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roulan's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this very much. Every chapter ends with the author's own Reflections on the life of the woman she has just recounted, and many will not want that put into the middle of this history, but I quite enjoyed it.
sorensen0802's review against another edition
3.0
Some ideas and language seem a little broad or naïve. I think this could be a good intro to pioneer women for young people.
kms489's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
brandibabcock's review against another edition
5.0
These women deserve more acknowledgment for their pluck and contributions to a world that certainly treated them unfairly. What incredible role models they were! I'm grateful for their inspiring stories.
kirstenrose22's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting mix of women I'd heard of and others who were new to me. Nicely done.
nobodyspoet's review against another edition
While I don't dispute that the subjects of these profiles are interesting and I'll definitely be seeking out further writings on/by many of them, I found the author's overall inflection to be, at best, astoundingly naive. In the introduction Monson claims an attempt at as true "objectivity" as can be managed within the profiles, though there's a sheen of starry-eyed subjectivity that emanates from just about everything, compounded by sudden shift to her own first person aside for the shoddy moral conclusions at the end of each chapter. Her limp vocabulary with regards to various forms of institutionalized racism such as slavery within Clara Brown's story and residential schools within Zitkála-Šá's is glaring, as is the almost dismissive tone she uses with regards to the history of forced religious conversion against Indigenous communities, which she never seems to take as anything more than actions happening within a vacuum. From a personal standpoint I also think the inclusion of Charley Parkhurst is scummy, and in an academic view think it's just willfully ignorant. Whether Parkhurst would have identified within modern terminology as a trans man aside, he very clearly lived his life as a man, and Monson's breathy wonderings about "what might have happened if she had attempted to be open about her gender and still pursue her passion" [pg 176] are just tasteless. Overwhelmingly do not recommend, which is a shame because this really could have filled such an under-served niche.
jmrprice's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating era but from the lens of women’s experience … history is not only about white men.