Allen, Paula Gunn. Spider Woman's Grandaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women.
These 24 compelling and bleakly evocative narratives compiled by Allen, a professor of Native American studies at the University of California, all stress the theme of loss: loss of identity, loss of culture, loss of personal meaning. By juxtaposing traditional stories with contemporary tales, Allen allows readers to see how the same themes, values and perceptions have endured through the centuries, "testaments to cultural persistence, to a vision and a spiritual reality that will not die." Echoes of the traditional "Oshkikwe's Baby," about an old witch who steals babies, can be found in two stories.

Angelou, Maya. A Song Flung Up to Heaven
It is 1964 and Maya Angelou is on her way back home, leaving behind her beloved - and now seriously teenage - son Guy, to finish university in Ghana. America is pulsing with the challenge of change, the civil rights movement is in full swing and that's where Maya Angelou wants to be, working alongside her friends Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. In this marvellous account, Maya Angelou provides, with her customary wisdom, compassion and wit, a first-hand record of an extraordinarily exciting and tragic political period. She writes of 'Jimmy' Baldwin, Eldridge Cleaver, and of friends and family, and finishes with the beginnings of her career as one of America's most impressive memoir writers.

Angelou, Maya. The Heart of a Woman
In the fourth volume of her highly acclaimed autobiography, Maya Angelou continues one of the most remarkable--and inspiring--personal narratives of our age.

Beilson, Evelyn L. Wit and Wisdom of Famous American Women.
Quotes from famous writers, artists, entertainers, activists, pioneers, etc.

Blanton, DeAnne and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War.
Exhaustively researched by the authors and their formidable team of research assistants, They Fought Like Demons is both an excellent read and an innovative, significant contribution to Civil War scholarship. DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook have documented 250 cases of "distaff" soldiers--namely, women who disguised as and fought as men--and the book demonstrates beyond a shadow of doubt that these female soldiers displayed martial skill and valor on the battlefield and therefore deserve a share of the respect and honor that Americans have bestowed on male veterans of the Civil War.

Blythe, Myrna (editor). 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century.
100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century is a gift book, with photographs and short essays on influential women around the world, ranging from writers and scientists to politicians and athletes, and from progressive figures like Oprah Winfrey and Eleanor Roosevelt to reactionaries like anti-feminist Phyllis Schafly and ruthless Madame Mao (Jiang Qing). Although the essays on even the most famous figures, such as Billie Jean King or Princess Diana, are well-written and interesting, the best thing about this book is that it calls to mind wonderful women whose names have lost their currency, among them Jane Addams, who cofounded Chicago's Hull House and was vitally involved in the formation of the ACLU, and Carrie Chapman Catt, who formed the League of Women Voters.

Bolden, Tonya, ed. 33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women’s History
Here’s the perfect book for anyone interested in learning more about girls and women in the United States from the 18th century to the present. Featuring contributions from a wide variety of women, including well-known nonfiction writers, a children’s librarian, historians, and many more, this latest addition to the 33 Things series provides an engaging, inspiring, informative look at the role women have played in shaping American history.

Brenner, Claudia & Hannah Ashley. Eight Bullets: One Woman’s Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence
In May 1988, on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, a horrific shooting attack left twenty0eight-year-old Rebecca Wight dead.  Her partner, Claudia Brenner, was seriously wounded.  Claudia Brenner writes a profoundly personal, emotionally riveting, politically energizing account of the murder and its aftermath: her path to recovery and activism.

Bundles, A'Lelia. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker.
Drawn from more than two decades of exhaustive research by A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-great-granddaughter, the book is enriched by the author's exclusive access to personal letters, records, and never-before-seen photographs from the family collection. Bundles reveals surprising insights into Walker's rise to the top of international business, dispels many misconceptions, and showcases Walker's complex relationship with her daughter, a celebrated hostess of the Harlem Renaissance, and renowned friend and patron to both Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.

Carey, Alice. I'll Know It When I See It: A Daughter's Search for Home in Ireland.
The only child of poor Irish immigrants, Alice Carey's isolated childhood in a cold-water flat in Queens is transformed when her mother becomes maid to legendary Broadway producer Jean Dalrymple. In Ms. Dalrymple's Upper East Side townhouse, young Alice absorbs with delight a sophisticated theatrical culture that includes such notables as Jed Harris and Marilyn Monroe. Then, a visit to Ireland with her mother thrusts young Alice into another novel culture, one that simultaneously enchants and traumatizes her. When Alice returns to Ireland as an adult, she and her husband serendipitously find and fall in love with a ruined Georgian farmhouse. As they begin to convert the stables into a livable cottage, Alice unearths buried memories of a childhood played out in wildly divergent homes.

Chessler, Ellen. Woman of Valor.
Ellen Chesler's 1992 biography of Margaret Sanger is acclaimed as definitive and is widely used and cited by scholars and activists alike in the fields of women's health and reproductive rights. Chesler's substantive new Afterword considers how Sanger's life and work hold up in light of subsequent developments, such as U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging the constitutional doctrine of privacy and international definitions of reproductive health as an essential human right.

Chin-Lee, Cynthia. Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World.
Grade 4-7. An introduction to 26 diverse, 20th-century women who have made a difference in such varied fields as the arts, sports, journalism, science, and entertainment. The entries include Dolores Huerta, Frida Kahlo, Lena Horne, Maya Lin, and Patricia Schroeder. Determination, imagination, perseverance, and strength are what bind them together. Entries are arranged alphabetically by first name; each woman is featured on a full page that includes a two-paragraph introduction, a quote, and striking mixed-media art that illustrates the essence of the person.

Clinton, Hillary Rodham. Living History
Hillary Rodham Clinton is known to millions of people around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends and family have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey. She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformation from Goldwater Girl to student activist to controversial First Lady. Living History is her revealing memoir of life through the White House years.

Conway, Jill Ker. Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology.
The autobiographies in this collection are by women of extraordinary achievement--some well known, some neglected through the generations--who overcame daunting obstacles to pursue their individual destinies in an often hostile, changing America. The narratives, chosen and edited by historian Conway, a former president of Smith College, are grouped into the areas of freedom-fighting, science, arts and letters, and social reform.

Degeneres, Ellen. My Point… And I Do Have One
Ellen DeGeneres shares her hilarious take on everything from our most baffling human foibles–including how we behave in elevators, airplanes, and restrooms, and why we’re so scared of the boogeyman–to fashion trends, celebrity, and her secret recipe for Ellen’s Real Frenchy French Toast. Most of all, this witty, engaging book offers insights into the mind of one of America’s most beloved comics.

DuBois, Ellen Carol. Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents.
The first textbook for the survey course in American women’s history to combine a compelling narrative with a wide array of written and visual primary sources, Through Women’s Eyes: An American History is also the first to integrate women’s history into U.S. history while ensuring a balanced sense of the broad diversity of American women. Modeling for students how historians gather and interpret evidence, DuBois and Dumenil provide a textbook rooted in recent scholarship yet accessible to all introductory students.

Edgerly, Lois Stiles. Give Her This Day: A Daybook of Women’s Words
A unique compilation about nearly every subject under the sun, Give Her this Day is arranged in daybook format, with each day containing a piece of writing by a woman born on that day. A variety of subjects are covered: from relations of the sexes to peace and social justice; from a gathering of saints to Washington gossip; from crossing the Continental Divide to being presented to the Queen of England. Photographs of over 125 of the women are included, along with insightful biographies compiled by Lois Edgerly.

Ehrenreich, Barbara and Deirdre English. For Her Own Good: 150 Years of Advice to Women.
This dense, well-argued classic underscores the need to take expert advice with a shaker of salt. Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English ably show that many experts gleefully hammer recalcitrant souls into a shape acceptable to society, rather than encouraging people to find their own way. The book plunges into 150 years of misbegotten advice to women and questionable insights into feminine nature that have many modern parallels. In the service of better living through science, women have undergone deprivational rest cures that most war rules would disallow, submitted to surgical bludgeoning of ovaries and uterus to quell a list of unladylike behaviors, and humbly followed childcare advice that amounted to abuse.

Gage, Carolyn. Like There's No Tomorrow: Meditations for Women Leaving Patriarchy.
Like There's No Tomorrow: Meditations For Women Leaving Patriarchy is an anthology of women's emancipation quips, quotes and stories that are humorous, easy-to-read, inspirational mini-lectures, composing a kind of thumbnail tour of women's history -- as told by women. The profusion of quotations are written with a light touch, but a deep politic, and the woman who finds "one day at a time" a formula for despair will rejoice that, finally, there is a meditation book written for those in search of radical healing. Like There's No Tomorrow offers a compendium of "hot role models", cool strategies, suspenseful stories, and genuine words-of-wisdom perfect for women's issues study groups or personal reflections in a quiet corner.

Gates, Henry Louis Jr. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters With the Founding Fathers.
The slave Phillis Wheatley literally wrote her way to freedom when, in 1773, she became the first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in the English language. The toast of London, lauded by Europeans as diverse as Voltaire and Gibbon, Wheatley was for a time the most famous black woman in the West.

Gorn, Elliott J. Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America.
This highly engaging biography (the first since 1974) charts the life and work of one of the U.S.'s most important and captivating political figures. Born into an impoverished Irish family in County Cork in 1837, she immigrated to North America at age 15. After working as a seamstress and teacher, Harris married George Jones, a member of the International Iron Molders Union. At 30 she was widowed when her husband and four young children died in a yellow fever epidemic. Caught up in the mid-century's roiling labor and social upheavals, Jones threw herself into the political fray. Speaking tirelessly and effectively for the rights of workers and unionists--often using bold, flagrantly rhetorical and poetic metaphors--"Mother" Jones reached the height of her fame and influence by 1913 when, in her 70s, she campaigned for the United Mine Workers in West Virginia, where she was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder (she had urged striking minors to protect their families against the military brought in to break the strike).

Gruber, Ruth. Haven.
A poignant, true-life story of a woman ahead of her time, willing to risk her life and put herself in danger to save refugees. Gripping retelling by Ms. Gruber, who shepharded nearly 1000 refugees from Italy on the Liberty ship, the Henry Gibbons. Afterward, the refugees set up at a camp called Camp Oswego, near Lake Ontario in New York.

Height, Dorothy. Open Wide the Freedom Gates: A Memoir
Dorothy Height marched at major civil rights rallies, sat through tense White House meetings, and witnessed every significant victory in the struggle for racial equality. Yet as that sole woman among powerful, charismatic men, and as someone whose personal ambition was always secondary to her passion for her cause, she has received little mainstream recognition – until now.

Hepburn, Katharine. Me: Stories of My Life.
Admired and beloved by movie audiences for over sixty years, four-time Academy Award-winner Katharine Hepburn is an American classic. Now Ms. Hepburn breaks her long-kept silence about her private life in this absorbing and provocative memoir.

Hill, Frances. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials.
Almost everyone knows something about the infamous Salem witch trials, but few are privy to the chilling details that Hill, a British novelist and journalist turned scholar, reveals in her superb and boldly analytical study. Hill documents every grim particular of this travesty of justice and terrifying example of the power of suggestion, from the very first accusations to the last brutal executions. As Hill tells the all but unbelievable tale about how a group of girls accused innocent women from all walks of life of practicing witchcraft, thus instigating a year of mass hysteria and causing the death of 25 people, she emphasizes the harshness, sterility, and repressiveness of seventeenth-century New England Puritan life.

Hoose, Phillip. We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History
From the boys who sailed with Columbus to today's young activists, this unique book brings to life the contributions of young people throughout American history. Based on primary sources and including 160 authentic images, this handsome oversized volume highlights the fascinating stories of more than 70 young people from diverse cultures. Young readers will be hooked into history as they meet individuals their own age who were caught up in our country's most dramatic moments-Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped from his village in western Africa and forced into slavery, Anyokah, who helped her father create a written Cherokee language, Johnny Clem, the nine-year-old drummer boy who became a Civil War hero, and Jessica Govea, a teenager who risked joining Cesar Chavez's fight for a better life for farm workers. Throughout, Philip Hoose's own lively, knowledgeable voice provides a rich historical context-making this not only a great reference-but a great read.

Jones, Dorothy Holder and Ruth Sexton Sargent. The Original Biography of Abbie Burgess: Lighthouse Heroine.
Born in Maine in 1839 and with a limited education, Abbie tended the lights faithfully for most of her life. One week after her father received his appointment as lighthouse keeper at Matinicus Rock, Abbie inherited the lamps. Her career as a lighthouse keeper spanned 38 years and saw her work at Matinicus and White Head Light Stations. Abbie was a heroine upon several occasions. She risked her safety and well being for the sake of her family and "those that go down to the sea ships."

Kaplan, Carla. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters.
Whatever happened to Zora Neale Hurston? In the 1930s her stories, novels, folklore studies, and plays were all over the bestseller lists. By the '60s she was forgotten--a reversal of fortune captured in the extraordinary collection Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters.Why did Hurston's star fade? Simple weariness, her correspondence suggests. She was happier, it seems, tilling her Florida garden than revealing her soul to the world. She was also not shy of crossing swords with the likes of W.E.B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes, and in a time of growing militancy and the awakening civil rights movement Hurston became increasingly conservative, developing political stances that, editor Kaplan writes, "have often baffled her admirers." Hurston developed a pen-stilling, probably ungrounded suspicion that anything she wrote would be stolen by other writers, who would "then hate me for being alive to make their pretensions out a lie. And then take all kinds of steps to head me off."Having enjoyed early fame, Hurston died alone and in poverty. This well-assembled and very welcome book traces her sad path, and it adds much to our understanding of the once-neglected writer.

Keenan, Shelia. Scholastic Encyclopedia of Women in the United States.
Anne Bradstreet, Pocahontas, Lucretia Mott, Nellie Bly, Isadora Duncan, Amelia Earhart, Dr. Karen Horney, Marilyn Monroe, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Rodham Clinton... these are women who, over the last 400 years, have helped shape the United States. Packed with intriguing photos and illustrations, this big, glorious volume chronicles and celebrates the lives and achievements of more than 250 American women for the benefit of tomorrow's history-makers.

Lane, Ann J. To "Herland" and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Lane illuminates the life and philosophy of feminist Gilman (1860-1935), whose story "The Yellow Wallpaper" reflected a personal experience with depression; we learn of Gilman's friends and family, her international recognition as a theorist and social commentator, and her belief in women's rights to full equality and autonomy.

Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of An American Hero.
Araminta Ross, better known as Harriet Tubman, was born a slave in 1822 on Maryland's Eastern Shore. In 1849, after hearing that she might be sold to settle her late master's debt, she escaped and began a life of sacrifice to help others escape as well. But Tubman's efforts didn't stop there. She played a vital role in the events of the Civil War and, in her later years, supported the fight for women's rights. Until the end of her life, she fought against the bigotry and injustice faced daily by African Americans. Using a clear writing style, Larson does an excellent job of placing Tubman in the context of her times.

León, Vicki. Outrageous Women of Ancient Times.
Astonishing true tales of the most amazing women in history They were bright and bold, outspoken and inspiring, daring and even dangerous. They were the incredible, courageous, and totally Outrageous Women of Ancient Times. These remarkable women rocked the world with their accomplishments--and their attitude!

León, Vicki. Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages
Astonishing true tales of the most amazing women in history They were bright and bold, outspoken and inspiring, daring and even dangerous. They were the incredible, courageous, and totally Outrageous Women of Ancient Times. These remarkable women rocked the world with their accomplishments--and their attitude!

León, Vicki. Uppity Women of Medieval Times
Vicki León, tireless explorer of the past, has gathered a treasure of information from sources written, etched, carved and painted, to reconstruct the lives of wild women who wouldn’t keep their places. From Queen Elizabeth to Joan of Arc, from Artemisia Gentileschi to Damia al-Kahina, this collection of medieval women who took history into their own hands will mesmerize, amuse, and inspire you.

Lipsitz, George. Rainbow at Midnight: Labor and Culture in the 1940's.
Rainbow at Midnight details the origins and evolution of working-class strategies for independence during and after World War II. Arguing that the 1940s may well have been the most revolutionary decade in U.S. history, George Lipsitz combines popular culture, politics, economics, and history to show how war mobilization transformed the working class and how that transformation brought issues of race, gender, and democracy to the forefront of American political culture.

Lorde, Audre. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.
A 1982 autobiography by African American poet Audre Lorde. It started a new genre that the author calls biomythography. This is a story of a Black homosexual woman discovering herself in a racist, homophobic American society. This is a story of a person surviving.

Lunardini, Christine, Ph.D. What Every American Should Know About Women’s History
While women have made dramatic progress in their struggle for equality in American society, the key episodes and personalities of this historic moment have too often gone unrecognized or faded into obscurity. Whether the issue is work, family life, social reform, or the struggle or equal rights, these stories offer compelling insights into the lives of the women who have shaped our destiny.

Lupton, Ellen. Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines From Home to Office
This book considers a design history from the perspective of female users and consumers. The telephone, typewrite, washing machine, and electric iron have been central to the definition of ‘women’s work’ in 20th century America. Cultural ideas about the ambitions of women are reflected by the ways appliances have been designed, marketed, used, and imagined.

Markham, Beryl. West With the Night
West With the Night is a true story about the travels of a female pilot. With the skill of someone who has filled long nights with stories, Markham recounts her adventures – discoveries, rescues, and narrow escapes, the glint of an airplane abandoned in the desert, the look of a lion about to pounce…much more than a pilot’s log, West With the Night is a wise, funny, and inspiring exploration of a life well lived. In the 1930s Beryl Markham worked as an African bush pilot, then in September of 1936 she became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from East to West.

McLean, Jacqueline. Profiles: Women with Wings
Women with Wings looks at the history of aviation as it is encapsulated in the lives of an extraordinary group of women who flew during the pioneering days of flight. For some, the peace and beauty they experienced in the air were compelling reasons to fly. For others, flying represented freedom, a way to assert their autonomy. Some women were driven by the need to prove their equality with men, while others were lured by the promise of undiscovered frontiers. Flying is about all of these things, but for the early women aviators and many women flying today, it has been about perseverance and strength of character. As pilot Judith Chisholm has said, “All it takes is determination, an independent spirit and a thick skin.”

Michelson, Maureen. Women and Work: Photographs and Personal Writings
Women in the work force is a subject that has been analyzed and categorized by countless experts and academicians in numerous book. But rarely are women given the opportunity to speak for themselves, in their own words, about their work and what it means in the context of their lives. In this book, 85 women from all walks of life and backgrounds, living in the United States and working in a wide variety of jobs, share their work experiences.

Niethammer, Carolyn. Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women.
Here, as it unfolded, is the chronology of the native American woman's life. Here are the birth rites of Caddo women from the Mississippi-Arkansas border, who bore their children alone by the banks of rivers and then immersed themselves and their babies in river water; here are Apache puberty ceremonies that are still carried on today, when the cost for the celebrations can run anywhere from one to six thousand dollars. Here are songs from the Night Dances of the Sioux, where girls clustered on one side of the lodge and boys congregated on the other; here is the Shawnee legend of the Corn Person and of Our Grandmother, the two female deities who ruled the earth. Far from the submissive, downtrodden "squaw" of popular myth, the native American woman emerges as a proud, sometimes stoic, always human individual from whom those who came after can learn much.

Okubo, Mine. Citizen 13660.
This powerful graphic novel was drawn and written by Artist Mine Okubo when she was a teenager at a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Okubo's elegant black and white drawings and wry text make CITIZEN 13660 on a par with Art Speigelman's MAUS as a war time testimony.

Paprocki, Sherry Beck. Katie Couric.
Learn how Katie Couric rose to prominence in the cutthroat business of television journalism.

Polk, Milbry & Tiegreen, Mary. Women of Discovery: A Celebration of Intrepid Women Who Explored the World
Across the centuries and from many lands, women have set forth on journeys of exploration. Visionaries, adventurers, artists, and scientists, these women challenged the limitations, both physical and social, of their times and in the face of formidable challenges expanded the world’s body of knowledge. Yet despite their extraordinary achievements, they have remained unknown and unsung for too long. Women of Discovery tells the stories of over eighty female explorers.

Polster, Miriam F. Eve’s Daughters: The Forbidden Heroism of Women
Heroic acts of women throughout history have been ignored, misinterpreted, and maligned. Miriam Polster reveals that our understanding of heroism in society is entrenched in archaic male archetypes that are potentially destructive and often irrelevant to our daily lives. Offering a positive approach to the psychology of women, Polster explains why we must celebrate the heroism of women, from Eve to the champions of everyday life.

Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision.
A gifted grassroots organizer, Baker shunned the spotlight in favor of vital behind-the-scenes work that helped power the black freedom struggle. She was a national officer and key figure in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a prime mover in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Baker made a place for herself in predominantly male political circles that included W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr., all the while maintaining relationships with a vibrant group of women, students, and activists both black and white.

Reagan, Nancy. My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan.
The former First Lady strikes back at her detractors, remarks upon her troubled relationships with her children and discusses her belief in astrology.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt.
The long and eventful life of Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) was full of rich experiences and courageous actions. The niece of Theodore Roosevelt, she married a distant relative and Columbia University law student named Franklin Delano Roosevelt; he gradually ascended throughout the world of New York politics to reach the U.S. presidency in 1932. Throughout his three terms, Eleanor Roosevelt was not only intimately involved in FDR’s personal and political life, but led women’s organizations and youth movements and fought for consumer welfare, civil rights, and improved housing. During World War II she traveled with her husband to meet leaders of many powerful nations; after his death in 1945 she worked as a UN delegate, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, newspaper columnist, Democratic party activist, world-traveler, and diplomat.

Rostenberg, Leona and Madeleine Stern. Bookends: Two Women, One Enduring Friendship.
Rostenberg and Stern, rare-book dealers, single Jewish women and lifelong friends, continue the story begun in Old Books, Rare Friends with this inspiring, moving chronicle of a friendship and moving personal account of the 20th century. The authors, now nearing their 90s, describe their battles and victories in the changing world.

Schechter, Patricia. A Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform 1880-1930.
Pioneering African American journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) is widely remembered for her courageous antilynching crusade in the 1890s; the full range of her struggles against injustice is not as well known. With this book, Patricia Schechter restores Wells-Barnett to her central, if embattled, place in the early reform movements for civil rights, women's suffrage, and Progressivism in the United States and abroad. Schechter's comprehensive treatment makes vivid the scope of Wells-Barnett's contributions and examines why the political philosophy and leadership of this extraordinary activist eventually became marginalized.

Schlissel, Lillian. Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey.
After the depression of 1837, the prospect of "free land" and gold prompted more than 250,000 people to emigrate to Oregon and California between 1840 and 1870. History, relying predominantly on men's writings, often presents this journey in terms of mythic adventure. But what was it like for women? After studying the writings of 103 women, Lillian Schlissel determined that "If ever there was a time when men and women turned their psychic energies toward opposite visions, the overland journey was that time." In Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey, she explores her findings, quoting at length from her sources and including a selection of diaries and reminiscences at the end.

Sherr, Lynn and Jurate Kazickas. Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women's Landmarks.
Originally published in 1976 as The American Woman's Gazetteer, this updated version is a travel guide through towns, cities, and states, packed with facts about the role women have played in shaping U.S. history. The thorough index and the alphabetical arrangement by state makes the book useful as a reference source; it's also fun for browsing. The abundance of photographs and various locales encourages readers to journey through the pages. Interesting trivia is scattered throughout. This source complements Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971) and Notable American Women: The Modern Period (1980, both Belknap), and Doreen Rappaport's American Women (HarperCollins, 1992).

Silver, Michael. Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion.
The story of Natalie Coughlin’s remarkable battle back from injury and burnout to be-come America’s Golden Girl a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner in swimming and the most decorated female athlete at the 2004 Olympics.

Stephens, Autumn. Wild Women Crusaders, Curmudgeons and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era
A fascinating and sometimes humorous glimpse into the lives of 150 19th-century American women who refused to whittle themselves down to the Victorian model of proper womanhood. 50-black-and-white photos.

Stephenson, June. Women’s Roots: The History of Women
History has been written by men, about actions important to men, ignoring women and fostering an attitude that implies what females do is unimportant. June Stephenson sets the record straight – it was women who began agriculture, cattle breeding and architecture, providing the basis for civilization. This dramatic history of the relationships between women and men moves from prehistory to the present, telling the truth about women’s achievements, about the millenniums of concerted oppression, and how women prove indomitable.

Stille, Darlene R. Extraordinary Women Scientists
In Extraordinary Women Scientists, Stille compiles some of the most extraordinary women in the field of science during the late 1800's to the early 1900's. Fifty women are featured for making significant advances in their field and represent nearly every continent of the world. These women made their contributions without encourgement from society, during a time when learning was thought to be damaging to women's health. Many women who overcame the harship of getting an education often couldn't even find a job to support themselves afterward. These compelling and factual stories are inspiring for anyone interested in the history of women or science at large.

Stone, Merlin. When God Was a Woman
Here is an invitation to discover a past that has been buried by millennia of Judeo-Christian myth and corresponding social order. Merlin Stone tells us, in fascinating detail, the story of the Goddess who, known by names such as Astarte, Isis, and Ishtar, reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. There she was revered as the wise creator and the one source of universal order, not simply as a fertility symbol as some histories would have us believe. And under the Goddess, societal roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures: women bought and sold property, traded in the marketplace, and inherited title and land from their mothers.

Ventura, Varla. Sheroes: Sheroes: Bold, Brash (and Absolutely Unabashed) Superwomen
Sheroes is a dizzy, amusing dip into the lives of 200 women of substance from Harriet Tubman (the original American freedom rider), comic strip character Wonder Woman, and Star Trek's Lieutenant Uhura to British adventurer Alexandra David-Neel (My Journey to Lhasa), Olympic champion speed racer Bonnie Blair, and African eco-warrior Wangari Maathai. Varla Ventura mainly celebrates easily recognized women, but deserves credit for ferreting out many early sheroes, such as the five Biblical sisters who persuaded Moses that daughters deserved to inherit (albeit only when no sons are available), and little known luminaries like pro-hockey goalie Manon Rheume and Puerto Rico's freedom fighter Maria de la Mercedes Barbudo. Sheroes happily tweaks the historical record, flinging around words like "bodacious" and "brainiac" such as to make scholars and feminists blanch, but it assembles a colorful listing of real and imaginary women as role models to which to aspire.

Wagner, Sally Roesch. Sisters in Spirit. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists
This groundbreaking examination of the early influences on feminism may revolutionize feminist theory. Distinguished historian and contemporary feminist scholar Sally Roesch Wagner has compiled extensive research to analyze the source of the revolutionary vision of the early feminists. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Lucretia Mott had formed friendships with their Native neighbors that enabled them to understand a worldview far different, and in many ways superior, to the patriarchal one that existed at that time. This is the provocative and compelling history of their struggle to bring equality and dignity to all women, and the role played by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) women who modeled the position women could occupy in society.

Ware, Susan. Modern American Women: A Documentary History.
A collection of primary source documents for the American women's history course, 'Modern American Women: A Documentary History' focuses on events and developments involving women from 1890 to the present. New material includes documents on anti-lynching activism and Indian relocation, excerpts from 'The Vagina Monologues' by Eve Ensler, expanded chapters on 'Sexuality and the Body' and 'The State of the Movement for Women's Equality'.

White, Deborah Gray. Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South.
This new edition reviews and updates the scholarship on slave women and the slave family, exploring new ways of understanding the intersection of race and gender and comparing the myths that stereotyped female slaves with the realities of their lives.

Xu, Meihong and Larry Engelmann. Daughter of China: A True Story of Love and Betrayal.
In 1988, Xu, a young, married Chinese military intelligence officer studying at the Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, fell in love with Engelmann, one of her American professors. Their reckless behavior brought down the wrath of the Chinese authorities, who, suspecting an espionage connection, arrested her and had him expelled from China. After numerous harrowing experiences (told, in this frustrating narrative, alongside flashbacks from Xu's earlier life), the lovers are miraculously reunited, marry, and move to America.

Yellin, Emily. Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home at the Front During World War II.
Wartime manpower shortages were bending gender rules, and many women seized the opportunity to try something different. While feminist historians have analyzed the meaning of their war experience, journalist Yellin takes a more subjective approach. This nonjudgmental, anecdotal account covers the usual range of topics women in war industries, in volunteer work, in the armed forces, in undercover operations but Yellin avoids retelling the familiar.