Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers

In LEADING LADIES, Kay Bailey Hutchinson examines the lives of women who showed that they could excel in fields like military service, science, and medicine, which had been considered beyond their physical or mental capacities; spheres such as voting rights and social reform, that had been closed to women or ignored entirely; and national politics, where a number of women have succeeded in turning their personal tragedies into springboards to public service. In a series of biographical portraits and historical overviews, this book will tell the dramatic stories of dedicated American women from varied backgrounds. They paid their debts to past generations with interest and turned the setbacks they were faced with into opportunities. These women will come from all walks of life, with diverse backgrounds. In literature and journalism, women have contributed their distinct and independent perspectives. Finally, throughout our history, the First Ladies have turned an "accidental vocation" into a platform to champion social, moral, and cultural transformation. Each of these women had to blaze a path in their respective fields, battling adversity in order to open doors for the women who followed in their footsteps.