All too often in high schools, we see girls who have role models from MTV or network sitcoms. Their priorities seem to be hair styles, length of nails and tans. Money is spent on cell phones and beauty aids. This artifical world based on "beauty" and "looks" has been mass-produced by a bunch of Madison Avenue executives - packaging girls to sell their products. To combat this onslaught of media hype - I look to women who have created a real contribution to the evolution of the human species. Elaine Partnow has written an easy-to-reference book that allows a teacher/role-model/mentor to use. We can encourage girls to look beyond the Brittney Spears and inspire them to achieve much more than "beauty". Elaine Partnow is "the real thing".

This book is not only fun to thumb through (and there's a lot of it to thumb through), it is a terrific resource. The biographical index of 3,750 women alone makes it worth having. I find myself looking stuff up in it all the time--how old is Gloria Steinem? Where was Golda Meir born? What country did Murasaki Shikibu come from? And then, of course, there are the quotations. Thousands of them. A real help in my work as a researcher. Anyone who enjoys a good reference library shouldn't be without a copy of this book.