Close Modal

Rad Women Worldwide

Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History

Part of Rad Women

Illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
Look inside
Hardcover
$15.99 US
7.34"W x 9.27"H x 0.69"D   | 19 oz | 12 per carton
On sale Sep 27, 2016 | 112 Pages | 9780399578861
Age 10-17 years | Grades 5-12
additional book photo
additional book photo
additional book photo

Educational and inspirational, this gift-worthy New York Times bestseller from the authors of Rad American Women A-Z, is a bold, illustrated collection of 40 biographical profiles showcasing extraordinary women from across the globe.
 
Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and amazing tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well-researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. The book features an array of diverse figures from 430 BCE to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world, from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica).  An additional 250 names of international rad women are also included as a reference for readers to continue their own research.

This progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women's history and belongs on the shelf of every school, library, and home. Together, these stories show the immense range of what women have done and can do. May we all have the courage to be rad!

For teachers, this book is appropriate for grades 6-8 and could be used in either Social Studies or English classes, or as part of a text for a multidisciplinary unit. It can also be used as a Common Core text for grades 6-8 Social Studies/History - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1-10.

New York Times Bestseller

As seen in  Shelf AwarenessElle, Upworthy, BustFusion, The Advocate, 7x7


"An international array of badass women through the ages and up to the present...[and] a happy contrast to so many Eurocentric “world” surveys."
Kirkus Reviews

"[R]eadily accessible to children and teens...Stahl’s cut-paper portraits provide handsome visual tributes to the women."
Publishers Weekly

"This collection of energetic profiles is sure to spark discussion and encourage readers passionate about women's history and rights to do further research."
School Library Journal

"[F]resh, engaging, and inspiring tales of perseverance and radical success...pairing well researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits."
BookRiot 

“Fascinating stories of women doing bold, pioneering, and meaningful things in times ranging from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day. Lots to learn about in fields of science, medicine, mountain climbing, the arts, literature, and much more. Every story is eye-opening, whether the woman profiled is widely known or previously unknown outside her home country.”
Common Sense Media

"For an excellent new book about 40 pioneering women who challenged their societies' limitations on women, we highly recommend Rad Women Worldwide for ages 10 and up."
A Mighty Girl 

"Imagine learning history right the first time, without ever having to unlearn all the lies and omissions. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE lifts the doom—maybe this is, in fact, a wonderful time to grow up."
Miranda July, artist, writer, and filmmaker 

"This book needs to be in every school, library, and home."
—Margaret Cho, comedian

"A work of astounding beauty and urgent importance. The enthralling stories of these brave, amazing womenand the stunning illustrations that accompany themare sure to move and inspire kids and adults alike. We all need this book: girls, boys, mothers, fathers, educators, engaged citizensreally, all of us who care about a more just and balanced world. Thank goodness I don't have to raise my daughter and son without it!"
—Novelist Carolina de Robertis, author of THE GODS OF TANGO

"How do you help young girls change the universe? Show them the women who have already done it! This beautiful book shows girls (and boys) the power and importance of each person who decides to make a difference.  A celebration of smart, brave, tough, creative, kind, beautiful, hopeful, and wise women!"
–Andrea Beaty, author of Rosie Revere Engineer and Iggy Peck Architect

"Our history books are filled with incredible stories of heroes and rebels, villains and visionaries, but too often it’s men who occupy all the starring roles. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE boldly challenges the male-dominated version of history we’ve been sold, offering us a new vision of the past that brings women out of the historical shadows. In these pages, women are made visible at every step of humanity’s journey, across continents and generations, revealing that often we, too, have dared to change the world." 
Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency founder and feminist media critic

"In past generations, a globe was an essential gift for any child, a way for her/him/them to sense the wide, round scope of the world without even having to travel. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE is this moment's equivalent of the globe--a gift that will help every child understand the world they share with powerful women everywhere."
Sarah Jones, Tony-Award winning performer, poet, and UNICEF ambassador 

"Schatz and Stahl are a pair of 21st century Howard Zinns, making the Western canon bawl with this mindblowing, history-expanding, beautifully executed roll call of badass women past and present. Our daughters and son need this book, and so do their parents."
Adam Mansbach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F**k to Sleep 


"Wow! Like it's predecessor, Rad American Women A to Z, this wonderful book is a browser's delight. Dipping into every story, examining the blunt, bright woodcuts, brings singular pleasures. There are woman to discover and woman to rediscover. And the best part? A long list of more woman to learn about winding it up. Daring to hope there will be more Rad Women books."
—Karen Cruze, Santa Clarita Public Library

"Their second well-researched collection of gorgeously detailed paper-cut illustrations is accessible to young readers but fascinating for grown-ups, too. Rad women in this collection are humble, brilliant and theatrical. They pursue human rights as well as women's rights." 
—Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco, in Shelf Awareness
© Kate Schatz
KATE SCHATZ is a feminist writer, activist, and educator. She is the author of the New York Times best sellers Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide, and the accompanying journal, My Rad Life. Kate is the co-founder of Solidarity Sundays, a nationwide network of feminist activist groups, and she speaks often about politics, resistance, feminism, race, parenting, and more. View titles by Kate Schatz
Frida Kahlo
July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954 (Coyoacán, Mexico)

“I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.”
 
It seems like everyone today knows who Frida Kahlo is, but that wasn’t always the case. Like so many women artists throughout history, Frida didn’t gain the recognition she deserved until many years after her death. When she died in 1954, the New York Times obituary headline read “Frida Kahlo, Artist, Diego Rivera’s Wife.” This was how she was known for a long time: as the strange wife of famous muralist Diego Rivera. She’s now considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born just before the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. She lived in La Casa Azul, a small house that her father painted blue. When she was six she came down with polio, which left her right leg permanently disfigured. To help it heal, her father encouraged her to exercise and play sports, but she always had a prominent limp.

Frida didn’t plan to be an artist—she wanted to be a doctor, and she studied medicine at one of Mexico’s finest schools. Everything changed when she was in a bus accident at age 18. She was severely injured and spent months in a full-body cast. Isolated and in pain, she began to paint. Her mother made her an easel she could use while lying down, and her father shared his oil paints. She experimented with bright colors that reminded her of traditional Mexican folk art. The small self-portraits that she created helped her process her traumatic accident.

Frida eventually showed four of her pieces to the artist Diego Rivera, whom she adored. “You’ve got talent,” he told her, and it was true. Her paintings were deeply personal, yet they combined elements of Mexican art, classical European painting, and newer Surrealist works. She and Diego eventually married and became part of a thriving Mexican art scene. It was a male-dominated scene but Frida also encountered women like singer Chavela Vargas, muralist Fanny Rabel, and photographer Lola Alvarez Bravo (the first and only person to exhibit Frida’s paintings in Mexico during her lifetime).

Frida remained relatively obscure until the 1980s, when a biography about her got people’s attention. Feminist and Latina artists began to celebrate her work, and she became a cultural icon, now more well known than Diego. Frida’s life was painful, and she created over 140 paintings that reflected it. Unlike many other artists at the time, Frida didn’t paint landscapes or abstract shapes: she painted her real, pained self. She celebrated her flaws, her fears, her country, and her desires and she did it beautifully.
Welcome to RAD women worldwide! 1

Enheduanna 2
Mesopotamia

Malala YousAfzai 4
Pakistan

Kalpana Chawla 8
India

Aung San Suu Kyi 10
Burma

Qiu Jin 12
China

Junko Tabei 14
Japan

Fe Del Mundo 16
Philippines

Dame Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira 18
New Zealand

Faith Bandler 20
Australia

Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft 22
Norway & U.S.A.

Miriam Makeba 24
South Africa

Wangari Maathai 26
Kenya

Kasha Jacqueline Nagabasera 30
Uganda

Funmilayo Ransome Kuti 32
Nigeria

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 34
Nigeria

Hatshepsut 36
Egypt

Madres de la Plaza de Mayo 38
Argentina

Marta 42
Brazil

Quintreman Sisters 44
Chile

Policarpa “La Pola” Salavarrieta 46
Colombia

Bastardilla 48
Colombia

Nanny of the Maroons 50
Jamaica

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 52
Mexico

Frida Kahlo 54
Mexico

Queen Lili’uokalani 56
Hawaii

Venus and Serena Williams 58
U.S.A.

Birutė Mary Galdikis 60
Canada

Buffy Sainte-Marie 62
Canada

ENIAC Programmers 64
U.S.A.

Guerrilla Girls 68
U.S.A.

Grace “Granuaile” O’Malley 70
Ireland

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh 72
England

Poly Styrene 74
England

Sophie Scholl 76
Germany

Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie 80
France

Josephine Baker 82
France

Maria Montessori 86
Italy

Hypatia 88
Egypt

Emma Goldman 90
Russia

The Stateless 94

Photos

additional book photo
additional book photo
additional book photo

About

Educational and inspirational, this gift-worthy New York Times bestseller from the authors of Rad American Women A-Z, is a bold, illustrated collection of 40 biographical profiles showcasing extraordinary women from across the globe.
 
Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and amazing tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well-researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. The book features an array of diverse figures from 430 BCE to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world, from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica).  An additional 250 names of international rad women are also included as a reference for readers to continue their own research.

This progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women's history and belongs on the shelf of every school, library, and home. Together, these stories show the immense range of what women have done and can do. May we all have the courage to be rad!

For teachers, this book is appropriate for grades 6-8 and could be used in either Social Studies or English classes, or as part of a text for a multidisciplinary unit. It can also be used as a Common Core text for grades 6-8 Social Studies/History - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1-10.

Praise

New York Times Bestseller

As seen in  Shelf AwarenessElle, Upworthy, BustFusion, The Advocate, 7x7


"An international array of badass women through the ages and up to the present...[and] a happy contrast to so many Eurocentric “world” surveys."
Kirkus Reviews

"[R]eadily accessible to children and teens...Stahl’s cut-paper portraits provide handsome visual tributes to the women."
Publishers Weekly

"This collection of energetic profiles is sure to spark discussion and encourage readers passionate about women's history and rights to do further research."
School Library Journal

"[F]resh, engaging, and inspiring tales of perseverance and radical success...pairing well researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits."
BookRiot 

“Fascinating stories of women doing bold, pioneering, and meaningful things in times ranging from ancient Mesopotamia to the present day. Lots to learn about in fields of science, medicine, mountain climbing, the arts, literature, and much more. Every story is eye-opening, whether the woman profiled is widely known or previously unknown outside her home country.”
Common Sense Media

"For an excellent new book about 40 pioneering women who challenged their societies' limitations on women, we highly recommend Rad Women Worldwide for ages 10 and up."
A Mighty Girl 

"Imagine learning history right the first time, without ever having to unlearn all the lies and omissions. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE lifts the doom—maybe this is, in fact, a wonderful time to grow up."
Miranda July, artist, writer, and filmmaker 

"This book needs to be in every school, library, and home."
—Margaret Cho, comedian

"A work of astounding beauty and urgent importance. The enthralling stories of these brave, amazing womenand the stunning illustrations that accompany themare sure to move and inspire kids and adults alike. We all need this book: girls, boys, mothers, fathers, educators, engaged citizensreally, all of us who care about a more just and balanced world. Thank goodness I don't have to raise my daughter and son without it!"
—Novelist Carolina de Robertis, author of THE GODS OF TANGO

"How do you help young girls change the universe? Show them the women who have already done it! This beautiful book shows girls (and boys) the power and importance of each person who decides to make a difference.  A celebration of smart, brave, tough, creative, kind, beautiful, hopeful, and wise women!"
–Andrea Beaty, author of Rosie Revere Engineer and Iggy Peck Architect

"Our history books are filled with incredible stories of heroes and rebels, villains and visionaries, but too often it’s men who occupy all the starring roles. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE boldly challenges the male-dominated version of history we’ve been sold, offering us a new vision of the past that brings women out of the historical shadows. In these pages, women are made visible at every step of humanity’s journey, across continents and generations, revealing that often we, too, have dared to change the world." 
Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency founder and feminist media critic

"In past generations, a globe was an essential gift for any child, a way for her/him/them to sense the wide, round scope of the world without even having to travel. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE is this moment's equivalent of the globe--a gift that will help every child understand the world they share with powerful women everywhere."
Sarah Jones, Tony-Award winning performer, poet, and UNICEF ambassador 

"Schatz and Stahl are a pair of 21st century Howard Zinns, making the Western canon bawl with this mindblowing, history-expanding, beautifully executed roll call of badass women past and present. Our daughters and son need this book, and so do their parents."
Adam Mansbach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F**k to Sleep 


"Wow! Like it's predecessor, Rad American Women A to Z, this wonderful book is a browser's delight. Dipping into every story, examining the blunt, bright woodcuts, brings singular pleasures. There are woman to discover and woman to rediscover. And the best part? A long list of more woman to learn about winding it up. Daring to hope there will be more Rad Women books."
—Karen Cruze, Santa Clarita Public Library

"Their second well-researched collection of gorgeously detailed paper-cut illustrations is accessible to young readers but fascinating for grown-ups, too. Rad women in this collection are humble, brilliant and theatrical. They pursue human rights as well as women's rights." 
—Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco, in Shelf Awareness

Author

© Kate Schatz
KATE SCHATZ is a feminist writer, activist, and educator. She is the author of the New York Times best sellers Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide, and the accompanying journal, My Rad Life. Kate is the co-founder of Solidarity Sundays, a nationwide network of feminist activist groups, and she speaks often about politics, resistance, feminism, race, parenting, and more. View titles by Kate Schatz

Excerpt

Frida Kahlo
July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954 (Coyoacán, Mexico)

“I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.”
 
It seems like everyone today knows who Frida Kahlo is, but that wasn’t always the case. Like so many women artists throughout history, Frida didn’t gain the recognition she deserved until many years after her death. When she died in 1954, the New York Times obituary headline read “Frida Kahlo, Artist, Diego Rivera’s Wife.” This was how she was known for a long time: as the strange wife of famous muralist Diego Rivera. She’s now considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born just before the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. She lived in La Casa Azul, a small house that her father painted blue. When she was six she came down with polio, which left her right leg permanently disfigured. To help it heal, her father encouraged her to exercise and play sports, but she always had a prominent limp.

Frida didn’t plan to be an artist—she wanted to be a doctor, and she studied medicine at one of Mexico’s finest schools. Everything changed when she was in a bus accident at age 18. She was severely injured and spent months in a full-body cast. Isolated and in pain, she began to paint. Her mother made her an easel she could use while lying down, and her father shared his oil paints. She experimented with bright colors that reminded her of traditional Mexican folk art. The small self-portraits that she created helped her process her traumatic accident.

Frida eventually showed four of her pieces to the artist Diego Rivera, whom she adored. “You’ve got talent,” he told her, and it was true. Her paintings were deeply personal, yet they combined elements of Mexican art, classical European painting, and newer Surrealist works. She and Diego eventually married and became part of a thriving Mexican art scene. It was a male-dominated scene but Frida also encountered women like singer Chavela Vargas, muralist Fanny Rabel, and photographer Lola Alvarez Bravo (the first and only person to exhibit Frida’s paintings in Mexico during her lifetime).

Frida remained relatively obscure until the 1980s, when a biography about her got people’s attention. Feminist and Latina artists began to celebrate her work, and she became a cultural icon, now more well known than Diego. Frida’s life was painful, and she created over 140 paintings that reflected it. Unlike many other artists at the time, Frida didn’t paint landscapes or abstract shapes: she painted her real, pained self. She celebrated her flaws, her fears, her country, and her desires and she did it beautifully.

Table of Contents

Welcome to RAD women worldwide! 1

Enheduanna 2
Mesopotamia

Malala YousAfzai 4
Pakistan

Kalpana Chawla 8
India

Aung San Suu Kyi 10
Burma

Qiu Jin 12
China

Junko Tabei 14
Japan

Fe Del Mundo 16
Philippines

Dame Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira 18
New Zealand

Faith Bandler 20
Australia

Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft 22
Norway & U.S.A.

Miriam Makeba 24
South Africa

Wangari Maathai 26
Kenya

Kasha Jacqueline Nagabasera 30
Uganda

Funmilayo Ransome Kuti 32
Nigeria

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 34
Nigeria

Hatshepsut 36
Egypt

Madres de la Plaza de Mayo 38
Argentina

Marta 42
Brazil

Quintreman Sisters 44
Chile

Policarpa “La Pola” Salavarrieta 46
Colombia

Bastardilla 48
Colombia

Nanny of the Maroons 50
Jamaica

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 52
Mexico

Frida Kahlo 54
Mexico

Queen Lili’uokalani 56
Hawaii

Venus and Serena Williams 58
U.S.A.

Birutė Mary Galdikis 60
Canada

Buffy Sainte-Marie 62
Canada

ENIAC Programmers 64
U.S.A.

Guerrilla Girls 68
U.S.A.

Grace “Granuaile” O’Malley 70
Ireland

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh 72
England

Poly Styrene 74
England

Sophie Scholl 76
Germany

Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie 80
France

Josephine Baker 82
France

Maria Montessori 86
Italy

Hypatia 88
Egypt

Emma Goldman 90
Russia

The Stateless 94