What Every American Should Know About Women's History: 200 Events That Shaped Our Destiny

While women have made dramatic progress in their struggle for equality in American society, the key episodes and personalities of this historic movement have too often gone unrecognized or faded into obscurity. What Every American Should Know About Women's History features 200 landmark events, including:

The decision by female mill workers in Lowell, Massachusetts, to strike in response to a pay cut
Jane Addam's selection as a Nobel Prize laureate for her work on world peace The formation of the National Organization for Women Geraldine Ferraro's nomination as a candidate for the vice presidency

Whether the issue is work, family life, social reform, or the struggle for equal rights, these stories offer compelling insights into the lives of the women who have shaped our destiny.

Many books designed to pack your head with a few nuggets of wisdom are more annoying than interesting, but this one is very good. The usual standouts in American women's history appear--Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eleanor Roosevelt--but so do many lesser-known women. The book is organized largely around political and popular events driven by women or that affected women's lives. Stretching from 1607 through the early 1990s, it comprises preventing childbirth deaths; Victoria Woodhulls's run for president (in 1872); Dolores Huerta's efforts to help form the United Farm Worker's Union; and Maya Angelou's poem at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration.