Michelle Benjamin and Maggie Mooney
Nobel’s Women of Peace (The Women’s Hall of Fame Series)
Second Story Press, 2008

Rating: G*

This book, the thirteenth in the series The Women’s Hall of Fame, profiles the twelve women who have been awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Each woman (except in the case of Betty Williams and Máiread Corrigan Maguire who were awarded the prize conjointly) is profiled in their own chapter. The profile includes a picture of the awardees and their story, told in a narrative fashion. Throughout the chapter, more pictures of the awardees are included, as well as pull quotes, highlighting quotes from and about the woman being profiled, or explaining events related to their quest for peace. Each chapter is between 10 and 12 pages and they are not interrelated - there are no comparisons between each awardee; they stand alone.

Nobel’s Women of Peace is generally a good book. The narrative fashion enhances the readability and makes the book more approachable, even for a reluctant researcher. The images and pull quotes throughout are good, however, the book would be more visually appealing if there were more images, especially in colour, throughout. The suggestions of "What you can do: How you can be a troublemaker for peace" are useful. While the book is specifically about females who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the suggestions are not gender specific.

Students doing research in areas of Nobel Prize winners, advocates for peace or impact of activism will find this book useful. As well, students looking for information on strong females throughout the 20th century will also have a use for this book. Within the classroom, given the wide range of prize winners and their areas of interest it could be used to supplement most subject areas.

Thematic Links: Nobel Prize Winners; Women Pacifists

Alison Edwards
Vol. 14, number 3
February 2009

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.