Review by Choice Review
Green (Marymount Univ.) and LaDuke (DePaul Univ.) spent three decades preparing this book; their devotion to their subjects is evident on every page of the resulting treasure trove. They provide one-page biographies for each of the 228 American women who earned doctorates in mathematics before 1940. The authors have unearthed comprehensive and significant details about these women's lives and accomplishments--whether the graduate became a famous mathematician, such as Mina Rees; taught in obscurity, such as Florence Allen; or left the workforce entirely, such as Annie MacKinnon Fitch. A PDF file on an accompanying Web site contains twice as much information on these female PhDs, including works by and about them and lists of their organizational affiliations. In the first third of the book, Green and LaDuke draw general conclusions about the women's backgrounds, education, and employment. In data collection and analysis, they have extended such works as Margaret Rossiter's Women Scientists in America (1982-1995; CH, Apr'83); Women of Mathematics, ed. by Louise Grinstein and Paul Campbell (CH, Nov'87); and Bettye Anne Case and Anne Leggett's Complexities (2005). The volume also complements Margaret A. M. Murray's Women Becoming Mathematicians (CH, Mar'01, 38-3870). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. A. K. Ackerberg-Hastings University of Maryland
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
