Noteworthy Women: Leaders, Pioneers, and Trendsetters

Updated February 27, 2026
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The women who changed architecture
Hartman, Jan Cigliano
Paper Book
A 2022 ALA Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title A visual and global chronicle of the triumphs, challenges, and impact of over 100 women in architecture, from early practitioners to contemporary leaders. Marion Mahony...
To walk about in freedom : the long emancipation of Priscilla Joyner
Emberton, Carole
Paper Book
Priscilla Joyner was born into the world of slavery in 1858 North Carolina and came of age at the dawn of emancipation. Raised by a white slaveholding woman, Joyner never knew the truth about her parentage. She grew up isolated and unsure of who she was and where she belonged-feelings that no...
She-wolves : the untold history of women on Wall Street
Bren, Paulina
Paper Book
First came the secretaries from Brooklyn and Queens--the "smart cookies" who saw that making money, lots of it, might be within their grasp. Then came the first female Harvard Business School graduates, who were in for a rude awakening because an equal degree did not mean equal opportunity. But by...
The great stewardess rebellion : how women launched a workplace rebellion at 30,000 feet
McShane Wulfhart, Nell
Paper Book
The empowering true story of a group of spirited stewardesses who "stood up to huge corporations and won, creating momentous change for all working women." (Gloria Steinem, co-founder of Ms. magazine) It was the Golden Age of Travel, and everyone wanted in. As...
Pretend we're dead : the rise, fall, and resurrection of women in rock in the '90s
Pearson, Tanya
Paper Book
"A refreshing and much-needed contribution to the male-dominated history of rock 'n' roll."--Kirkus Reviews From the founder of the Women of Rock Oral History Project, an exploration of women in the '90s rock scene, featuring original interviews ...
In on the joke : the original queens of stand-up comedy
Levy, Shawn
Paper Book
"A sensitive and vivid study of early female stand-ups... Levy is a painstaking, knowledgeable guide." -New York Times Book Review A hilarious and moving account of the trailblazing women of stand-up comedy who broke down walls so they could stand before the mic-perfect for...
The doctors Blackwell : how two pioneering sisters brought medicine to women--and women to medicine
Nimura, Janice P.
Paper Book
Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood. Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine, her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male medical...
Vanguard : how Black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all
Jones, Martha S.
Paper Book
The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power -- and how it transformed America. In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this...
Women who invented the sixties : Ella Baker, Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson, and Betty Friedan
Golin, Steve
Paper Book
While there were many protests in the 1950s-against racial segregation, economic inequality, urban renewal, McCarthyism, and the nuclear buildup-the movements that took off in the early 1960s were qualitatively different. They were sustained, not momentary; they were national, not just local; they...
Broad band : the untold story of the women who made the Internet
Evans, Claire Lisa
Paper Book
If you loved Hidden Figures or The Rise of the Rocket Girls, you'll love Claire Evans' breakthrough book on the women who brought you the internet--written out of history, until now. This is a radically important, timely work, says Miranda July, filmmaker and author of The First Bad Man. The history...
Propaganda girls : the secret war of the women in the OSS
Rogak, Lisa
Paper Book
The incredible untold story of four women who spun the web of deception that helped win World War II. Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane...

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