This is a book about the lives of five women.

They were alike in being women of unusual courage, but the lives they led were very different. Susan B. Anthony fought down the line for woman's right to have rights. Jane Addams walked out of her comfortable private parlor to make Chicago's slums her home. Mary McLeod Bethune, like a conscience, drilled away at prejudices which kept Negro children from growing up to share the good things in American life. Amelia Earhart flew airplanes, proving that women as well as men have spirit to dare and do. Margaret Mead traveled to the corners of the world in her search for the secrets of human nature.

There are numberless extraordinary American women whose lives are woven into the bright pattern of our country. These five stand out for their boldness and imagination.

From the book