Ahead Of Their Time A Biographical Dictionary Of Risktaking Women Duncan by Duncan, Joyce D. 9780313016868, 9780313316609, 0313016860, 0313316600 instant download after payment.

This selective dictionary describes the lives of 75 women from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries who have "broken traditional bounds and ventured into uncharted territory" on land, at sea, or in the air. The alphabetical entries are introduced with dates of birth and, where appropriate, dates of death; country of origin; field of endeavor; and, in many instances, a photograph. Narratives of two to four pages are accompanied by short bibliographies. The volume concludes with several appendixes: "Vignettes of Other Women" about whom little is known, followed by lists of women grouped by category (e.g., "Aviators," "Iditarod Champion") and by nationality.

The women include mountaineers, explorers, aviators, anthropologists, archaeologists, environmentalists, naturalists, sailors, and adventurers. One finds such well-known names as anthropologist Ruth Benedict, aviator Amelia Earhart, and astronaut Mae Jemison; but there also are entries for Ruth Nichols, heiress turned aviator; Marianne North, nineteenth-century conservationist; and Alexandrine Tinne, Dutch explorer of the Middle East. Though subjects are predominantly from the U.S. or England, there are some representatives from other parts of the world (Valentina Nikolayev and Junko Tabei, for example).

This highly readable dictionary is suitable for high-school, public, and undergraduate collections, although libraries that own other titles such as Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space Technology (ABC-CLIO, 1998) and Encyclopedia of Women's Travel and Exploration (Oryx, 2001) may find it an optional purchase. RBB

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

.,."describes the lives of 75 women from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries who have "broken traditional bounds and ventured into uncharted territory" on land, at sea, or in the air. 

…