We Can Do Anything: From sports to innovation, art to politics, meet over 200 women who got there first
From sports to innovation, art to politics – meet the incredible women who got there first.Ever heard the saying “It’s a man’s world”? Clearly, the speaker had never met Amelia Earhart or Harriet Tubman. Those feisty females, and many more, rivaled their male counterparts in everything from computer programming to civil rights, and from world speed records to the invention of the chocolate chip cookie!• Did you know that the first computer programmer was a woman? Countess Ada Lovelace (1842).• Or that the inventor of the life raft, windshield wiper, and Kevlar were all female? Maria Beaseley (1882), Mary Anderson (1903), Stephanie Kwolek (1966).From ground-breaking inventions to feats of endurance, We Can Do Anything is the ideal book for growing girls’ and boys’ intellectually curious minds. Loaded with 200+ main entries, readers will be armed with incredible trivia about history, science, sports, and the arts—perfect for anyone looking to stimulate their mind, brush up for school, or simply indulge in a good read.Organized chronologically, this fact-o-pedia is subdivided intoa range of subjects, including science & innovation, sports & endurance, arts & literature, politics & world-building, business & industry, world records, and unusual achievements.With engaging and accessible text and delightful illustrations throughout, We Can Do Anything is sure to educate, entertain, and inspire!
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First published in hardback by HarperCollinsPublishers in 2016 as Girls Can Do Anything
This revised paperback edition first printed in 2018
Copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers
Caitlin Doyle asserts her moral rights as author of the text.
Cover and interior illustrations by Chuck Gonzales
Cover and interior design by Pete Clayman
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Source ISBN 9780008285616
Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008213459
Version: 2018-02-22
Dedicated to Bump (AKA Saoirse)
This title comes from a sign my encouraging
parents hung in my room when I was small.
This book is dedicated to the women and
men in my life who taught me from a young
age that, truly, girls can do anything.—C.D.
CONTENTS
Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and welcome to the adventure that is We Can Do Anything!
Within these colorful and informative pages, there is something for everyone—a little bit of round-the-world record-breaking here, some major history changers there … But mostly, this book is a wonderful opportunity for each of us to hear about the making of the world around us, and to listen to the female voices—so often silenced by history books and social norms—that spoke so much of the world’s wisdom.
I sometimes think about a fridge magnet I once saw, which said, “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” I wanted to give this inanimate magnet the power of speech, because its message was the same as the one that I hoped to deliver through this book: for much of history, a majority of the silent voices were those of girls and women. I know that some of you are thinking, “but it’s the 21st century, and everyone from Beyoncé to Taylor Swift, Joseph Gordon Levitt to Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, is leaning in, standing up, and shouting loud in support of women.” That’s true, so you might also say that feminism’s no longer a dirty word and women have made it—and that this book is simply an attractive, educational, historical, and “politically correct” artefact about a time and place where women found themselves to be the supporting acts on an otherwise masculine stage … Right? Wrong.
If history has taught us anything, it is that those great thinkers and doers of the past must stand as inspiring examples for us to learn from—and do better. For every woman who has chipped away at the glass ceiling of business, or outperformed every other runner on the track, there are still millions of others who never even make it to the starting line. My wish is for you, dear readers, the creators of the future, to ensure that we all learn from the greatness that came before, in order to make the future even greater—for all.
Within these pages, I have included more than 200 incredible women who I believe to have been at the top of their game within their chosen fields. However, there are simply not enough pages to include every great individual, and the selection I have made is limited by my own research and subjectivity. I invite you to include your own “greats” within the pages of this book. You will find blank pages at the end of each chapter, where you can add the names and details of the women who really mean something to you—be they big names from history, or current affairs, or people from your own life who have inspired and amazed you. Make this book your own.
Caitlin Doyle
June 2016
CONTENTS
