Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! (City Lights/Sister Spit)
BookElementaryMiddle SchoolFashion Designer

Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! (City Lights/Sister Spit)

Kate Schatz

Why we picked it

Lively portraits pair punchy bios with bold, poster-style art highlighting trailblazing women — including designer Zelda Wynn Valdes — who changed American culture.

Our review

Lively portraits—​from Angela Davis to designer Zelda Wynn Valdes—​pair punchy bios with bold, poster-style art. Each entry ends with a “Rad Fact” or action idea, encouraging kids to spot needs and create solutions. Emphasizes that fashion can be activism, culture, and self-expression. Great cross-career pick for classrooms studying influential women.

About this book

From the product listing

From the New York Times bestselling team behind Rad American Women A-Z comes an illustrated collection of radical and transformative political, social, and cultural movements in American history.

“An engaging, fascinating, and necessary book that speaks truth to power.”—Congresswoman Barbara Lee

In Rad American History A-Z, each letter of the alphabet tells the story of a significant moment in America's progressive history--one that isn't always covered in history classes: A is for Alcatraz, and the Native occupation of 1969; C is for the Combahee River Raid, a Civil War action planned in part by Union spy Harriet Tubman; Z is for Zuccotti Park, and the Occupy movement that briefly took over the world. 

Paired with dynamic paper-cut art by Miriam Klein Stahl, the entries by Kate Schatz explore several centuries of politics, culture, art, activism, and liberation, including radical librarians, Supreme Court cases, courageous youth, punk rocker grrrls, Southern quilts, and modern witches. In addition to the twenty-six core stories, short sidebars expand the discussion, and dictionary-style lists refer readers to additional key moments. So while F is for Federal Theater Project, a New Deal-era program that employed thousands of artists, F is also for Freedom Rides and First Amendment. E is for Earth First!, but also for Endangered Species Act and Equal Rights Amendment. 

There are tales of triumph, resilience, creation, and hope. Each engaging, fact-filled narrative illustrates an eye-opening moment that shows us how we got to now--and what we need to know about our histories to create a just and sustainable future.


Resource details

Resource type
Book
Age ranges
Elementary, Middle School
Good for kids who are
Artistic, Realistic
Based on its careers · What is RIASEC?
Author
Kate Schatz