy at war, post-Blitz London, McCarthy-era Mexico, Congo, the American South, Cuba, and beyond. These women didn’t just bear witness to the great changes of the twentieth century, they didn’t just create the stories that gave the backstory to wars and roused their readers to support, they transformed the world they were writing about even as they transformed the way it was written about and read.

Hahn, West, and Gellhorn each traversed the globe in search of great stories they would then dispatch to outlets like The New Yorker, The Times (London), The New York Times, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, Collier’s, and Vogue. They often traveled alone, sometimes teaming up with other women reporters, sometimes with their husbands in tow. They sneaked onto the front lines when they were forbidden, talked to everyday civilians to get color and detail for their stories. They wrote novels to pay the bills(!) and articles to explain the world to itself. They became mothers and friends, took joy in each other’s successes. They changed the world and journalism.

Julia Cooke's Restless Women is the story of three women whose curiosity, grit, and ambition hugely expanded the possibilities for women and meaningful work.

1147352413
Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World
The page-turning story of three women reporters and the way they changed the world, work, and journalism.

Emily “Mickey” Hahn, Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn. The lively salons of Shanghai, Yugoslavia on the brink of World War II, the shot-marked streets of the Spanish Civil War, Hong Kong under Japanese occupation, Germany and Italy at war, post-Blitz London, McCarthy-era Mexico, Congo, the American South, Cuba, and beyond. These women didn’t just bear witness to the great changes of the twentieth century, they didn’t just create the stories that gave the backstory to wars and roused their readers to support, they transformed the world they were writing about even as they transformed the way it was written about and read.

Hahn, West, and Gellhorn each traversed the globe in search of great stories they would then dispatch to outlets like The New Yorker, The Times (London), The New York Times, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, Collier’s, and Vogue. They often traveled alone, sometimes teaming up with other women reporters, sometimes with their husbands in tow. They sneaked onto the front lines when they were forbidden, talked to everyday civilians to get color and detail for their stories. They wrote novels to pay the bills(!) and articles to explain the world to itself. They became mothers and friends, took joy in each other’s successes. They changed the world and journalism.

Julia Cooke's Restless Women is the story of three women whose curiosity, grit, and ambition hugely expanded the possibilities for women and meaningful work.

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Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World

Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World

by Julia Cooke
Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World

Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the World

by Julia Cooke

Hardcover

$32.00 
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Overview

The page-turning story of three women reporters and the way they changed the world, work, and journalism.

Emily “Mickey” Hahn, Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn. The lively salons of Shanghai, Yugoslavia on the brink of World War II, the shot-marked streets of the Spanish Civil War, Hong Kong under Japanese occupation, Germany and Italy at war, post-Blitz London, McCarthy-era Mexico, Congo, the American South, Cuba, and beyond. These women didn’t just bear witness to the great changes of the twentieth century, they didn’t just create the stories that gave the backstory to wars and roused their readers to support, they transformed the world they were writing about even as they transformed the way it was written about and read.

Hahn, West, and Gellhorn each traversed the globe in search of great stories they would then dispatch to outlets like The New Yorker, The Times (London), The New York Times, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, Collier’s, and Vogue. They often traveled alone, sometimes teaming up with other women reporters, sometimes with their husbands in tow. They sneaked onto the front lines when they were forbidden, talked to everyday civilians to get color and detail for their stories. They wrote novels to pay the bills(!) and articles to explain the world to itself. They became mothers and friends, took joy in each other’s successes. They changed the world and journalism.

Julia Cooke's Restless Women is the story of three women whose curiosity, grit, and ambition hugely expanded the possibilities for women and meaningful work.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780374609788
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date: 02/24/2026
Pages: 448
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Julia Cooke is the author of the books Come Fly the World, a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and a Malala's Book Club pick, and The Other Side of Paradise. Her essays have been published in A Public Space, Salon, The Threepenny Review, Smithsonian, Tin House, and Virginia Quarterly Review, and her reporting has been published in Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, Playboy, and more. She holds an MFA from Columbia University.
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