The first comprehensive guide to women activists from every part of the world, illuminating the broad range of women's struggles to reform society from the 18th century to the present. This encyclopedia celebrates the lives and achievements of nearly 300 women from around the globe - women who have bravely insisted that the way things are is not the way they have to be. Nadeshda Krupskaya, the wife of Lenin, spearheaded the drive against illiteracy in post-revolutionary Russia. American Dorothy Day founded the Catholic worker movement. Begum Rokeya Hossain organized a girls' school in Calcutta in 1911. Rachel Carson launched the modern environmental movement with her book Silent Spring. The stories of these women and the hundreds of others collected here will restore missing pages to our history and inspire a new generation of women to change the world.

"This valuable contribution to women's studies includes the stories of more than 400 women from 64 countries and brings into the limelight many forgotten movements and personalities that have had major impacts on history. Readers will be inspired by the fascinating biographies."--"Outstanding Reference Sources," American Libraries, May 2002.