WITH COURAGE

A title with a lot of promise focuses on a superb and diverse selection of women. The chapters featuring Wilma Mankiller, the first woman selected a chief of the Cherokee tribe, Dolores Huerta who continues to work with the migrant workers, Condoleezza Rice, an adviser to the president; and Maya Lin, the creator of the Vietnam memorial wall will acquaint readers with their struggles and challenges. Additional chapters focus on Rachel Carson, environmentalist; Katharine Graham, a woman who shaped the Washington Post into a newspaper with national impact; and Kathleen McGrath, a military woman who became the first woman to command a warship. Disappointingly, any level of excitement and energy takes a backseat to the pedestrian writing and mundane facts. The information, however, is accessible and will serve to acquaint readers with the general background of seven women whose names should be in mainstream history books. (Biography. 6-10)