Hearts on Fire C

James ( Born to Win ) here delves into the lives of 33 women in various eras and cultures who made significant achievements in their own right, while also committed to husbands or lovers. Many of them are well known, such as Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Margaret Mead. More interesting are pieces on women less familiar: 20th-century Japanese poet Akiko Yosano, who took a stand on equal rights for woman; German artist Kathe Kollwitz, who defied the Nazis and narrowly escaped death in the camps. Such are the notable women who capture the imagination here, despite the author's pedestrian prose and occasional inaccuracies: Lindbergh had six children, not five as James has it; two dates are given for Akiko's death, alternately 1935 and (correctly) 1942. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)