Journey to the Woman I’ve Come to Love is a 190-page book, which features stunning black-and-white photos of 91 women.  It includes celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Naomi Judd, Gladys Knight, Jenifer Lewis, Sanaa Lathan, Laurel Holloman, Jane Lynch, Dana Delany, Felicity Huffman, Kristin Davis and Della Reese; civil rights icons such as Angela Davis, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Diane Nash, Joan Mulholland, Sonia Sanchez; she-roes such as Nikki Giovanni, Leymah Gbowee, Gloria Steinem and extraordinary women whose names you might not know. You will want all the women in your life, along with the men, to experience their journeys.

It’s not just a book, it’s a movement. Turner and some of the featured women are available to speak at events during WHM or do signings.

“This has been a fascination ‘journey’ for me,” Turner says.  “My motivation to do this project really started in the early ’90s when I began to feel immense love for myself, a love affair that continues to this day.  It is a revelation that made me curious as to how others came to that same place of peace.”

Turner’s first book signing was held Jan. 20 in Los Angeles, hosted by award-winning artist Synthia Saint James. The more than 50 people that attended had the opportunity to hear some of the women featured in the book talk live about their journey to loving themselves.

Turner is an award-winning photojournalist who has loved the art of taking pictures since she was a child growing up in Ohio.  Her first camera was a Polaroid Swinger and she’s been upgrading her equipment ever since.  A former sportswriter for the Oakland Tribune, ESPN.com and other newspapers, Turner has also been a television and website producer, editor, videographer and still photographer covering sports and entertainment. Her work has appeared in Essence, Ebony, Jet, MSNBC.com, AOL.com, BET.com, TV One, BET and in several international publications.  She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Television Critics Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Turner, a graduate of Hampton University, resides in Los Angeles.

 Journey to the Woman I’ve Come to Love is available on Amazon’s Create Space website, https://www.createspace.com/3939932 . Or you can purchase an autographed copy at www.mikiphotola.blogspot.com. The purchase price is $25.

These women had a job to do.  They were comfortable in their own skin and proved why you need to be who you are. They imagined success and achieved it. The book includes many photographs and stories of personal innovation like a former gift wrapper who increased B-17 aircraft production with the help of a tissue or women engineers working with advanced mathematics and science to revolutionize products. The political system changed; female juries, local union leadership and elected female officials became commonplace.

The war ended and so did female equality. But these women did not accept that outcome. The book concludes when after the war, these same women worked in and with Congress, with the president, the unions and across the courts. Their objective: restore equal pay for equal work and provide a workplace that would be free from gender discrimination.

Upon completing the book, readers reflect on their experience and gain new respect for the importance of making personal commitments to change. Available in softcover/January 2013 or hardcover February/2013.

Back in the 1920s planes were made of wood and cloth held together with wire. And back then everyone knew blacks couldn’t fly, and neither could women. But this spunky black woman from the cotton fields of Texas did loops above the Eiffel Tower, walked on wings above America, and jumped off planes to the oohs and gasps of crowds.  Bessie could also do a mean Charleston on the dance floor while guys lined up on both sides of the Atlantic. Her admirers included France’s top World War I ace, an African prince, a Florida millionaire, Chicago’s top black newspaperman, and its top black gangster.

She survived broken bones and some broken hearts. She was the first person, man or woman, to open the skies to black pilots. She helped open grandstands on the ground as well, refusing to perform unless everyone could buy a ticket.  She inspired generations of flyers. After years of neglect, she has at last been recognized as one of the leading figures in aviation, African-American, and women’s history.  Tributes include a postage stamp, a street named for her at O’Hare airport, and her photo tucked into a spacesuit worn by the first black woman astronaut as she flew on the space shuttle.

Coleman performed across the country as a barnstormer and daredevil until she was killed falling from a plane after a wrench fell into the gearbox. The question of whether it was an accident or homicide has never been answered.

For more information, a review copy, or an interview with the author, email me at editor@miniverpress.com

Anyways, How to Climb Mr. Blanc in a Skirt by Mick Conefrey surpasses all my prior assumptions. When I first picked up this book, and slightly glanced at the cover and perused the pages. I misinterpreted this book to be a dry account on women’s history. Lucky for me, I read each chapter fully and can conclude that it has yielded a hardcore fan of female adventurers. Me.

This non-fiction account on women in history making and not making succesful voyages opened up my eyes to the trials and tribulations of women breaking into a man’s world, concerning traversing far and distant lands.

This historical travel guide was skillfully written by Mick Conefrey, an award winning film maker and acclaimed writer of The Adventurer’s Handbook.  It takes an empathetic man to write so candidly about the struggles women have encountered from the turning point of the 19th century and onwards. His humor, insight and accurate portrayel  of female explorers  flourish this pepto bismal- colored paper back.

The book, itself, is broken into five chapters: Who, Why and How?; Where?; People; Women Travel to Venus, Men Travel to Mars; and How to survive foreign travel. Each chapter has intricate sub-categories, etched with black n’ white illustrations of what the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and parts of South America were like in an era where exploration was a fresh new concept for Victorian women.

My favorite chapter, thus far, was ” Women Travel to Venus. Men Travel to Mars”.  It opens up with a frank quote from twentieth-century mountaineer, Annie Peck.

“One of the chief difficulties in a women’s undertaking an expedition of this nature is that every man believes he knows better what should be done than she”.   

After turning this page, the reader sees a creative illustration of former Olympic sailor Ella Mallart and of parliament member Peter Fleming enmeshed in sketchings of Chinese architecture, symbols and cameras.  The next page juxtaposes both explorers in  a neat, lineless chart and exposes the hardshipes female explorers, such as Mallart, face in comparison to male explorers. The rest of the chapter follows in that pattern and also gears into narratives of the explorer’s personal lives playing out in their voyages.

Romance, heartbreak, financial disturbances, prejudices and media-laced scandals trail several of these female explorers, poignantly embraced by Conefrey’s rambunctious imagination. It’s a must-read for fans of women’s rights, historical non-fiction and of fine-tuned literature.

By Sherryn Daniel

Diplomats and Dreamers turns a historical narrative into a thrilling tale of adventure, politics and familial bonds. The author has used humor, and surprise to write about a complex subject of Balkan diplomacy and its actors. The text often delights the reader with carefully crafted insights into a world that few contemporaries experienced or suspected to exist. By incorporating the personal experiences of the Stancioff family, covering the periods from 1880s-1950s, the author brings history alive.

A look back to a time when women had narrowly defined roles in society can be fascinating, especially when that look includes reading about Nadejda Stancioff, Bulgaria’s first female diplomat, and her family. Using unpublished primary documents Mari Firkatian has lovingly described a beautiful and extraordinary woman and her family, living during turbulent times. More than ten years of Firkatian’s impeccable research and detailed descriptions provide the reader with a rich portrait of the remarkable Stancioff family and the history of their times.

This book should be a movie. If not a movie then it at least deserves a close consideration for reading for those interested in women’s history, gender relationships, diplomacy at the turn of the last century, and social history of the same period. The family she writes about are extraordinary; first because they come from privileged background but second because they managed to find themselves in unique circumstances and knew how to exploit their opportunities – professionally and personally and finally because they lived in and survived pivotal moments in world history.

This book captivated me from the beginning to the end. The author combines both a historical and literary aspect into her book, making it highly enjoyable and educational to read. So please check out: Diplomats and Dreamers: The Stancioff Family in Bulgarian History By Mari A. Firkatian, University of America Press, 2008 when you get the chance.

By  Scott Scribner

I recently finished a book on the Congresswoman, Activist and Attorney Bella Abzug.  The book is called:  Bella How one tough broad from the bronx fought Jim Crowe Pissed off Jimmy Carter Battled for the Rights Women and Workers Rallied against War and for the Planet and shook up Politics along the way Abzug.

 The story is told from every person Abzug  had ever known, from her children to her collagues and best friends including Gloria Steinem, Marlo Thomas and Ted Kennedy. Each person gave their interpretation of her life,including her firing by Jimmy Carter and her activism for civil rights, women’s rights and gay rights.

The story of Bella Abzug is more than just stating birth work death, it shows that she was indeed a well
rounded person, she raised her daughters in a time when most women were staying at home moms,
she had a nearly 40 year marriage to the love of her life and she spent every moment fighting for causes,
she paved the way for women now, without her, there would be no Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin or Sonia
Sotomayor.

 Bella was known as a ball buster, she was also equally well known for her wide hats which
were the subject of ridicule. Bella did many things that at the time women wouldn’t even consider, she
went down south to defend a black man accused of statutory rape and she assembled many rallies for
New York..She was literally the voice of the 1970s and she even called out a few biased congressmen
out for setting women back a 100 years.

This book literally takes the reader moment to moment in Bella’s life and even incorporates her own
words to set the scene, you can feel the emotions, the highs and lows of a woman who started out in
humble beginnings and ended with her passing awake from a stroke. This is literally a rags to riches story

As a Kid in the 90s I had no clue who Bella Abzug was because we were only taught five women in
school, Harriet Tubman, Betsy Ross, Abgail Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt and Queen Isabella but as I read
more and more about her, I realized how much she contributed to America and paved the way for a new
generation to speak up and change the world for the better…She was the original bra burner and for
millions of little girls born during her and after her rise in Congress, we’ve become her voice.

By  Nikki Luongo

 Using newly invented photography and the new daily newspapers, she promoted her performances boldly, and permitted her personal life to become the talk of the town. This daredevil performer became known as the “Naked Lady,” although she wore a flesh-colored bodystocking and a brief that Mark Twain compared to a diaper.

Adah became the most highly paid actor of the time–a hit in New York, San Francisco, London and Paris. Born in New Orleans to a woman of color, her father Jewish, her stepfather Irish, she was multicultural before the fashion. Menken became a protege of Rabbi Wise, founder of Reform Judaism, and she wrote powerful essays and poetry in defense of the Jewish people.

A defender and disciple of Walt Whitman, Adah composed confessional, no-holds-barred poetry which prefigured Sylvia Plath’s. Adah’s collection, Infelicia, was published after her death and remains in print to this day.
Menken married and divorced five husbands, including the world heavyweight boxing champion, a leading humorist, and a Rhett Butler-style gambler. Adah was friend or lover to the outstanding men of her age: Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Dante Rossetti, Alexandre Dumas, and Algernon Swinburne. She was close to George Sand, and equally adept at cross-dressing. At the height of her fame, at thirty-three, this superstar mysteriously died. At her bedside, the poet Longfellow composed a farewell love song.
Menken originated theatrical and film action married to sexuality, prefiguring much of the content of today’s movies and television. She foreshadowed the 20th century superstars Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. Her life is a classic tale of a meteoric rise and fall, as fresh and compelling as a tabloid shocker today. She has intrigued literary, theater, and film greats, such as Bret Harte, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jerome Kern, Billy Rose, Stella Adler, George Cukor, David O. Selznick, former Texas governor Ann Richards, and film star Michael York.

 She is totally NOW, a figure whose desires resonate with a modern audience. The Fosters Net site devoted to Adah Menken and her times is www.thegreatbare.com. In 2011 they will be giving a power point presentation at such prestigious locations as New York’s Fashion Institute and the University Club.
Prof. Barbara and Michael Foster: Tel 212-929-1442: Bellad@earthlink.net

She has been the recipient of the 2008 Turn America from Eco-weak to Eco-chic Award and the 2005 VA Horticulture Foundation faculty travel award.  Wright is an avid landscape gardener and conducts eco-gardening workshops and was featured by VA Home Grown WCVE Richmond PBS TV and Birds & Blooms magazine for her eco-strategies.

As a communications specialist, she is published by environmental, lifestyle and business magazines, conducts PR communication workshops and teaches adult education nonfiction writing classes. Because of her past experiences, she felt that it was high time to publish her first book.

Her first book, A Path Worn Smooth,is dedicated to the people of Wright’s hometown community, in the Laurel Historic District of Virginia. Wright wants readers to walk on a path worn smooth by generational expectation. Savor nostalgia for the places that are near and dear to her heart, recall family traditions and more importantly, renew experiences. Challenging all to celebrate heritage because it’s more than a possession, it is a gift; the birthright of our children. It’s a great book if you want an invigorating read on the beach or to give as a gift to your mother, grandmother or daughter.

Her book “Living History and Making Social Change” is a medly of a vivid  memoir, teaching manual and a colorful account of  her uphill battle with bringing “her” into “his”-tory.

Her collection of essays also creatively details  her efforts of transforming history and society through the study of women’s lives. It’s not everyday that a decadent book by an expansive intellectual, a feminist theorist, an imaginative educator, and a relentless political activist is published for all.

 So in honor of this great crusader for women’s right to learn about ”her”-story, we are honoring her contributions to women’s history by offering her latest book Living with History/Making Social Change at a 30% DISCOUNT.

 By Sherryn Daniel

Sometimes a book comes along, smacks readers in the head, alleviates our ignorance, and leaves us with a new perspective on something we thought we already knew.

That’s what happened when I read Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment (Potomac Books, 2009) by former historic interpreter Nancy Loane. The title is too modest in conveying the scope and power of the book. It doesn’t fully capture the idea that the work adds colorful, riveting details to the basic portrait of the American Revolution that hangs in our minds … elements that help give us a more complete, accurate picture. The title doesn’t deliver the punch of the easy-to-digest 164 pages: We owe an enormous debt of gratitude not just to the men who fought in the Revolutionary War but to the women whose sweat and sacrifice also forged our freedoms.

Much of the book is focused on the wide range of roles women played in what happened at Valley Forge.

Women of high social class like Martha Washington provided great comfort to her commander-in-chief husband George Washington while women of the “common sort” performed countless thankless chores that helped the army survive. They ran household headquarters for officers so that they could remain focused on developing strategies to win the war. They cooked for exhausted soldiers, made clothing to help protect them from the elements, cleaned the camp to help slay the biggest enemy at Valley Forge — the range of ailments caused by unsanitary conditions. More bravely, they risked their own lives by nursing diseased soldiers.

Following the Drum would be worth reading even if it stopped right there. The book, however, is full of surprises — some sweet, others sorrowful.

Discover more about them in a longer review.