Women's History

China, 1898. An unwanted fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family. She finds friendship-and a name, Vibiana-in the most unlikely of places: Christianity. But China is a dangerous place for Christians. The Boxer Rebellion is murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike. Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie . . . and whether she is willing to die for her faith. (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics™, a Bowker service.)

Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics.

Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and a single mother of three, recounts her life as a political activist, feminist, and environmentalist in Kenya. Born in a rural village in 1940, she was already an iconoclast as a child, determined to get an education even though most girls were uneducated. We see her become the first woman both in East and Central Africa to earn a PhD and to head a university department in Kenya. We witness her numerous run-ins with the brutal Moi government; the establishment, in 1977, of the Green Belt Movement, which spread from Kenya across Africa and which helps restore indigenous forests while assisting rural women by paying them to plant trees in their villages; and how her courage and determination helped transform Kenya's government into the democracy in which she now serves. (From publisher description.)

This exhaustive exploration of the sociocultural, political, and economic roles of African women through history demonstrates how African women have shaped—and continue to shape—their societies.

This is the story of an organization of white South African women who carved out a unique role for themselves in opposing the injustices of apartheid and working towards a free and democratic country. It is written by Mary Burton, herself national president of the Black Sash for many years and, later, one of the Truth and Reconciliation commissioners. What brought the Black Sash into being? What kept it alive for so many decades? How did an organization of mainly white, middle-class, privileged women create and sustain a viable body that eventually made its contribution to the collapse of apartheid? What was it like to be involved in it? And what can we learn from its history that will teach us to be activists again? (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics™, a Bowker service.)