Powerful Women Readers / The Book of Awesome Women

This non-fiction book by Becca Anderson would make an excellent reference book and is also, at the same time extremely readable.  It was fun to go through and learn about “famous” women, who are presented in a way that kept me reading and wanting to learn more. The title, cleverly, says it all.  The chapters are divided into women who broke boundaries of race, gender and personal obstacles to be overcome; those who fought for freedom from the earliest days to the twenty-first century; “Sheroes” some of whom were my personal “heroes” as a young girl and as an adult; and those females who dared to be the first to do whatever needed to be done.

The forward by Vicki Leon made the statement that, “Well behaved women rarely make history,” so some of the women were considered unseemly,  un-ladylike, pushy etc. when they were just ahead of their time in their thinking and actions. Anderson chooses environmentalists, athletes, scientists, women of color, music muses, resistors, and artists, in the broadest definition of the word.

This book is a catalog of “Sheroes” that would make a great outline for a women’s study course or a personal study of women in general. Many of my “old friends” from sixth grade forward like Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor; Florence Nightingale, who reformed the institution of nursing; Marie Curie, the discoverer of Uranium and the “inventor” of x-rays; and many many more of the childhood biographies I read were discussed in excellent, attention-keeping detail, and readable entries. The section on Women of Color is especially well done, including women from Sojourner Truth to Michelle Obama, as the author discussed the women’s lives and the real “obstacles” they overcame to make their contributions to our culture and our society.

Some of the entries were short, little known (to me) ancient women in leadership positions whom little is known about, but the author included them in her listings.  Others, more familiar, had longer entries which often gave little known facts about these sheroes that were fascinating to read and made me admire them even more.

It is not a book for just women. Young men and women, older adults who hear of names that sound familiar but aren’t sure of what they’re “famous” for, and anyone who wants information presented in a reader-friendly, interesting way should read this fine book.

The exciting news is that this book will be released on July 20th by Mango publishing  at http://mangopublishingroup.com