Sam Maggs chronicles the lives of smart, pioneering women from the past in Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History (Quirk Books; October 4, 2016; $16.99). Maggs, who has an MA in Victorian literature, presents readers with a collection of international bad-as-heck babes who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers, and inventors (before their male counterparts stole the spotlight and took credit for their work).
With Wonder Women, Maggs proves that smart women have always been able to achieve amazing things, even when the odds are stacked against them, including:
Women of Science: Otto Hahn won a Nobel Prize for discovering nuclear fission but in fact it was Austrian nuclear physicist Lise Meitner who made the discovery and consequently explained it to Otto!
Women of Medicine: As a Hindu woman, Anandibai Joshi overcame religious persecution in order to travel to America to become one of the first female doctors to practice in India.
Women of Espionage: Inspired by a novel about a female pirate, Sarah Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and began dressing as a man in order to emancipate herself from the realities of being a nineteenth-century woman. Using her newfound freedom she joined the Union army and became a spy and the only woman admitted to the Grand Army of the Republic.
Women of Innovation: Chinese textile pioneer Huang Daopo mustered the bravery to escape an abusive home life and arranged marriage, which gave her the freedom to pursue a career that allowed her to innovate in the textile industry—she invented the cotton gin five centuries before Eli Whitney!
Women of Adventure: American aviatrix Bessie Coleman overcame racism to pursue her dream to become the first Black pilot.
In addition to spotlighting women from history, Wonder Women contains Q&As with several of today's visionary females, such as STEM Women founder Dr. Buddhini Samarasinghe and disaster researcher Mika McKinnon. These women, both past and present, will inspire and empower readers to overcome barriers and follow their passions.