“Although there are a number of books that trace the history of women in the U.S., this is an exceptionally fine compilation that looks at the lives of American women in general and in particular. The introduction covers the role women had in building the country and explains the areas on which the authors have chosen to focus: health, paid work, home, education, beauty, amusements, and the arts. The book then proceeds in chronological fashion, beginning with the Revolutionary War. Throughout, it is filled with fascinating anecdotes about individual women and the lives they led, but it also sets these lives against the sweep of U.S. history. Consequently, this can be likened to a quilt, where both the individual pieces and the whole demand attention. This is an attractive offering as well, with historical art and photographs-color and black-and-white-enlivening each page. Most readers probably won’t read this hefty tome from beginning to end, but the material is so interesting, a few just might.” Cooper, Ilene.