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What's the purpose of this website????
I have always been an avid reader, ever since I was introduced to the magic world of books through Dick and Jane. In my reading journey, I found myself most often searching for books about real women--women who really existed and from whom I could learn about life. As a young girl, I can remember reading about Russian ballerinas and envisioning myself dancing in Swan Lake! The first specific book I remember reading was Karen by Marie Killilea. This is a classic written in 1952. Somehow it spoke to me and I have been on the hunt ever since to read about women who once walked on this earth. Through the years, I have made lists and lists of the books I have read. I have always wanted to share this resource with others who wanted to know more about real live women. I retired in the summer of 2011 from a long career in education and now have the time to do so. This website is the compilation of those lists. At this time there are approximately 230 books for you to investigate and enjoy! I add more as I read them. There is a contact link on the home page for you to send me your comments and/or suggestions for books to add. I would love to hear from you!
About Me
My name is Diane Burke and I am retired from a long career in education both in K-12 and higher ed. I currently live in Chesapeake, Virginia with my husband, Joe.
Looking for specific book or woman?
Type in the name below and see if you can find it on this website. If you can't, send me an email on the comment page and I'll see if I can find her! 
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How this site is organized
No book is exclusively about one topic alone. My challenge was to decide to how to categorize the books so that you, the reader, could access them in some organized way. The ten categories listed on the home page are the ones I decided on. Each category has a home page with a list of the books and then a page that follows with a copy of the cover and an annotation about the book.(My apologies to all librarians who read these pages for the lack of the most accurate bibliographic annotations.) The second page in the home section lists all of the books currently listed on the site. Although I have read all of the books on the website, I did not write the annotations. They are from Amazon.com and are attributed to the author as stated on Amazon. 
Check out previously recommended books in the MORE section of the website!
September Monthly Feature
My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock After losing her high-octane job as an entertainment blogger, Noelle Hancock was lost. About to turn twenty-nine, she'd spent her career writing about celebrities' lives and had forgotten how to live her own. Unemployed and full of self-doubt, she had no idea what she wanted out of life. She feared change—in fact, she feared almost everything. Once confident and ambitious, she had become crippled by anxiety, lacking the courage required even to attend a dinner party—until inspiration struck one day in the form of a quote on a chalkboard in a coffee shop: "Do one thing every day that scares you." —Eleanor Roosevelt With Eleanor as her guide, Noelle spends the months leading up to her thirtieth birthday pursuing a "Year of Fear." From shark diving to fighter pilot lessons, from tap dancing and stand-up comedy to confronting old boyfriends, her hilarious and harrowing adventures teach her about who she is and what she can become—lessons she makes vital for all of us. 
August Monthly Feature
The Wind in My Hair by Masih Alinejad A photo on Masih's Facebook page: a woman standing proudly, face bare, hair blowing in the wind. Her crime: removing her veil, or hijab, which is compulsory for women in Iran. This is the self-portrait that sparked 'My Stealthy Freedom,' a social media campaign that went viral. But Masih is so much more than the arresting face that sparked a campaign inspiring women to find their voices. She's also a world-class journalist whose personal story, told in her unforgettably bold and spirited voice, is emotional and inspiring. A testament to a spirit that remains unbroken, and an enlightening, intimate invitation into a world we don't know nearly enough about, THE WIND IN MY HAIR is the extraordinary memoir of a woman who overcame enormous adversity to fight for what she believes in, and to encourage others to do the same 
July Monthly Feature
Ashley's War by Gayle Lemmon In 2010 the U.S. Army Special Operations Command created Cultural Support Teams, a pilot program to put women on the battlefield alongside Army Rangers, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and other special operations teams on sensitive missions in Afghanistan. The idea was that women could access places and people that had remained out of reach and could build relationships—woman to woman—in ways that male soldiers in a conservative, traditional country could not. Lemmon uses exhaustive firsthand reporting and a finely tuned understanding of the complexities of war to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women handpicked from across the Army, and of the remarkable hero at its heart: First Lieutenant Ashley White. 
June Monthly Feature Chasing Hillary by Amy Chozick This book could be companion to Katy Tur's Unbelievable about her coverage of Donald Trump. In this book for nearly a decade, award-winning New York Times journalist Amy Chozick chronicled Hillary Clinton’s pursuit of the presidency. Chozick’s assignments, covering Clinton’s imploding 2008 campaign and then her front-row seat to the 2016 election on “The Hillary Beat,” set off a years-long journey in which the formative years of Chozick’s twenties and thirties became, both personally and professionally, intrinsically intertwined with Clinton’s presidential ambitions. 
May Monthly Feature
Code Girls: The untold story of the American women code breakers of WWII. by Liza Mundy This book follows in the line of other recent books that have told the story of women's contributions to the war effort in WWII. I was a bit hesitant to read it, as I had read the others stories, thinking this might just be a repeat. I am glad I did not follow my instinct. Code Girls delivers an engaging read, helping the reader to again recognize all of the female talent that was tapped to help win the war. These women deserve the same recognition as all of the others who answered the call to help our country. It also has the added benefit of giving the reader insights into how codes are written and then broken. If you enjoyed Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, you will enjoy this one too. 
April Monthly Book Feature
Her Again by Michael Shulman When Meryl Streep performs, she makes it look so easy, as if her talent is in-breed and she just needs to flip a switch and she becomes her character automatically. This book provides a much different perspective and shares how she worked diligently to become the esteemed actress she is today. 
March Monthly Book Feature
Educated by Tara Westover Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. As the seventh child born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills” bag. In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged metal in her father’s junkyard. When one brother came back from college with stories of the world beyond the mountains, Westover decides to prepare herself to successfully score high enough on the ACT test to be admitted to BYU. She ultimately earns her PhD in history from Cambridge University. Beautifully written, this is the story of one young woman's ability to overcome unbelievable challenges and find her place in the world. 
February Monthly Book Feature
Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History. by Katy Tur We are now in year two of Donald Trump's presidency. Katy Tur was in from the beginning of his rise to the oval office. As NBC's correspondent assigned to the Trump campaign, she spent 500 days following his campaign from start to finish. Tur provides us with an inside view of covering Trump's presidential campaign. Her dogged determination to hold Trump accountable for his statements led to Trump repeatedly single her out. At one point Trump got the campaign crowd so riled up against her that the Secret Service Service agents had to escort her to her car. Whether you like Trump or not, Tur's role covering his campaign gives her a perspective that very few people have about the man who sits in the oval office. 
January Monthly Book Feature
Shoot Like a Girl by Mary Jennings Hegar After being commissioned into the U.S. Air Force, MJ Hegar was selected for pilot training by the Air National Guard, finished at the top of her class, then served three tours in Afghanistan, flying combat search-and-rescue missions, culminating in a harrowing rescue attempt that would earn MJ the Purple Heart as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device. But it was on American soil that Hegar would embark on her greatest challenge—to eliminate the military’s Ground Combat Exclusion Policy, which kept female armed service members from officially serving in combat roles despite their long-standing record of doing so with honor. In Shoot Like a Girl, MJ takes the reader on a dramatic journey through her military career: an inspiring, humorous, and thrilling true story of a brave, high-spirited, and unforgettable woman who has spent much of her life ready to sacrifice everything for her country, her fellow man, and her sense of justice. 230 last edited 8-25-18
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