In 1607, Powhatan teenager Pocahontas first encountered English settlers when John Smith was brought to her village as a captive. In 1920, the ratification of the 19th Amendment gave women the constitutional right to vote. And in 2012, the U.S. Marine Corps lifted its ban on women in active combat, allowing female marines to join the sisterhood of American women who stand at the center of this country's history. Between each of these signal points runs the multi-layered experience of Ameri...

“Lively and delightful…zooms in on the faces in the crowd to help us understand both the depth and the diversity of the women’s suffrage movement. Some women went to jail. Others climbed mountains. Visual artists, dancers, and journalists all played a part…Far from perfect, they used their own abilities, defects, and opportunities to build a movement that still resonates today.”—Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History“An intimate acc...

For Forgotten Heroes, thirty-five prominent historians chose their favorite stories of unsung American figures. From Johnny Appleseed and John Quincy Adams to abolitionist Sojourner Truth and Margaret Anderson, the publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses, these profiles remind us that history depends upon the great deeds of women and men, whether famous or humble. Designed for delight, instruction, and inspiration, this collection includes nearly as many women as men, and near...

When Billie Jean King trounced Bobby Riggs in tennis’s “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, she placed sports squarely at the center of a national debate about gender equity. In this winning combination of biography and history, Susan Ware argues that King’s challenge to sexism, the supportive climate of second-wave feminism, and the legislative clout of Title IX sparked a women’s sports revolution in the 1970s that fundamentally reshaped American society.While King did not single-handed...

One of the most beloved radio show hosts of the 1940s and 1950s, Mary Margaret McBride (1899—1976) regularly attracted between six and eight million listeners to her daily one o'clock broadcast. During her twenty years on the air she interviewed tens of thousands of people, from President Harry Truman and Frank Lloyd Wright to Rachel Carson and Zora Neale Hurston. This is her story.Five decades after their broadcast, her shows remain remarkably fresh and interesting. And yet McBride...

In their own voices, the full story of the women and men who struggled to make American democracy wholeWith a record number of female candidates in the 2020 election and women's rights an increasingly urgent topic in the news, it's crucial that we understand the history that got us where we are now. For the first time, here is the full, definitive story of the movement for voting rights for American women, of every race, told through the voices of the women and men...

"Two Diaries from Middle St. John's" offers a poignant glimpse into the lives of three women during a tumultuous period in American history. The diaries, penned by Mary Rhodes Waring Henagan, Susan R. Jervey, and Charlotte St. J. Ravenel, capture their personal experiences and reflections as the Civil War unfolds around them. Through their intimate writings, readers gain insight into the challenges faced by Southern women, including the impact of war on their families, homes, and communiti...

The first full-length history of biomedical research with human subjects in the period "before Tuskegee"—from 1890 to 1940Long before the U.S. government began conducting secret radiation and germ-warfare experiments, and long before the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, medical professionals had introduced—and hotly debated the ethics of—the use of human subjects in medical experiments. In Subjected to Science, Susan Lederer provides the first full-length hi...

Experts agree on the value of genetic testing when there is a family history of disease, or if the patient has an illness frequently caused by a mutation. Knowing the disease mutation lets family members find out if they have it too and need preventive care. The book explains that doctors can order tests with genetic counseling at relatively low cost and how this will help them prescribe preventive actions, make earlier diagnoses, and get better outcomes. The book's genetic discussions als...

Women are joining the workforce in increasing numbers, making inroads as entrepreneurs and leaders, acquiring more education, marrying later, and having fewer children—all trends consistent with spending a far greater fraction of their adult lives in the labor force. And yet, even as women break the glass ceiling and challenge gender and sexual norms, they are told they need to "lean in" and powerful movements like #TimesUP and #MeToo are still necessary to expose and overcome endemic disc...

10 Civil War Diaries assembles intimate records of the American Civil War, tracing how military conflict entered homes, cities, plantations, hospitals, and routes of displacement. The selections range from compressed daily notation and reflective observation to political commentary and vivid scenes of scarcity, grief, religious conviction, and endurance. Especially striking are accounts of besieged communities and the shifting moral language through which civilians interpret war. Together,...

The Memories of Blood and Fear: 10 Civil War Diaries gathers intimate records of a conflict experienced not only on battlefields but in households, hospitals, occupied cities, and anxious communities. Its entries range from immediate, fragmentary observation to sustained social commentary, combining military detail with reflections on grief, scarcity, loyalty, enslavement, gender, and the moral dislocations of war. Particularly compelling are the recurring depictions of civilian endurance ...