A collection of books you’ll want to read during Women’s History Month…

Darling, did you ever stop to realize the several benefits of reading? I decided to give you a list of books as my way of expressing my thanks to the many great American Women of history. I hope you will read and collect them for your library… that is if you do not have them already!

I wanted to educate you on several physical and mental benefits of reading, facts about women in American history, art books, poetry books, and much more. You’ll find their descriptions, as well as links to purchase if they strike your fancy!

Facts About Reading Books

Did you know all these positive facts about reading?

A book boosts sleep, enhances imagination, improves memory, decreases depression, lowers stress, increases your vocabulary, sharpens your mind, and last but not least, brightens your day. Darling, a book sits on a shelf ready to serve you.

I am certain you feel as I do that every woman author and character(s) in your favorite novel(s) have had a marvelous impact, in some manner, on your life. Turning the pages of Ann Morrow Lindbergh’s book, Gift from the Sea, and reading the life story of Jenny Churchill, or turning the pages of a Mary Cassatt art book, adds thin layers of positivity and knowledge.

As you may know, I am a proponent of this message: “Women need women.” So, I decided to look up some facts and stats about women of the world today. I think you will keep some of them in your head and discuss them with your friends or the women in your family.

Facts and Statistics About Women in the World

• Today 71% of moms with kids work.
• Women currently hold 17% of Congressional and Senate seats and 18% of gubernatorial posts.
• Life expectancy is higher for women than men.
• 14% of women are active in the U. S. armed forces. In 1950 less than 2%.
• Over 60% of college degrees are awarded and earned by women.
• The two highest IQ’s ever recorded both belong to women.
• Most women work in health services, education, and social assistance industries.
• Women were not allowed in the first Olympics.
• The first event in the Olympics open to women was ice skating, in 1924.
• In 1921, American novelist Edith Wharton was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her fiction novel, The Age of Innocence.
• 1910-1925, ‘The Year of the Blues,’ the vast majority of the singers were women.

Amazing American Women

Here is a shortlist of amazing American women:

• Jane Adams: The 1st woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Nancy Ward: A Cherokee leader in the 1775 battle against the Creeks. She became the head of the Woman’s Council and a member of the Council of Chiefs.
• Sybil Ludington: She ran through the night in 1777 to warn New York patriots the British were near. While Paul Revere gets all the credit, her journey took her twice the distance and helped the troops repel a British Attack!
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s suffrage.

I could go on and on naming innovative women in American History. But, I have given you much information to last until next year’s Women’s History Month.

After putting this list together, I have decided that I’m going to start a collection of books for my youngest granddaughter, age 3, on great American Women of History. The first book I will get is going to be, Little Women. I am so excited to start her collection of books that I have goosebumps. However, I will of course read them first. I am smiling!

Books to Read this Women’s History Month

Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolf Churchill by Ralph G Martin:

“Having spent 30 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, Ralph Martin’s Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolf Churchill is the story of a girl from Brooklyn who became the toast of British society. Jennie, the most fascinating and desirable woman of her age, was once the wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and raised a son, Winston Churchill, who saved England from the Nazi onslaught with the only weapons he possessed: his magnificent oratory and his courage. Her paramours included King Edward VII of England and King Milan of Serbia. She later married two men, each 20 years her junior. A beautiful rebel, she lived and loved with an honesty that made her the toast-and scandal-of two continents.” – Amazon

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins:

“When Everything Changed begins in 1960 when most American women had to get their husbands’ permission to apply for a credit card. It ends in 2008 with Hillary Clinton’s historic presidential campaign. This was a time of cataclysmic change, when, after four hundred years, expectations about the lives of American women were smashed in just a generation.” – Amazon

Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York by Alexander Nemerov:

“At the dawn of the 1950s, a promising and dedicated young painter named Helen Frankenthaler, fresh out of college, moved back home to New York City to make her name. By the decade’s end, she had succeeded in establishing herself as an important American artist of the postwar period. In the years in between, she made some of the most daring, head-turning paintings of her day and also came into her own as a woman: traveling the world, falling in and out of love, and engaging in ongoing artistic education. She also experienced anew–and left her mark on–the city in which she had been raised in privilege as the daughter of a judge, even as she left the security of that world to pursue her artistic ambitions.” – Amazon

The Grimké Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women’s Rights and Abolition by Gerda Lerner:

“A landmark work of women’s history originally published in 1967, Gerda Lerner’s best-selling biography of Sarah and Angelina Grimke explores the lives and ideas of the only southern women to become antislavery agents in the North and pioneers for women’s rights. This revised and expanded edition includes two new primary documents and an additional essay by Lerner. In a revised introduction Lerner reinterprets her own work nearly forty years later and gives new recognition to the major significance of Sarah Grimke’s feminist writings.” – Amazon

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott:

“Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. It follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy— from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Although Little Women was a novel for girls, it differed notably from the current writings for children, especially girls. The book was an immediate commercial and critical success and has since been adapted for cinema, TV, Broadway, and even the opera.” – Amazon

Mary Cassatt – Paintings and Prints:

“Mary Cassatt’s paintings and prints have long been treasured as some of the finest examples of Impressionist art. A rebel by the Victorian standards of her time, Mary Cassatt moved from the art schools of staid Philadelphia to the boulevards of Paris, where the young Impressionist movement was flourishing. Cassatt’s luminous, observant, and innovative works-chiefly interiors with women and children-helped define Impressionism and have been compared to Raphael’s paintings for their beauty and dignity. The publication of this book marks the first time that so many of Cassatt’s paintings and prints, some rarely seen by American audiences, have been made available at a popular price.” – Amazon

Georgia O’Keeffe – Print Book:

“Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) was one of the foundational figures of American modernism and a pioneering woman in the arts. Widely celebrated and recognized for her flower paintings and Southwest landscapes, O’Keeffe is revealed in full in this new book. With superb plates of more than 200 works, it ranges from well-known masterpieces to abstractions, nature studies, and New York City scenes that have captivated new generations of art lovers. It includes essays from prominent art historians, among them Sarah Greenough, who explores the artist’s legendary personal and aesthetic partnership with Alfred Stieglitz; Griselda Pollock on O’Keeffe and feminism; and Cody Hartley on O’Keeffe and the American landscape. Accompanying the first major O’Keeffe retrospective exhibition in this century, Georgia O’Keeffe is the definitive volume for our time on one of America’s most beloved and influential artists.” – Amazon

Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai’i:

“In 1939, Georgia O’Keeffe, who was among the most famous artists in the United States, accepted a commission from the Hawaiian Pineapple Company to produce two paintings for advertising campaigns. Her nine-week trip to Hawai’i resulted in more than 20 paintings, which reveal that O’Keeffe–most commonly associated with the stark deserts of New Mexico–was profoundly inspired by what she saw and experienced on the lush, tropical Hawaiian Islands. The exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai’i, and this accompanying volume, explores this little-known chapter in the artist’s career. Glowing with color, these paintings demonstrate O’Keeffe’s unique ability to make any place her own. This landmark volume offers a unique perspective by foregrounding the ecological complexity that is hidden behind O’Keeffe’s depictions of Hawai’i-one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth.” – Amazon

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur:

“From Rupi Kaur, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey, comes her long-awaited second collection of poetry. A vibrant and transcendent journey about growth and healing. Ancestry and honoring one’s roots. Expatriation and rising up to find a home within yourself. Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms.” – Amazon

The Book of Awesome Women Writers: Medieval Mystics, Pioneering Poets, Fierce Feminists and First Ladies of Literature:

“From the first recorded writer to current bestsellers, Becca Anderson takes us through time and highlights women who have left their mark on the literary world. This expansive compilation of women writers is a chance to delve deeper into the lives and works of renowned authors and learn about some lesser-known greats, as well. Some of the many women writers you will love learning about are: Maya Angelou, Jane Austen, Judy Blume, Rachel Carson, Nadine Gordimer, Margaret Mead, Joyce Carol Oates, and many, many more. This feminist book is a beacon of brilliance and a celebration of the journeys and accomplishments of women who have worked to have their voices heard in black and white letters across the world.” – Amazon

What books do you recommend for women or about women to celebrate Women’s History Month? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this page! We want to hear from you.