Women’s History – Reading for you

Calamity Jane in a Graphic Novel

Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary by Christian Perrissin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

How much do you know about Calmity Jane? Do you confuse her with Annie Oakley? Was she at the Battle of Little Big Horn? Did she really merry Wild Bill Hickok?

This graphic novel tries to answer the questions about her life, but she was apparently a good story teller, and much of what we know of her comes from letters she wrote to her daughter, but never sent. The authors used documents that were as close to the sources as they could, since Calimity Jane had many things written about her while she was alive, dime store novels, her own tall tales, that were simply not true. The authors admit that it is hard to figure out what truly happened, but that they are trying to come close, and still tell a good story.

One thing that I didn’t realize is that she only dressed and acted as a man in the beginning, and after that, she dressed in pants, but was known to be a woman.

Interesting read, interesting story of an unusual woman.

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Women without a voice in the American West

The Woman Without a Voice by Louise Farmer Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I was younger, then I am now, I loved reading the Little House on the Prarie books. I loved watching the show based on the series, and never thought about what Ma must have thought about what was going on, what she really thought about leaving her family behind to follow her husband, and live out in a sod house, and make do. Laura Ingles Wilder tells the stories looking back at her childhood.

This book is very small, and short, but it is the author’s view of what her greatgrandmother must have gone through, and the other women that were in the family, as they pushed westward. There is not a lot of source material, but Louise grabs what she can. This is almost an exercise in showing what can be gained by source material. She visits the asylum her great-grandmother was housed in for 16 years until her husband died, as well as reading the reports of her.

It is an interesting look back at a time when women had no choice but to do as their husbands said to do.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Some Canadian Women You Should KNow

150 Fascinating Facts About Canadian Women by Margie Wolfe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quickly, name three Canadian women. If you are not from Canada, do you even know three? You may know more than your think, and this book will introduce you to a whole lot more. Did you know Samantha Bee, of Full Frountal fame, is Canadian? Did you forget that K.D. Lang is Canadian? Did you remember that Buffy Sainte-Marie was?

Americans know who Rosa Parks was, but what about Viola Desmond, who would not give up her seat to a white patron in a movie theatre, and was arrested for that, and will soon have her image on the $10 bill.

And while readers might know that L.M. Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gabeles, did you know that the book is so loved in Japan that a Japanese businessman once paid more than a million dollars for potatoes because they came from Prince Edward Island, where she lived.

It is a very short book, but very cool and can pique your interest in all these women, that you might end up reading a bio on any one of these 150 women.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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What you need to know about Black Women

Black Girls Rock!: Celebrating the Power, Beauty, and Brilliance of Black Women by Beverly Bond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is very important to have representation in literature, in books, on TV, in the movies. It is very important that children can see that there are “people like me” that have done great things.

If you don’t know that there are others like you, in life, in history, how can you know what has come before, and what you can do?

This book is a collection of essays, of speeches given, by women of color, by black women who are alive today, as well as short pieces on black women who have come before.

Yes, we all know who Sojourner Truth was, or I hope we do, and we certainly know who Harriet Tubman was, but how often are we taught about Zora Neal Hurston, when we are taught about the men of the Harlem Renaissance.

What I love about this collection is how varied the women in this volume are. We of course, begin with Michelle Obama, but we have Angela Davis, and Maxine Waters, Joy-Ann Reid, and Toshi Reagon.

This is a great collection. What a wonderful thing Beverly Bond did to create the Black Girls Rock Awards in 2006.

Highly recommended for schools and libraries as well as personal collections.

Thanks to NetGalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Feminists year round.

The Little Book of Feminist Saints by Julia Pierpont
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I first picked this book, I thought, oh another book about famous women. Wonder if I’ll learn anything new.

Answer, yes, yes, I did.

This is more than just short histories of famous women. This is a collection that calls out why these women are famous and should be known about, and what they were known about. Yes, it is odd to make it out to be saint days, but why not?

And these are not light little nothings about famous women. These are all statements of why we should honor and listen to these women from the past and present.

For example, here is the excerpt about Rachel Carson, whose feast day is April 14:

The cancer had metastasized and her body had burns fromt he radiation.
Even the wig she wore when she went out was hot and itchy. And no one-her critis in particular-could k now of her condition, for fear it might be used to call her objectivity into question:
Silent Spring’s unprecedented claim was that petrochemicals were linked to human cancer. That day in San Franscico, she emphasized the urgency of her findings. “We behave,
not like people guided by scientific knowledge, but more like the poverbial bad housekeeper who sweeps dirt under the rug in the hope of getting it out of site.” “The Pollution of Our Environment”
would be her last speech: she died six months later.

And here is part of the excerpt about Nina Simone, the matron saint of soul:

“When I heard about the bombing of the church in which the four little balck girsl were killed in Alabama,” she said, “I shut myself up in a room and that song happened.”
The result was “Missisippi Goddam,” a rallying cry for the movement and one of Simone’s most famous protest songs.
Everybody knows about Missisippi-goddam.

And while I had heard and knew of Nellie Bly, the famous female journalist, I had not considered how important her story on the Insane Asylum was. And although I knew that Frances Perkins was the first female member of a U.S. president’s cabinate, I was not aware of how much work she did to make the Social Security Act be established, or minimum wages, or the forty-hour work week, and the banning of child labour.

This is a great book to get people to read, and realize how many great women are out there that we should know more about.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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