{"id":6574,"date":"2024-03-01T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T15:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/?p=6574"},"modified":"2024-03-03T19:04:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T01:04:34","slug":"life-stories-of-remarkable-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/blog\/life-stories-of-remarkable-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Stories of Remarkable Women"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March is Women&#8217;s History Month. It&#8217;s also National Reading Month! If our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/blog\/not-the-camilla-you-think-it-is\/\">last post<\/a> put you in the mood to read more biographies of women, the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library&#8217;s shelves are bursting with possibilities. Discover the fascinating lives of a 1st-century C.E. Jewish ruler, a neo-Platonist mathematician, an 18th-century Italian physicist, a 19th-century samurai grandmother, a dozen under-appreciated British philosophers, a Mexican independence fighter, a Sufi spy in Nazi-occupied Paris, an agnostic French Jew who became a Christian mystic, a Zimbabwean painter, a Black Canadian science fiction writer, and many, many more.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few recent biographies that jumped out at me:<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"csl-bib-body\">\n<div class=\"csl-entry\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6585 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Mahaprajapati-200x300.png\" alt=\"Book jacket image: Woman who raised the Buddha\" width=\"113\" height=\"170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Mahaprajapati-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Mahaprajapati.png 326w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 113px) 100vw, 113px\" \/>Wendy Garling,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99954879203105899\"><i>The Woman Who Raised the Buddha: The Extraordinary Life of Mahaprajapati<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala, Publications, Inc., 2021)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Maha\u0304paja\u0304pati\u0304 Gotami\u0304 was the Buddha&#8217;s stepmother and maternal aunt and, according to tradition, the first woman to take Buddhist monastic vows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Tal Ilan,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955215422005899\"><i>Queen Berenice: A Jewish Female Icon of the First Century CE<\/i><\/a> (Leiden\u202f; Brill, 2022)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Daughter of King Agrippa I, sister of King Agrippa II, wife of two kings and lover of the emperor designate Flavius Titus, Berenice was an eye-witness to the emergence of Christianity and the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Silvia Ronchey,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955474823005899\"><i>Hypatia: The True Story\u00a0<\/i><\/a>(Berlin\u202f; De Gruyter, 2023)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>In-depth study of the neo-Platonist astronomer and mathematician known as a &#8220;martyr for philosophy&#8221; after she was murdered by a mob of angry Christians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6586 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Bassi-199x300.png\" alt=\"book jacket image: Laura Bassi - The World's First WOmen Professor in Natural Philosophy\" width=\"97\" height=\"146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Bassi-199x300.png 199w, https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Bassi.png 508w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 97px) 100vw, 97px\" \/>L. Cifarelli and Raffaella Simili,\u00a0<i><a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99954856333405899\">Laura Bassi &#8211; the World\u2019s First Woman Professor in Natural Philosophy: An Iconic Physicist in Enlightenment Italy<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2020)<\/div>\n<p>Bassi was the first woman to be appointed a professor in physics at a European university (the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna).<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Alison Stone,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955341514105899\"><i>Women Philosophers in Nineteenth-Century Britain<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Oxford: University Press, 2023)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Collective biography of Mary Shepherd, Harriet Martineau, Ada Lovelace, George Eliot, Frances Power Cobbe, Helena Blavatsky, Julia Wedgwood, Victoria Welby, Arabella Buckley, Annie Besant, Vernon Lee, and Constance Naden.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6588 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Koume-201x300.png\" alt=\"Book jacket image: Koume's World\" width=\"94\" height=\"140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Koume-201x300.png 201w, https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Koume.png 330w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 94px) 100vw, 94px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Simon Partner,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955492178105899\"><i>Koume\u2019s World: The Life and Work of a Samurai Woman before and after the Meiji Restoration<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(New York: Columbia University Press, 2024)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Poet, painter, and wife, mother, and grandmother of samurai, Kawai Koume kept a diary for 50 tumultuous years of Japanese history.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Silvia Marina Arrom, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955025628005899\"><i>La G\u00fcera Rodr\u00edguez: The Life and Legends of a Mexican Independence Heroine<\/i><\/a> (Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2021)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Mar\u00eda Ignacia Rodr\u00edguez de Velasco de Osorio Barba y Bello Pereyra, known as &#8220;La G\u00fcera,<i>&#8220;<\/i> is a controversial figure in Mexican history &#8211;a wealthy society woman who may or may not have played a role in Mexican independence, but certainly lived a fascinating life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Ilyon Woo,\u00a0<i><a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955279671605899\">Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 2023)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Ellen Craft escaped from slavery (and rescued her husband William) in 1848, by disguising herself as a wealthy disabled white man.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Arthur J. Magida, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99954770991105899\"><i>Code Name Madeleine: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(New York, NY: W.W. Norton &amp; Company, Inc, 2020).<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, daughter of the Indian Muslim spiritual teacher Inayat Khan, was a secret agent for the British in occupied France in the summer of 1943.\u00a0 She was captured by the Nazis and executed at Dachau on September 13, 1944.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6591 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Noor_Inayat_Khan-227x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Image of Noor Inayat Khan (Wikimedia)\" width=\"227\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Noor_Inayat_Khan-227x300.jpeg 227w, https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Noor_Inayat_Khan.jpeg 605w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Noor Inayat Khan, image from the <a class=\"external text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iwm.org.uk\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Imperial War Museums<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Noor_Inayat_Khan#\/media\/File:Noor_Inayat_Khan.jpeg\">Wikimedia<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<div>Robert Zaretsky, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99954870705505899\"><i>The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas<\/i><\/a> (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2021).<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Historian of existentialism Zaretsky&#8217;s take on the life and thought of Simone Weil, French philosopher, social activist, and Christian mystic of Jewish origins, probably focuses more on philosophy than biography. For straightforward biography, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma9928604012205899\"><em>Simone Weil: A Life<\/em><\/a> by Simone Pe\u0301trement (1976) is a better introduction, according to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/proxy2.library.illinois.edu\/login?url=https:\/\/www.oxfordbibliographies.com\/view\/document\/obo-9780195396577\/obo-9780195396577-0230.xml\"><em>Oxford Bibliographies Online<\/em><\/a> entry about Weil by David Levy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Caroline Moorehead,\u00a0<i><a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955308509205899\">Mussolini\u2019s Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2022)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Moorehead apparently emphasizes Edda Mussolini&#8217;s &#8220;ruthless narcissism.&#8221; For what appears to be a more sympathetic account, see Tilar J. Mazzeo, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955308510705899\"><i>Sisters in Resistance: How a German Spy, a Banker\u2019s Wife, and Mussolini\u2019s Daughter Outwitted the Nazis <\/i><\/a>(New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2022).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Nalo Hopkinson and Isiah Lavender, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955307240205899\"><i>Conversations with Nalo Hopkinson<\/i><\/a> (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2023)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>21 interviews with Jamaican-born Canadian contemporary science fiction writer, Nalo Hopkinson.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sufiya Abdur-Rahman, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955130096805899\"><i>Heir to the Crescent Moon<\/i><\/a> (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2021).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Autobiography of an African American woman and her journey back to Islam after her parents distanced themselves from the Black Muslim movement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"csl-bib-body\">\n<div class=\"csl-entry\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955307383205899\"><i>Portia Zvavahera<\/i><\/a> (New York, New York: David Zwirner Books, 2023).<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Primarily an exhibition catalog, but includes a substantial autobiographical interview with contemporary Zimbabwean painter Zvavahera.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"csl-bib-body\">\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6596 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Jetsunmas-202x300.png\" alt=\"Book jacket image: Sakya Jetsunmas \" width=\"114\" height=\"170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Jetsunmas-202x300.png 202w, https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/Jetsunmas.png 323w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 114px) 100vw, 114px\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"csl-entry\">Elisabeth A. Benard, <a href=\"https:\/\/i-share-uiu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01CARLI_UIU\/gpjosq\/alma99955165084305899\"><i>The Sakya Jetsunmas: The Hidden World of Tibetan Female Lamas<\/i> <\/a>(Boulder, Colorado: Snow Lion, 2022)<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Collective biography of a family of Tibetan women meditation masters, Jetsunma Chime Tenpai Nyima (1756-ca. 1855), Jetsunma Tamdrin Wangmo (1836-96), Kyabgon Pema Trinlei (1874-ca. 1950), Jetsun Kushok Chimey Luding (b. 1938), and Jetsunma Kunga Trinley (b. 2007).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March is Women&#8217;s History Month. It&#8217;s also National Reading Month! If our last post put you in the mood to read more biographies of women, the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library&#8217;s shelves are bursting with possibilities. Discover the fascinating lives of a 1st-century C.E. Jewish ruler, a neo-Platonist mathematician, an 18th-century Italian physicist, a 19th-century [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":6591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-books","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6574"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6607,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6574\/revisions\/6607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/hpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}