Super Girls and Halos: My Companions on the Quest for Truth, Justice, and Heroic Virtue

Johnson (My Badass Book of Saints) again considers the saints, this time exploring the Catholic cardinal virtues of justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance through the lives of female saints and cultural heroines. She finds new ways of thinking about Wonder Woman and St. Katharine Drexel, both women in search of justice who exhibit patience to achieve their goals. She then discusses Hermione Granger and St. Marguerite D’Youville, both women who practice fortitude and courage with conviction in the face of evil and personal insult. Then there is also Dana Scully of The X Files, who exhibits great prudence; Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games trilogy, who is driven by compassion; and the author’s personal hero, Nyota Uhura from Star Trek, who modernizes ideals of temperance and virtue. When these worthy heroines are paired with women such as St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Teresa Benedicta, and St. Clare of Assisi, they challenge readers to rethink what it means to live virtuously in the world today. [em](Sept.) [/em]