Awesome Women of the 20th century
1. 
Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott
by:
Marsha Gordon
4.14 avg rating — 63 ratings 
6. 
Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
by:
Gayle Wald
4.07 avg rating — 340 ratings 
8. 
Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World
by:
Andrea Barnet
4.28 avg rating — 564 ratings 
10. 
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 12. 
Carve Her Name with Pride: The Story of Violette Szabo
by:
R.J. Minney
4.22 avg rating — 628 ratings 12. 
Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston
by:
Valerie Boyd
4.36 avg rating — 1,135 ratings 
14. 
Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality 4.38 avg rating — 595 ratings
16. 
Ella Baker: Community Organizer of the Civil Rights Movement
by:
J. Todd Moye
4.16 avg rating — 38 ratings 
20. 
Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday
by:
Donald Clarke
3.84 avg rating — 365 ratings 22. 
The Bandit Queen Of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey From Peasant To International Legend
by:
Phoolan Devi
4.31 avg rating — 431 ratings 22. 
A Seminole Legend: The Life of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper
by:
Betty Mae Jumper
4.04 avg rating — 28 ratings 
26. 
Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age
by:
Kurt W. Beyer
3.77 avg rating — 304 ratings 26. 
God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia 4.32 avg rating — 358 ratings
28. 
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
by:
Georgina Howell
3.97 avg rating — 3,475 ratings 
33. 
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
by:
Sonia Purnell
4.15 avg rating — 58,212 ratings 34. 
Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy
by:
Larry Loftis
3.99 avg rating — 11,604 ratings 35. 
36. 
Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist
by:
Nancy Goldstein
4.09 avg rating — 98 ratings 37. 
The Huntress: The Adventures, Escapades, and Triumphs of Alicia Patterson: Aviatrix, Sportswoman, Journalist, Publisher
by:
Alice Arlen
3.65 avg rating — 109 ratings 38. 
Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone, the First Woman to Play Professional Baseball in the Negro League
by:
Martha Ackmann
3.80 avg rating — 190 ratings 39. 
Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman
by:
Brooke Hauser
3.65 avg rating — 254 ratings 40. 
Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster 3.68 avg rating — 1,689 ratings
42. 
A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother
by:
Janny Scott
3.85 avg rating — 1,695 ratings 
45. 
Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island
by:
Will Harlan
4.36 avg rating — 3,102 ratings 
47. 
Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman's Life in Journalism
by:
Belva Davis
4.03 avg rating — 400 ratings 48. 
A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert
by:
Gertrude Bell
3.79 avg rating — 508 ratings 49. 
A Woman at War: Marlene Dietrich Remembered (Painted Turtle Book)
by:
J. David Riva
4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings 
51. 
53. 
55. 
The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone
by:
Robin Green
3.43 avg rating — 460 ratings 
61. 
Feuding Fan Dancers: Faith Bacon, Sally Rand, and the Golden Age of the Showgirl
by:
Leslie Zemeckis
3.73 avg rating — 126 ratings 62. 
Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood 3.73 avg rating — 229 ratings
64. 
The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement
by:
Teri Kanefield
4.16 avg rating — 285 ratings 
72. 
Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz
by:
Stuart Nicholson
3.81 avg rating — 182 ratings 73. 
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision
by:
Barbara Ransby
4.33 avg rating — 1,658 ratings 
75. 
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson 4.04 avg rating — 301 ratings
76. 
How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement
by:
Ruth Feldstein
3.97 avg rating — 61 ratings 77. 
Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR
by:
Lisa Napoli
3.85 avg rating — 3,759 ratings 
80. 
81. 
If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth
by:
Barbara Leaming
3.93 avg rating — 926 ratings 
83. 
The Making of The African Queen Or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind 3.95 avg rating — 2,472 ratings
84. 
85. 
American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
by:
Karen Abbott
3.42 avg rating — 5,779 ratings 86. 
89. 
True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness: A Feminist Coming of Age
by:
Christine Lahti
3.86 avg rating — 249 ratings 90. 
Pauli Murray: The Autobiography of a Black Activist, Feminist, Lawyer, Priest, and Poet
by:
Pauli Murray
4.50 avg rating — 101 ratings