One of those important pieces of history that somehow never made it into textbooks: the story of Maria Mitchell, a self-taught astronomer who discovered Comet Mitchell, served as an inspiring teacher, and was the first woman inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mitchell grew up in the 1800s, a time when the President of Harvard believed that ``the minds of women are as different from men as are their bodies. . .They cannot bear the stress of hard study.'' She was brought up a Quaker and kept her own counsel, whether on education, science, religion, or the role of women in society. She took her gifts to Vassar College, and as the first professor of astronomy, taught generations of women to ``throw off this reverence for authority'' and ``come to truth through their investigations.'' For Mitchell, a spiritual person, studying the truth of science was a way of getting in touch with the Creator. Gormley (Ellie's Birthstone Ring, 1992, etc.) successfully paints a picture of a world that failed to mold Mitchell to its standards, focusing on the telling details that bring the story to life. Inspiring and incisive. (b&w photos, index, not seen) (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8028-5116-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
This oversized, handsome book is an excellent introduction to one of America’s great photographers and her work, which influenced generations of others who followed her craft. Rubin (Toilets, Toasters, and Telephones, 1998, etc.) covers Bourke- White’s life chronologically, from her youth, when she wanted nothing more than to be a herpetologist, through her college years, when she first took a photography class, to her subsequent struggle to find her place in a largely male-dominated profession, photojournalism. By the time she was 30, Bourke-White had made her mark, and was able to earn a handsome living as she traveled the world, not only consorting with presidents and princes, but photographing some of the planet’s most wretched places, including concentration camps. Some of her most powerful photographs illustrate the book, and also give an insight into era in which she earned her place as an artist. Rubin makes clear that Bourke-White’s reputation continues to grow, providing researchers and browsers alike with a warm, admiring glimpse of a woman and her times. (notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8109-4381-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
In a sequel to the well-received I Have Lived a Thousand Years (1997, not reviewed), Bitton-Jackson writes of her life as Elli Friedmann in 1945, when she, her brother, and mother were liberated from Auschwitz and sent back to their former home in Czechoslovakia. Finding only a shell of the place they had known, they struggled to rebuild some semblance of life and waited for the return of Elli’s father. When they realized he was gone for good, their only hope through all their efforts was the prospect of obtaining papers that would allow them to emigrate to America. Through the long years that they waited, Elli found work teaching, and helping other Jews escape to Palestine, a dangerous and illegal undertaking. When they finally arrived in New York City, relatives welcomed them; an epilogue collapses most of the author’s adult life into a few paragraphs so readers will know the directions her life took. Interesting and inspiring, this story makes painfully clear how the fight to survive extended well beyond the war years; the discomforts and obstacles the author faced and articulates in such riveting detail will make readers squirm at the security and ease of their own lives. (Memoir. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82026-7
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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