Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History: Women's History Month

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's quote has always been one of my favorites. Who were these women that we did not learn about in a standard history class? Were they really so wild?

Or were they just trailblazers for their time in society? 

Take a look at a few of these titles and make your own decisions.

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon--and the journey of a generation by Shelia Weller

Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct: King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s.

Flappers: six women of a dangerous generation by Judith Mackrell

A biography of six women who declared their independence during the Jazz Age. British heiresses Diana Cooper and Nancy Cunard, Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka, African-American entertainer Josephine Baker, actress Tallulah Bankhead and aspiring writer Zelda Fitzgerald were daring women who defied expectations about what a woman's life should be.

The Scarlet Sisters: sex, suffrage, and scandal in the Gilded Age by Myra MacPherson

Describes the adventures of  Victoria Claflin Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee (Tennie) Claflin who tried to overcome the male-dominated social norms of the late nineteenth century and achieved a remarkable list of firsts, including the first woman-run brokerage house and the first woman to run for president.

Wonder Women: 25 innovators, inventors, and trailblazers whochanged history by Sam Maggs

The title is a fun and feminist look at the brilliant, brainy and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers and inventors, along with interviews with real-life women in STEM careers.

Hidden Figures: the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race by Margot Lee Shetterly

An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. ( Our Book It book discussion group is talking about this title on March 22nd.)

And don't forget Vicki Leon's 'Uppity women' series of titles for short bios of fascinating women of their times. There is the Uppity women of the New World, Uppity women of the Renaissance, Uppity women of medieval times , and the Uppity women of ancient times. 
                

So try one of these titles and take a look at her story. You might find a side of history that you have never explored before!