In the 1940s and 50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they recruited an elite group of young women -- known as human computers -- who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, and helped bring about the first American ballistic missiles. But they were never interested in developing weapons; their hearts lay in the...

As World War I raged across the globe, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" were considered the luckiest alive--until they began to fall mysteriously...

"In 1993, U.S. women earned the right to fly in combat, but the full story of how it happened is largely unknown. From the first women in the military in World War II to the final push in the 1990s, The Fly Girls Revolt chronicles the actions of a band of women who overcame decades of discrimination and prevailed against bureaucrats, chauvinists, anti-feminists, and even other military women. Drawing on extensive research, interviews with women who...

In 2010, the United States Army Special Operations Command created Cultural Support Teams, a pilot program to put women on the battlefield alongside Green Berets and Army Rangers on sensitive missions in Afghanistan. The idea was that women could access places and people that had remained out of reach, and could build relationships -- woman to woman -- in ways that male soldiers in a conservative, traditional country could not. Though officially banned...

The ideals of the French Revolution inflamed a longing for liberty and equality within courageous, freethinking women of the era-women who played vital roles in the momentous events that reshaped their nation and the world. In Liberty, Lucy Moore paints a vivid portrait of six extraordinary Frenchwomen from vastly different social and economic backgrounds who helped stoke the fervor and idealism of those years, and who risked everything to make their...

Deeply personal and emotional accounts of more than a dozen American soldiers returning home from the war in Iraq; includes women from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. Inspiring stories of courage, while recovering from both physical and psychological wounds along with the frustrations of navigating the military bureaucracy to get help. How combat affects someone's entire life, including her family and friends.

Time magazine called her "the Mata Hari of Minnesota"; OSS Chief general "Wild Bill" Donovan called her "the greatest unsung heroine of the war." But for decades, the extent of Betty Pack's achievements as an agent during World War II, first for Britain's MI6 and then for America's OSS, remained classified. Now, the truth about this femme fatale--her dangerous liaisons and death-defying missions, the heartaches that haunted her life, her vital contributions...

"Berlin, 1938: It's the height of summer, and Germany is on the brink of war. When fledgling reporter Georgie Young is posted to Berlin, alongside fellow Londoner Max Spender, she knows they are entering the eye of the storm. Arriving to a city swathed in red flags and crawling with Nazis, Georgie feels helpless, witnessing innocent people being torn from their homes. As tensions rise, she realises she and Max have to act - even if it means putting...

"Helicopter pilot Lt. Sara Denning joins a Navy battle group with little fanfare--and that's just the way she likes it. After her brother Ian's tragic death, her career path seemed obvious: step into his shoes and join the Naval Academy, despite her fear of water. Sara's philosophy is simple--blend in, be competent, and above all, never do anything to stand out as a woman in a man's world. Somewhere along the way, Sara lost herself--her feminine,...

Near the end of 1939, ten-year-old Audrey Hepburn flew from boarding school in England into the Netherlands, which would soon become a war zone. What she experienced in five years of Nazi occupation has never been explored until now. Dutch Girl sets the story straight, revealing the Nazi past of Audrey's parents and how their daughter dealt with this information. The book examines her career as an acclaimed young ballerina, her involvement with the...