As a schoolgirl, Sophie Scholl joined the League of German Girls along with her peers, but later grew skeptical. While at the University of Munich, she joined the Weiße Rose (White Rose), a protest group her brother Hans had started. The rebel students wrote and distributed leaflets urging the public to resist the Nazi regime. The two Scholl siblings and one other White Rose member were caught on February 18 and arrested for treason. The three were beheaded by guillotine just four days later. But Scholl’s belief in her mission never wavered: Years later, Scholl’s cellmate recalled that before her death, Scholl said, “Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go ... What does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” —KW 111. Mary Seacole A secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were specially trained for war. After that, she went to Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, before eventually becoming one of the first female law professors in America. The music business can be ruthless. But Dolly Parton, a country music sensation since the 1960s, has long been the steward of her own ship. By retaining control of much of her music, she’s used the proceeds for everything from unlikely business success stories (the Dollywood theme park) to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has distributed more than 150 million books to instill a love of reading in young people. In music, Parton explored genres and wrote and performed lyrics that were seen as progressive in their era, speaking directly to working-class women who felt like they weren’t being given a voice. They had at least one—Parton’s. —JR 96. Cecilia Payne As well as being a gorgeously illustrated and educational book, Women in Sciencehighlights the contributions of these incredible women.

Her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith.” Senator Lister Hill of Alabama, speaking about Helen Keller A patent drawing for Margaret E. Knight's paper bag machine, 1871. / National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain Women have made a name for themselves as travel writers relatively early on. I like the fact that you have a broad range of travel journals from the four mountaineers in the late 19th century (18), "Emily in Paris" in the early 20th century (80) or the travels of three Edwardian women to East Asia (82) - each very different no doubt, but what did they have in common?This gorgeous picture book tells us about a few of the fantastic women who changed the world and made it into a better; even more interesting and fun place. From athletes to scientists and more – there’s a great selection of some amazing women in this book; a varied bunch, but they all did something super special and great.

TR: These three items all have a certain intimacy to them. To me, they stand out for the candour, honesty of their impressions, and humour – there’s an unfiltered quality to all of them, which would be lost to a certain degree if they were publications. This book tells us about a few of the fantastic women that were on this earth. From really old history stuff, to stuff that is slightly closer by. From athletes to scientists to travelling and much more, I really liked the selection that was made. It was a varied bunch, but they all did something super-special. I definitely won't mind another book with awesome women who changed the world, I know there are so many more women that did something amazing for this world. They also deserve a spot.TR: My absolute favourite piece is actually an anti-suffrage item (something I don’t say very often!) - the satirical “1981” handkerchief (65), published in 1881, which shows the “terrible” outcome of women’s emancipation in 100 years: female judges, policewomen, scientists, athletes, and academics, to name but a few. What a joy to see all those careers now open to women! The Governor General shall from Time to Time, in the Queen’s Name, by Instrument under the Great Seal of Canada, summon qualified Persons to the Senate… The book is richly illustrated and well what can I say? I just love Kate Pankhurst's illustrations. <3

Sacagawea Monument in City Park, Portland, Oregon, circa 1912; statue by Alice Cooper / Library of Congress // Public Domain Mary Seacole was a natural born healer. Though she’s often referred to as the first nurse practitioner, she had no formal training in nursing—because she lived in a time where no formal institutions for such education existed. Even if they had, it’s doubtful that Seacole, who was born in Jamaica in 1805, would have been welcome; as the daughter of a Jamaican mother and a Scottish father, Seacole dealt with prejudice throughout her life because of her mixed race. But that didn’t stop her from offering a hand when she could. We have women to thank for many of the biggest and best contributions to society—and these inspiring and influential female figures paved the way. Over the years, these trailblazers have worked tirelessly in their own ways to make the world a better place and shape the course of history, whether they were on the front lines of important protests, representing their country at the Olympics, or inspiring fellow women to speak their own minds. They have all brought their innovative beliefs and talents to life with dedication, passion, and plenty of hard work. Virginia Apgar’s career was full of firsts: In 1937, she became the first female board-certified anesthesiologist and the first woman to achieve the rank of professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she was the first professor of anesthesiology. In 1952, she presented a five-step system for assessing the condition of newborn babies within a minute of birth and periodically after that. Prior to the development of the test—in which nurses or other delivery room staff assess a baby’s skin color, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone, and breathing—babies weren’t typically given much attention after birth, which could lead to problems being missed until it was too late.EW: Happily, these were two of the first items to sell from the catalogue. It was really nice to see our enthusiasm for them mirrored in the collecting interests of our customers. Commodore Grace M. Hopper photographed in 1984. / James S. Davis, United States Navy, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain EW: I am fond of books that preserve connections between people, whether immediate (dedication or inscribed) or distant (ownership, often separated by time and place, but linked through a common interest). We took any chance that we had to select copies along those lines, rather than typical copies of first editions. Testament of Youth is an autobiography of Vera Brittain’s life from 1900-1925. She first writes about growing up in Edwardian Britain as she struggled to convince her parents of her right to go to university. There are a lot of firsts, some more unexpected than others - from Yolande Bonhomme, the first woman to publish the bible (24) and the first English printed book by a female author from 1595 (15), to the first American to publish a book of poetry, who was also the first Colonial poet in English, Anne Bradstreet, in 1758 (24), and finally the first female graphic novelist who published her first novel in Prague in 1929 (20), and in the same year, the first English language book on Soviet Cinema by Winifred Bryher (30). It must have been rather exciting to discover these - did you know about their importance before you started your research?

Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for his crimes, in addition to hundreds of years for charges at the state level. But in a 2017 piece penned for The Players’ Tribune, Raisman made it clear that punishing Nassar wasn’t enough. “We need to change the systems that embolden sexual abusers,” she wrote. “We must look at the organizations that protected Nassar for years and years: USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Michigan State University. Until we understand the flaws in their systems, we can’t be sure something like this won’t happen again.” Raisman made it her mission to enact change: In March 2018, she filed suit against USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee. “Thousands of young athletes continue to train and compete every day in this same broken system,” Raisman said in a statement. “I refuse to wait any longer for these organizations to do the right thing. It is my hope that the legal process will hold them accountable and enable the change that is so desperately needed.” Vi starter ved skrivebordet i 1800-tallets England, hvor Jane Austen er i færd med at udtænke karaktererne til sine romaner. Allerede her bliver det tydeligt hvilket flerartet mesterværk Kate Pankhurst har kreeret med sin brug af forskellig font, farvestrålende billeder og talebobler. Al tekst præsenteres i bittesmå bidder, så den synes overskuelig, men lixtallet sørger alligevel for, at bogen bliver en fælles læseoplevelse mellem barn og voksen, da den kræver en ret stærk læser. Men det er også en bog, der bør tales om, så den er selvfølgelig oplagt til højtlæsningen. EW: What Theo said. They’re all so full of sass and life. I laughed out loud reading some of them. You can just tell they’re overjoyed to have the opportunity to travel.

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Though at times the language can be difficult to follow, it is powerful and moving and also reveals the perspective of a woman who served in the war.