This is such a easy book to pick up and read a few pages without having to commit to a whole book. It reminds me of women I have known and admired for a long time like Maya Angelou, Jane Goodall and Edie Winsor, but also introduced me to amazing women I never knew about like Frances Perkins. An American workers-rights advocate who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. She also made history as the first woman and first LGBT person to serve in the U.S. Cabinet. ( )

I feel this book is important. Full of pioneering women. I also feel strongly that it should have been about four books that went into deeper detail about the women. I will be buying this book someday as i find that even this soon after finishing it I already can't remember things from it. ( )

An inspiring and educational audiobook that touches on stories of 100 gutsy women from around the world who broke barriers, challenged the status quo and set records. Although all the women featured in the book have have different ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, education levels and abilities - they all overcame challenges in their respective field of arts, science, politics, technology, etc. in their own gutsy way.
The book was a great learning experience because it included stories of women we all know and admire like Harriett Tubman and Hellen Keller, but also many women that I had not previously known about.

The audiobook is narrated by Hilary Clinton & her daughter Chelsea. They make great narrators as their passion on the topic is clearly evident and they are able to add in their personal experiences and anecdotes.

At 14 hours, it's definitely a commitment but in my opinion, worth every minute. I would recommend to all women and men wanting to learn about courageous, smart and talented women from around the world.
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I'm sad to say that as an adult woman who has considered herself a feminist since the 1960's, I was disappointed in this book. It's not the content - the selections of gutsy women they included and the descriptions of their challenges and achievements was first rate. I liked the organization as well, and the fact that in the audio version the names of the women came up like chapter headings. This was not important when the woman under discussion was already familiar to me; more so when the name was new, and even more so if it was not European, and thus more difficult for me to visualize as it would appear on paper and to remember.

I had two problems with the book. One was the narration. Hillary's voice isn't particularly pleasing but I was happy with her matter-of-fact delivery. Chelsea had a tendency to add emphasis by lingering on a word or trying to add emotional content. That really wasn't necessary because the stories of the gutsy women spoke for themselves.

But what really bothered me was the name dropping. I didn't mind Hillary's occasional political references, probably because I would have expected that. If Shirley Chisholm paved the way for Hillary's future presidential campaign, it makes sense that Hillary would mention it.

The problem for me was the steady commentary about how both authors had met so many of the gutsy women, gone to school with them, given them awards, or stood on platforms with them. I couldn't help feeling they were trying to "bask in the reflected glow" of the courageous women they wrote about. Nothing in the promotional material prepared me for these intrusive comments, and to put it bluntly, they got on my nerves. To me they came across as evidence of their privilege.

I do admire both authors, Hillary especially. She's worked hard, put up with a lot, and achieved a lot. She's not perfect, but then again, most male politicians have serious failings that we may not even be aware of since they are so much less scrutinized. I just wish I could have enjoyed the book more. ( )

I was very excited to know about the release of this book when I think I first saw Hillary and Chelsea on Stephen Colbert’s show and have been waiting to read it since then. Obviously it had a bit of a waitlist at my library(why am I surprised), so it took me this long to get to it.

As someone who doesn’t know much about American history (because I never studied it), the only knowledge I have gained is through TV shows, documentaries, articles and maybe a few books, in the past 5-6 years. And it’s not a surprise that when I am exposed to history through pop culture, I tend to learn more about men than the women. So this book is very helpful to someone like me who wants to know more about women who have made remarkable impact on the country or the world.

I don’t want to take any specific names because this book talks about 105 brilliant and gutsy women, but I appreciated getting to know their stories. These are women who refused to go along with the status quo, challenged the established norms, fought battles every step of the way to make sure their voices are heard (either with or without the support of their families) and never stopped fighting till they could. These are trailblazers who never cared about whether they got recognition for the work they were doing, they just wanted the work to be done and leave the world a better and more equitable place for the future generations of women. Some of them are still fighting and and I hope they inspire more women leaders to fight for their causes.

While most of the stories are historical accounts, some from just a couple of decades ago, the ones that resonated with me and affected me the most were the stories of the mothers and young women fighting for gun control. As someone who comes from a country where getting a gun license as a private citizen is literally impossible, I never understood the reasoning behind having guns in homes but just dismissed it as a quirk of America. But as I have watched school shootings, and other gun related violent incidents increase in the past 8 years while I’ve lived here, it has only made me more scared for my future hypothetical kid. So I will always be grateful to the activists who are fighting everyday against a behemoth that is the NRA and the politicians in its pocket who deploy the second amendment as a weapon against those who are fighting just to ensure that our children get to live long lives.

To conclude, I just want to say that this is an important book to read, especially to realize that despite having so many fearless women fight for our rights for decades, the fight is not yet over and there is a lot to be done. You will get to know little glimpses of women from all walks of life spanning centuries and across the globe who stood up for their convictions and brought us a bit closer to the goal of equality which still eludes us. I think every reader will find something in this book that speaks to them. You can read it all at once or just in small doses, whenever you need a bit of courage - but I promise it will make you feel empowered to know these great and gutsy women. ( )