The book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and the 2016 movie of the same name revealed to the public the significant contributions to the US space program in the 1960s of three African American women. The last few years have produced several books about women, bringing to light for the first time their exceedingly important contributions in their respective fields of work. Recently, there seems to have been an awakening. All but one of these has some sort of association to the politics of their times Madame Currie is usually the one woman of science that comes to mind however, she may be remembered more for carrying radioactive material around in her lab coat than for her actual scientific discoveries. If asked for the name of a significant woman in history, most people would probably mention Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, or Madame Marie Currie. Women’s significant achievements are often unknown and there is frequently little historical recognition which is reflected in the book’s title, “A Woman of No Importance.”

It also brings to light the tendency to ignore women and their significant contributions to many fields of knowledge, innovation, research and service. The title of this book reveals a lack of recognition of one woman’s considerable participation in the Allied war effort in WWII. This month, Champlain Library’s Non-Fiction Book Club read A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell.

Book review a woman of no importance