Revolutionary Women: 50 Women of Color Who Reinvented the Rules

Shen (Legendary Ladies) spotlights “underrepresented women” in this vivid and inspiring illustrated history. Her profile subjects include actor and singer Eartha Kitt; Annie Easley, one of the first Black women who worked at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor to NASA; fashion designer Anna Sui, whose career took off when Madonna wore one of her dresses on the cover of Vogue; bestselling novelist Isabel Allende; and Annie Dodge Wauneka, a public health activist and the second woman elected to the Navajo Tribal Council. Throughout, Shen’s capsule biographies document her subjects’ accomplishments while shining a light on social issues including disparities in healthcare access between white women and women of color and the stereotyping of Asian women in Hollywood. She also sketches historical episodes when women led the fight against injustice, including the campaign to overturn “Juan Crow” laws targeting Mexican Americans in the early 20th century, the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the 1965 Delano grape strike. Stylish graphics and vibrant gouache portraits complement the book’s impressive range of profile subjects, including drag queens, engineers, and athletes. This is a fitting tribute to women whose achievements and struggles deserve to be better known. (Oct.)