Women Who CHANGED the World

“The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women” is a historical nonfiction bestseller by Kate Moore that shares the true story of incredible heroes who were exposed to radium in factories across the U.S. and their brave struggle for workers’ rights — even while they were fighting for their own lives. Their harrowing yet inspiring battle ultimately saved thousands of lives through research into nuclear bombing and life-changing regulations.

“Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik is a runaway bestseller that shares access to the late U.S. Supreme Court justice through never-before-told stories by Ginsburg’s family, close friends, clerks and colleagues. The book also includes rare archival photos and documents.

“A Black Women’s History of the United States” by award-winning historians Daina Ramy Berry and Kali Nicole Gross is a powerful look at the past and examines the lives of courageous Black women from enslaved women to religious leaders, artists, activists and more — and how significant they were in shaping the future of the country. The book has been called “the perfect companion to ‘An Indigenous People’s History of the United States’ and ‘An African American and Latinx History of the United States.’”

“The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters” by Laura Thompson was an instant New York Times bestseller. The book shares the dynamics of six glamorous daughters of the British aristocracy. Their lives head in vastly different directions with rivalries, political strife, tragedies and bad choices in the midst of some of the most extraordinary moments in history. Love them or despise them, their resilience and lives have proven to be fascinating nonfiction subjects.

“Sophie Scholl and the White Rose” by Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn is the compelling real-life story of Scholl, who was a in a pseudo-Nazi organization at the age of 12 before she came to realize she was on the wrong side of history. By the time she went to Munich University, she was fervently opposed to the Nazi regime and partnered with her brother and a group of friends to make a difference by writing and distributing anti-war leaflets through the nonviolent resistance group the White Rose. The story was dramatized in the movie “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” in 2005.