Notable Women in World History: A Guide to Recommended Biographies and Autobiographies

This guide should enable students, librarians and general readers to identify biographies and autobiographies of 500 notable women throughout world history. It will also assist students and general readers in selecting notable women about whom they would like to know more. Spanning from 1503 BC to the present, the guide features entries on historical and contemporary women from 60 countries who have achieved recognition in more than 50 fields of endeavour. It annotates more than 1300 recommended books published since 1970 about these women. The heading of each entry identifies the woman’s birth/death dates, country of birth and field of endeavour. The entry contains a brief biographical sketch of the woman and an annotated list of up to five recommended biographies, autobiographies, letter collections, or journals concerning her life. Three appendices listing women according to year of birth, country of birth and main field of interest, acquired title, or occupation should help researchers locate women from specific time periods, countries or professions. The guide offers the researcher opportunities to learn about a number of women whose lives and achievements may not have been adequately recognized. The author notes that, in recent years, feminist scholars have helped improve the quality of biographies about women with thoughtful accounts of their lives. Still, many notable women have not been written about, nor have they written any autobiographies. Four main criteria for inclusion in this guide apply: that the woman was born outside the United States, that she made a noteworthy contribution to society, that a full-length biography published about her or reprinted since 1970 be available, and that the biography be listed in the Library of Congress catalogue.