"Catholic Women's Colleges in America" finally addresses a notable gap in women's history, American educational history, and Catholic educational history. From the last third of the 1800's, congregations of Catholic religious women - nuns - created more than 225 institutions of higher learning for women. Numerous generations of women (and later men) were educated in these institutions. Because of the students' modest economic circumstances, many would not have received an education but for these institutions and these religious women. Recent histories of American higher education and Catholic higher education either ignore or pay only passing attention to the fact that more than half of all present-day Catholic colleges in the United States were formed by these women. The multiple authors of this edited book examine the colleges' history, importance, failings, and present challenges stemming from the steady disappearance of nuns from the American landscape. Along the way, and perhaps more importantly, they tell many of the individual stories of these religious women and their colleges. The chapters are well-written, and easily accessible to the lay reader. While my own judgment is that the religious character of these institutions is currently at more risk of disappearing than the editors allow, one cannot but be moved by the story, faith and determination of these religious women to educate women in the United States. Thanks to Schier and Russett for bringing this story to print.

This short magical book, with 30 intmate photographs, does a great service to all who may have wished they had known Mrs. Roosevelt(The "Mrs.R" of the title). The author, William Turner Levy, reveals, in the affectionate telling of his longstanding friendship with Mrs. R, very touching and human dimensions to the already very detailed and historic portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt. It is through his enchanting and loving memoir, told through short delightful anadotes, that I gained new insights and perspectives into the private life and personality of Mrs. R. Indeed, not only did I gain nuance, I gained a strong emotional sense of who this woman really was. The excellent comments incorporated throughout the book of Cynthia Eagle Russet, a professor of history at Yale University, provided valuable historical and contextual insight into the significance of the role of Mrs. Roosevelt in shaping history and politics. I highly recommend this charming book to all those interested in Mrs. R and a part of American history coming alive in new and fascinating ways.