Each of the 18 women whose stories un­fold in this unique work made heroic, profession-changing contributions to journalism. Covering nearly 300years, Schilpp and Murphy have elevated these women either from the obscurity of historical foot­notes (Elizabeth Timothy, 1700--1757) or from the frozen stuff of legend (Nellie Bly, Anne Newport Royall, Margaret Fuller); they have made their subjects working journalists whose careers and accomplishments were indeed heroic and inspiring, but human. Aside from Timothy, Royall, Fuller, and Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (Nellie Bly), the authors have included Mary Katherine God­dard, colonial publisher; Sarah Josepha Hale, first women's magazine editor; Cornelia Walter, editor of the Boston Transcript; and Jane Grey Swisshelm, abolitionist, feminist, and journalist. Others include Jane Cunning­ham Croly ("Jennie June"); Eliza Nicholson (Pearl Rivers), publisher of the Picayune; Ida Minerva Tarbell, muckraker; Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (Dorothy Dix); Ida B. Wells-Barnett, crusader; Winifred Black Bon­fils (Annie Laurie), reformer; Rheta Child Dorr, freedom fighter; Dorothy Thompson, political columnist; Margaret Bourke-White, early photojournalist; and Marguerite Higgins, war correspondent.