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Modern Women: 52 Pioneers
Modern Women is a celebration of influential and inspiring women who have changed the world through their lives, work and actions.
From suffragettes to scientists, activists to artists, politicians to pilots and writers to riot grrrls, the women included have all paved the way for gender equality in their own indomitable way.
Find out about extraordinary women including writer and teacher Maya Angelou, computer scientist Ada Lovelace, abolitionist Harriet Tubman, film star Katharine Hepburn and pioneering musician Björk. Their lives also enable bigger stories to be the suffrage movement with Sophia Duleep Singh; the civil rights struggle and Audre Lorde; advances in science made by Rosalind Franklin; the push for artistic freedom in the work of Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois; and the importance of equality in all sections of society advocated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
From suffragettes to scientists, activists to artists, politicians to pilots and writers to riot grrrls, the women included have all paved the way for gender equality in their own indomitable way.
Find out about extraordinary women including writer and teacher Maya Angelou, computer scientist Ada Lovelace, abolitionist Harriet Tubman, film star Katharine Hepburn and pioneering musician Björk. Their lives also enable bigger stories to be the suffrage movement with Sophia Duleep Singh; the civil rights struggle and Audre Lorde; advances in science made by Rosalind Franklin; the push for artistic freedom in the work of Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois; and the importance of equality in all sections of society advocated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2017
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968 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 29, 2021
A COLLECTION OF AMAZING WOMEN
These women deserve honorable mentions. They made an impact, shifted the world in some way, either small or big. They fought back and kept going. That's worth commemorating and celebrating. There were som formulaic things, that I didn't quite agree with, but overall this is a worthy book for anyone looking to expand on and add to0 their list of female role models.
👍 What I Liked 👍
Unknown: What I really liked about the selection of women in this book was that many of them were unknown to me. It made it feel like a treasure chest of new, exciting and inspirational material.
Introduction: Each woman is given a cursory introduction in her own chapter, which is just enough to wet your lips and make you want to learn more. I have found several woman, that I have to do more digging on!
👎 What I Disliked 👎
English speaking: 25 (50%) of the women in this book were American. 12 (25%) were British (or from a former British colony). Only 1 woman out of 52 was Asian and only 3 were South American. I felt that the selection of women could have been broader and shown more diversity. There are certainly plenty of worthy women to delve into outside of the English speaking world.
Further reading: As this is a book meant to give you a cursory introduction and to pique the interest of the reader, it would have been great to get a 'Further reading' section for each woman. Of course, Cochrane does mention biographies for some of the women, but not all of them. I would have wanted a section for each woman with biographies, articles, documentaries etc. It would have made this book something even better.
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
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These women deserve honorable mentions. They made an impact, shifted the world in some way, either small or big. They fought back and kept going. That's worth commemorating and celebrating. There were som formulaic things, that I didn't quite agree with, but overall this is a worthy book for anyone looking to expand on and add to0 their list of female role models.
👍 What I Liked 👍
Unknown: What I really liked about the selection of women in this book was that many of them were unknown to me. It made it feel like a treasure chest of new, exciting and inspirational material.
Introduction: Each woman is given a cursory introduction in her own chapter, which is just enough to wet your lips and make you want to learn more. I have found several woman, that I have to do more digging on!
👎 What I Disliked 👎
English speaking: 25 (50%) of the women in this book were American. 12 (25%) were British (or from a former British colony). Only 1 woman out of 52 was Asian and only 3 were South American. I felt that the selection of women could have been broader and shown more diversity. There are certainly plenty of worthy women to delve into outside of the English speaking world.
Further reading: As this is a book meant to give you a cursory introduction and to pique the interest of the reader, it would have been great to get a 'Further reading' section for each woman. Of course, Cochrane does mention biographies for some of the women, but not all of them. I would have wanted a section for each woman with biographies, articles, documentaries etc. It would have made this book something even better.
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Follow me for more book loving content!
Blog ✨ Facebook ✨ Instagram ✨ Twitter
Blog Post: 15 Books to Read if You Love Jane Austen
September 26, 2017
Learnt a lot about amazing women that I'd never heard of.
January 27, 2021
This collection of 52 short introductions of some serious bad-ass women was interesting, but I wish there would have been an introduction by the author explaining how she came up with these 52 women. The list is heavily British but does have women from around the world.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
April 8, 2022
Excellent recap of just what the title says! 1-3 page summary of their lives, many of whom I knew but an = number I did not. Enjoyed and recommend.
April 6, 2017
Portraits of women which I think are wonderful.... The reason for the two stars the printing was teeny tiny and I have decent vision.
May 23, 2022
God bless charity shops and the books they sell for under two euros!
What a reading! I have come across women I have never heard of before, and now I want to know more about them. I will definitely add a good few biographies to be read.
This is the type of book you leave in your living room and wish all your friends would at least flip the pages. Beautifully well organized.
What a reading! I have come across women I have never heard of before, and now I want to know more about them. I will definitely add a good few biographies to be read.
This is the type of book you leave in your living room and wish all your friends would at least flip the pages. Beautifully well organized.
October 24, 2022
This book has spurred me to read biographies of these ladies. I read plenty on Frida Kahlo and now I would like to explore Lee Miller. It's depressing that many of these brilliant women came to sad endings. Ana Mendieta died from falling from her 34th floor apartment window. Her husband got acquitted. Complete injustice.
I don't know why I'm reticent on this book. Nonetheless, a worthwhile book.
I don't know why I'm reticent on this book. Nonetheless, a worthwhile book.
December 30, 2020
Modern Women by Kira Cochrane is a nice compilation of 52 important women who are/were pioneers in some form. The list ranges from the very well known to those who are known to those either in that woman's field or active in seeking to fill the gaps left by most historical accounts.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive account of each life, space wouldn't allow for it even if that had been the desired aim. I see this as a nice book for young people who may need reminding, even at this date, that women have always been pioneers in every field. I also think this would make a nice overview even for those who are at least familiar with every name. Remembering important people from the past is a positive and we sometimes forget some of them.
I saw that someone had complained that the type was too small in the edition they had. I got a copy of the edition releasing in 2021 and the type issue, if there was one, seems to have been corrected. I would also like to comment on something else that was mentioned. There is no introduction that offers either a rationale for the book itself or selection criteria. That would, admittedly, have been a very nice addition. But this is not an academic book and I do think that simply knowing that these are "52 pioneers who changed the world" is sufficient for most people to have a good idea what is included. Would an explanation have been useful? Absolutely. Does the absence of it turn this into a 2-star book? I don't believe so unless one just likes to overly penalize for not doing as they wanted.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive account of each life, space wouldn't allow for it even if that had been the desired aim. I see this as a nice book for young people who may need reminding, even at this date, that women have always been pioneers in every field. I also think this would make a nice overview even for those who are at least familiar with every name. Remembering important people from the past is a positive and we sometimes forget some of them.
I saw that someone had complained that the type was too small in the edition they had. I got a copy of the edition releasing in 2021 and the type issue, if there was one, seems to have been corrected. I would also like to comment on something else that was mentioned. There is no introduction that offers either a rationale for the book itself or selection criteria. That would, admittedly, have been a very nice addition. But this is not an academic book and I do think that simply knowing that these are "52 pioneers who changed the world" is sufficient for most people to have a good idea what is included. Would an explanation have been useful? Absolutely. Does the absence of it turn this into a 2-star book? I don't believe so unless one just likes to overly penalize for not doing as they wanted.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
January 18, 2021
The book is split into 52 chapters, one for each of the women that has made an impact on the modern world. The women range from rock stars to astronauts, and covers how they made a difference to both the world but also to greater gender equality.
Each chapter has a photograph of the women at the start, which just be flicking through the book, showed you the full range of women covered and the diversity of the women. I’d not heard of a number of the women, so it was fascinating to learn about their lives, but also about the history of the country and time period that they lived in.
My only disappoint was that each chapter was only a few pages long, and it would have been wonderful to learn more about each woman. This would make a great gift to any young person wanting some motivational inspiration of what can be achieved against the odds.
A book such as this should be available in every school library, but would also make for an interesting coffee table book.
Thank you to the publisher for gifting me advance ebook access to the title.
Each chapter has a photograph of the women at the start, which just be flicking through the book, showed you the full range of women covered and the diversity of the women. I’d not heard of a number of the women, so it was fascinating to learn about their lives, but also about the history of the country and time period that they lived in.
My only disappoint was that each chapter was only a few pages long, and it would have been wonderful to learn more about each woman. This would make a great gift to any young person wanting some motivational inspiration of what can be achieved against the odds.
A book such as this should be available in every school library, but would also make for an interesting coffee table book.
Thank you to the publisher for gifting me advance ebook access to the title.
December 19, 2020
I had intended this to take the whole year to read, a woman per week, but I seem to have slightly mistimed it in one of the few bits where I had to catch up I must have read too many women! Oops.
Ah well. This book was given as a gift by an excellent person, and is a pretty well-rounded look at a diverse range of women. The pictures are amazing. It’s not all gushy about its subjects but there were a couple of people included who I thought could have had a slightly more critical eye cast before inclusion or at least could have done with not totally glowy entries.
But it’s been an interesting read over the course of the year and I would absolutely recommend it.
CW: this is a book of the story of women’s lives and at times those women have not had a nice time - I have read it over a year so can’t recall everything, but it certainly includes rape, fertility/pregnancy issues, murder, domestic violence in the biographies of those included. Not an exhaustive list I imagine.
Ah well. This book was given as a gift by an excellent person, and is a pretty well-rounded look at a diverse range of women. The pictures are amazing. It’s not all gushy about its subjects but there were a couple of people included who I thought could have had a slightly more critical eye cast before inclusion or at least could have done with not totally glowy entries.
But it’s been an interesting read over the course of the year and I would absolutely recommend it.
CW: this is a book of the story of women’s lives and at times those women have not had a nice time - I have read it over a year so can’t recall everything, but it certainly includes rape, fertility/pregnancy issues, murder, domestic violence in the biographies of those included. Not an exhaustive list I imagine.
January 15, 2019
Okay, the iconic women pioneers are here in a cute smallish hardback book.
I found this book while searching for info on Maya Angelou.
BUT, there is no preamble to how these women were chosen for this collection.
No information on the author and the selection process, zero backstory.
What is missing is the process to learn what inspired this book.
Otherwise it is just a wikipedia list with pictures.
For the record here are a few of the women cited in the book:
Maya Angelou, computer scientist Ada Lovelace, abolitionist Harriet Tubman, film star Katharine Hepburn and pioneering musician Björk, suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh, scientist Rosalind Franklin; artists Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois.
I found this book while searching for info on Maya Angelou.
BUT, there is no preamble to how these women were chosen for this collection.
No information on the author and the selection process, zero backstory.
What is missing is the process to learn what inspired this book.
Otherwise it is just a wikipedia list with pictures.
For the record here are a few of the women cited in the book:
Maya Angelou, computer scientist Ada Lovelace, abolitionist Harriet Tubman, film star Katharine Hepburn and pioneering musician Björk, suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh, scientist Rosalind Franklin; artists Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois.
March 22, 2021
Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange of my honest opinion.
I really enjoyed this book. It contain short biographies of 52 amazing women - it only gives you snippets and, of course, if any of them sparks interest you can research further. It is quite hard for them not to spark interests because most of this women were really cool and ahead of their times!
I did not know many of them, and that was a pleasant surprise. It's also quite diverse - although it could be even more (more than half of them are American/English, and the world is full of amazing women).
It was a joy to read, but at the same time it angered me when I read how society used to be in the time of some of these women. Ugh!
I really enjoyed this book. It contain short biographies of 52 amazing women - it only gives you snippets and, of course, if any of them sparks interest you can research further. It is quite hard for them not to spark interests because most of this women were really cool and ahead of their times!
I did not know many of them, and that was a pleasant surprise. It's also quite diverse - although it could be even more (more than half of them are American/English, and the world is full of amazing women).
It was a joy to read, but at the same time it angered me when I read how society used to be in the time of some of these women. Ugh!
January 13, 2021
Interesting book but it didn't go into nearly enough depth for my liking - the biographical entries are more similar to the Little People, Big Dreams series than a book aimed at adults. It's a good starting point I guess - I would have liked a list of suggested further reading.
I'm not sure if it was just the Netgalley version, but the type was a really bad choice - it was really hard to read and some letters seemed to be missing.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this.
I'm not sure if it was just the Netgalley version, but the type was a really bad choice - it was really hard to read and some letters seemed to be missing.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this.
December 28, 2021
This is a great resource for a teacher or librarian. The chapter-length biographies can help you refresh your knowledge or decide who you need to find out more about in a book-length biography. There are lots of photos, and good representation of people from a variety of backgrounds.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
April 13, 2021
The book provides a general overview of the selection of women, and each entry is more of an introduction to their lives which made it slightly less enjoyable to read as it reminded me a bit of reading a coursebook. Still, it certainly introduced me to many female pioneers whom I had not heard of before, and whose legacy deserves to be remembered.
August 6, 2017
So very many women about whom I knew nothing! An excellent book to lead you to biography, autobiography and memoirs of people who made a difference beyond (and sometimes entirely without) that pretty empty thing called celebrity.
July 16, 2017
These introductory morsels are just enough to sate my curiosity for one of my favourite things, that is women who kick arse, in between taking care of bub.
October 5, 2019
I learned of many female pioneers in various fields through this book. I enjoyed learning of their accomplishments and impact on the world.
April 13, 2020
Great biographies with beautiful pictures to illustrate. I learnt a lot about many people I had never heard of before.
tbr-owned
December 17, 2020Thanks to NetGalley and Aurum Press (Quarto) for providing an ARC!
May 13, 2023
Decent, interesting peeks into various women's lives as they contributed to the modern world - good for a gift.
March 11, 2017
basically a coffee table book full of few surprises.
July 22, 2021
Modern Women: 52 Pioneers who changed the World by Kira Cochrane is a collection of essays highlighting the lives and careers of 52 influential women. The chapters are brief, generally 3-4 pages, and focus on how each woman influenced the world through their contributions in the world of art, literature, science, film, sports, politics, etc.
I enjoyed learning about each of the women in this book—including several I had never heard of previously. Each of these women had to overcome their circumstances in some way in order to succeed, so each essay is inspiring. I also appreciated the international scope of this book. This book even inspired me to learn more about several of the women featured.
The only complaint I have with this book is its abrupt beginning and end. The author provides no introduction or summing up. The book begins with the first essay and ends with the last. I would have liked to read about the author’s methods of selecting the featured women. I would have liked to understand how the stories were selected.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about women’s history.
I enjoyed learning about each of the women in this book—including several I had never heard of previously. Each of these women had to overcome their circumstances in some way in order to succeed, so each essay is inspiring. I also appreciated the international scope of this book. This book even inspired me to learn more about several of the women featured.
The only complaint I have with this book is its abrupt beginning and end. The author provides no introduction or summing up. The book begins with the first essay and ends with the last. I would have liked to read about the author’s methods of selecting the featured women. I would have liked to understand how the stories were selected.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about women’s history.
December 27, 2025
Ofcourse most of the women in this book are lesbian. And almost all of them are Western
I feel like most of the women in this book are in there for basically becoming masculine and behaving like men even in the way they look and dress and choose their sexual orientation.
Bring back feminine women please.
I feel like most of the women in this book are in there for basically becoming masculine and behaving like men even in the way they look and dress and choose their sexual orientation.
Bring back feminine women please.
March 5, 2021
This is a wonderful addition to the selection of feminist compendiums talking about many women who have changed the world who haven't received the attention and legacy they deserved. This was a perfect book to dip in and out of when you're in need of some inspiration.
April 22, 2017
Can I gush?
This book is beautifully presented. Beautifully laid out. It has the perfect amount of writing per subject. Pictures. The women the author choose to highlight were a great mix. The information was not too thin but not too much, enough to grasp their awesomeness and do further research if you should desire.
Recommending it to everyone and their dog. We all need to know more about awesome women.
This book is beautifully presented. Beautifully laid out. It has the perfect amount of writing per subject. Pictures. The women the author choose to highlight were a great mix. The information was not too thin but not too much, enough to grasp their awesomeness and do further research if you should desire.
Recommending it to everyone and their dog. We all need to know more about awesome women.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews