*Includes pictures of important people, places, and events. *Includes Bibliographies for further reading. American presidents have shaped the course of global affairs for generations, but as the saying goes, behind every great man there's a great woman. While the First Ladies often remain overshadowed by their husbands, some have carved unique niches in their time and left their own lasting legacy. Abigail Adams served as a political advisor that earned her the moniker "Mrs. President," while Eleanor Roosevelt gave voice to policy issues in a way that made her a forerunner of First Ladies like Hillary Clinton. During the last 100 years, Susan B. Anthony has been one of the most venerated women in American history, but in the 80 years before that, she was one of the most hated women in American history. Anthony took note of her contemporaries' distaste for her but remained defiant, asserting, "I have encountered riotous mobs and have been hung in effigy, but my motto is: Men's rights are nothing more. Women's rights are nothing less." Though Anthony is best remembered today for working towards women's suffrage, she was an active and progressive advocate for all of the leading human rights issues of her time. Anthony was an ardent abolitionist from day one, and she spent much of the first 40 years of her life championing the cause of African-Americans, even befriending men like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison along the way. She also championed "radical" ideas as 8 hour work days, minimum wage laws, and equal pay for women. To say Helen Keller is one of the most unique figures in American history would be an understatement. As a young child, Helen lost both her vision and hearing, leaving her deafblind, an almost hopelessly debilitating condition that left her literally trapped, unable to communicate with anyone. But Helen eventually overcame the frustration and used unimaginable perseverance to overcome her disability. With Anne Sullivan's help and the sense of touch, Helen eventually broke through and learned to communicate. Helen's story would have been remarkable enough if it had ended simply with her ability to communicate with the outside world, but "I had now the key to all language, and I was eager to learn to use it." With unbridled ambition, Helen became the first deafblind individual to earn a bachelor's degree from a college, published her own autobiography when she was just 22, and in the early 20th century became famous across the world as both an author and speaker. The Top 5 Greatest American Women profiles each and every one of these American icons, examining their contributions to history and their lasting legacies.

Fifty photographers chronicle moments in the lives of a wide diversity of American women--their daily lives, challenges, and roles in society--in a compilation accompanied by essay-length personal profiles, narrative captions, and quotations.

Choice collection of 13 stories includes "Life in the Iron Mills" by Rebecca Harding Davis, Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat," plus superb fiction by Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, many others.

For centuries women have been marginalized and overlooked in American literary history. That injustice is corrected in this entertaining and provocative collection of 350 years of poetry and fiction by American women. From Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet to Margaret Fuller to Harriet Beecher Stowe, readers will encounter scores of lesser-known and forgotten writers who fully deserve to be rediscovered and enjoyed by new generations. Our famous women writers, including contemporary stars like Annie Proux and Jhumpa Lahiri, are showcased in their full literary context, offering an epic overview of the canon in one monumental, dazzling volume. This landmark anthology features the best work of our best American women, and was inspired and informed by the author's groundbreaking history celebrating women writers, A Jury of Her Peers.

This latest volume brings the project up to date, with entries on almost 500 women whose death dates fall between 1976 and 1999. You will find here stars of the golden ages of radio, film, dance, and television; scientists and scholars; civil rights activists and religious leaders; Native American craftspeople and world-renowned artists. For each subject, the volume offers a biographical essay by a distinguished authority that integrates the woman's personal life with her professional achievements set in the context of larger historical developments.

This new title brings together overviews and in-depth analysis of hundreds of American women writers, from Colonial America to present day. This work concentrates on women writers of literature, including novels, short stories, poetry, and drama. Essays include a personal biography and a summary of works, with valuable top matter details and further reading sections. The volumes include reviews and excerpts of the writer's most acclaimed works to give the researcher a unique, comprehensive perspective

Today, most remember “California Girl” Lillian Frances Smith (1871–1930) as Annie Oakley’s chief competitor in the small world of the Wild West shows’ female shooters. But the two women were quite different: Oakley’s conservative “prairie beauty” persona clashed with Smith’s tendency to wear flashy clothes and keep company with the cowboys and American Indians she performed with. This lively first biography chronicles the Wild West showbiz life that Smith led and explores the talents that made her a star. Drawing on family records, press accounts, interviews, and numerous other sources, historian Julia Bricklin peels away the myths that enshroud Smith’s fifty-year career. Known as “The California Huntress” before she was ten years old, Smith was a professional sharpshooter by the time she reached her teens, shooting targets from the back of a galloping horse in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West. Not only did Cody offer $10,000 to anyone who could beat her, but he gave her top billing, setting the stage for her rivalry with Annie Oakley. Being the best female sharpshooter in the United States was not enough, however, to differentiate Lillian Smith from Oakley and a growing number of ladylike cowgirls. So Smith reinvented herself as “Princess Wenona,” a Sioux with a violent and romantic past. Performing with Cody and other showmen such as Pawnee Bill and the Miller brothers, Smith led a tumultuous private life, eventually taking up the shield of a forged Indian persona. The morals of the time encouraged public criticism of Smith’s lack of Victorian femininity, and the press’s tendency to play up her rivalry with Oakley eventually overshadowed Smith’s own legacy. In the end, as author Julia Bricklin shows, Smith cared more about living her life on her own terms than about her public image. Unlike her competitors who shot to make a living, Lillian Smith lived to shoot.