Biographies of Women, by Women
2. 
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra
by:
Helen Rappaport
3.88 avg rating — 24,079 ratings 
4. 
Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston
by:
Valerie Boyd
4.36 avg rating — 1,135 ratings 5. 
Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
by:
Jung Chang
3.91 avg rating — 10,431 ratings 6. 
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley
by:
Charlotte Gordon
4.22 avg rating — 7,199 ratings 
8. 
Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves and Other Female Villains
by:
Jane Yolen
3.39 avg rating — 1,304 ratings 9. 
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
by:
Hallie Rubenhold
4.09 avg rating — 64,221 ratings 
11. 
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
by:
Julie Phillips
4.24 avg rating — 1,381 ratings 
13. 
The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice 4.26 avg rating — 1,002 ratings
14. 
Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953
by:
Elizabeth Winder
3.69 avg rating — 2,560 ratings 14. 
The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age
by:
Myra MacPherson
3.48 avg rating — 695 ratings 16. 
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision
by:
Barbara Ransby
4.33 avg rating — 1,658 ratings 17. 
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
by:
Melanie Rehak
3.76 avg rating — 3,232 ratings 
20. 
21. 
Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
by:
Nathalia Holt
3.87 avg rating — 9,263 ratings 22. 
Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin
by:
Alice Echols
3.83 avg rating — 2,276 ratings 
27. 
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race 4.44 avg rating — 3,274 ratings
28. 
Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer
by:
Trina Robbins
3.72 avg rating — 800 ratings 29. 
Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist
by:
Nancy Goldstein
4.09 avg rating — 98 ratings 30. 
The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired
by:
Francine Prose
3.71 avg rating — 899 ratings 
33. 
A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother
by:
Janny Scott
3.85 avg rating — 1,695 ratings 34. 
Make 'Em Laugh: Short-Term Memories of Longtime Friends
by:
Debbie Reynolds
3.72 avg rating — 1,784 ratings 35. 
Kick Kennedy: The Charmed Life and Tragic Death of the Favorite Kennedy Daughter
by:
Barbara Leaming
3.69 avg rating — 1,638 ratings 
38. 
The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars
by:
Dava Sobel
3.59 avg rating — 3,470 ratings 
39. 
Resilience: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness
by:
Jessie Close
3.88 avg rating — 1,083 ratings 
41. 
Dorothy Day; The World Will Be Saved By Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of Dorothy Day
by:
Kate Hennessy
3.94 avg rating — 1,000 ratings 
41. 
A Seminole Legend: The Life of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper
by:
Betty Mae Jumper
4.04 avg rating — 28 ratings 45. 
The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age
by:
Janet Wallach
3.49 avg rating — 1,303 ratings 45. 
The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend
by:
Ann Ingalls
3.99 avg rating — 145 ratings 45. 
Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them
by:
Siân Evans
3.74 avg rating — 1,068 ratings 48. 
Pirate Queens: Dauntless Women Who Dared to Rule the High Seas
by:
Leigh Lewis
4.10 avg rating — 137 ratings 49. 
The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR'S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience
by:
Kirstin Downey
4.22 avg rating — 2,437 ratings 50. 
She Sang Promise: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Tribal Leader really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 114 ratings
52. 
Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
by:
Gayle Wald
4.07 avg rating — 340 ratings 53. 
Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement
by:
Marcia M. Gallo
3.92 avg rating — 143 ratings 
55. 
Soldier, Sister, Spy, Scout: Women Soldiers and Patriots on the Western Frontier
by:
Chris Enss
3.75 avg rating — 8 ratings 55. 
Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing All-True Story of Juliette 'Daisy' Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure
by:
Shana Corey
4.05 avg rating — 1,950 ratings 57. 
A Cool and Lonely Courage: The Untold Story of Sister Spies in Occupied France
by:
Susan Ottaway
3.72 avg rating — 999 ratings 57. 
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday
by:
Angela Y. Davis
4.28 avg rating — 1,707 ratings 
61. 
62. 
Anthology of Amazing Women: Trailblazers Who Dared to Be Different
by:
Sandra Lawrence
4.20 avg rating — 171 ratings 
64. 
Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America's First Bookmobile
by:
Sharlee Glenn
4.41 avg rating — 682 ratings 65. 
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation
by:
Sheila Weller
3.75 avg rating — 6,225 ratings 65. 
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
by:
Cheryl Bardoe
4.26 avg rating — 892 ratings 
68. 
Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies
by:
Lauren Redniss
4.22 avg rating — 415 ratings 69. 
Teen Trailblazers: 30 Fearless Girls Who Changed the World Before They Were 20
by:
Jennifer Calvert
3.89 avg rating — 203 ratings 
71. 
The Original Million Dollar Mermaid: The Annette Kellerman Story
by:
Emily Gibson
3.97 avg rating — 32 ratings 
73. 
Anacaona: The Amazing Adventures of Cuba's First All-girl Dance Band 3.35 avg rating — 20 ratings
74. 
The Girl With a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague (Amazing Scientists, 3) 4.41 avg rating — 735 ratings
75. 
Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women
by:
Kate Schatz
4.21 avg rating — 195 ratings 76. 
War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden, Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry
by:
Lindy Woodhead
3.67 avg rating — 527 ratings 
79. 
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans
by:
Eve LaPlante
3.59 avg rating — 1,741 ratings 80. 
In the Great Green Room: The Brilliant and Bold Life of Margaret Wise Brown
by:
Amy Gary
3.61 avg rating — 2,329 ratings 
83. 
Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World
by:
Susan Hood
4.42 avg rating — 866 ratings 84. 
The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
by:
Kara Cooney
3.65 avg rating — 7,514 ratings 
88. 
American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
by:
Karen Abbott
3.42 avg rating — 5,779 ratings 
91. 
The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World
by:
Shelley Emling
3.84 avg rating — 1,340 ratings 91. 
A Girl Named Rosa: The True Story of Rosa Parks (American Girl: A Girl Named): The True Story of Rosa Parks 4.22 avg rating — 112 ratings
93. 
Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle
by:
Lois W. Banner
3.58 avg rating — 72 ratings 93. 
Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall
by:
Nina Willner
4.37 avg rating — 12,281 ratings 
93. 
The Women Who Flew for Hitler: The True Story of Hitler's Valkyries
by:
Clare Mulley
4.20 avg rating — 544 ratings 93. 
Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood
by:
Cari Beauchamp
4.35 avg rating — 319 ratings 
99. 