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Women of Character
For generations latter-day prophets have extolled the noble role of womanhood. Leaders often tell of the wonderful contributions that the women in their lives have made both inside and outside the home. From rearing a faithful posterity to demanding and defending rights in the halls of Congress, Latter-day Saint women have been and continue to be a powerful influence for good in shaping the destiny of future generations.
With this book we celebrate noble women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with one hundred inspiring biographies of LDS women who have accomplished the extraordinary, leaving an indelible mark on history. These are stories about life, love, and a remarkable determination to do one’s best—messages that reveal to the reader that neither happiness nor greatness is found in compromising self, but instead is found in reaching to a higher source. By reaching up, these women have reached out to make a valuable difference.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2011
12 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Susan Easton Black
98 books44 followersSusan Easton Black is a retired professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. She is also an author of several books related to Joseph Smith, Jr. and the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
May 16, 2011
I used this in conjunction with Worth Their Salt and Worth Their Salt Too. The two latter are more reference books (and not necessarily pro-LDS Church). This one features only LDS Women (hence the title) but took many of the stories (some almost verbatim) from Worth Their Salt.
Each woman has a qualifying characteristic of why she is "important" (one of my favorites was Juanita Brooks, whose notable quality was "Disputatious Temperament"). Each reads like a bio one would hear from someone who might be introducing them at a fireside or conference. They are not especially well written and (when compared with Worth Their Salt) are merely snippets in their lives.
Sometimes I wonder about the way we honor people for greatness.
When we say, "Look what this person has achieved" and I see the privilege with which they have been raised, part of me decries the honor. Yes, of course there is talent in this woman. She IS amazing. But I can also see the usefulness of her family connections and the wealth that allowed her to achieve. How many less-privileged would also have reached that level had they been given the advantageous affluence of the other?
If the Book of Life were available to us now, I think we would discover a new cast of notable women: The Young Women leader whose testimony of the gospel was unshakable despite her lack of opportunity to marry and the numerous bouts with illness which eventually took her life; the Mexican refugee who gracefully held her family together without a large income when her husband cheated on her and left her; the woman who never took time to go to the hairdresser, the manicurist nor the fine apparel store yet daily took care of needy neighbors, aching-hearted friends and her ancestors back to Adam.
I think of the woman honored in Heaven in C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce:
"I cannot now remember whether she was naked or clothed ... If she were clothed, then the illusion of nakedness is doubtless due to the clarity with which her inmost spirit shone through the clothes. For clothes in that country are not a disguise: the spiritual body lives along each thread and turns them into living organs. A robe or a crown is there as much one of the wearer's features as a lip or an eye.
But I have forgotten. And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
“Is it?...is it?” I whispered to my guide.
“Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
“She seems to be...well, a person of particular importance?”
“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”"
I also think these thoughts from Orson Scott Card apply.
Each woman has a qualifying characteristic of why she is "important" (one of my favorites was Juanita Brooks, whose notable quality was "Disputatious Temperament"). Each reads like a bio one would hear from someone who might be introducing them at a fireside or conference. They are not especially well written and (when compared with Worth Their Salt) are merely snippets in their lives.
Sometimes I wonder about the way we honor people for greatness.
When we say, "Look what this person has achieved" and I see the privilege with which they have been raised, part of me decries the honor. Yes, of course there is talent in this woman. She IS amazing. But I can also see the usefulness of her family connections and the wealth that allowed her to achieve. How many less-privileged would also have reached that level had they been given the advantageous affluence of the other?
If the Book of Life were available to us now, I think we would discover a new cast of notable women: The Young Women leader whose testimony of the gospel was unshakable despite her lack of opportunity to marry and the numerous bouts with illness which eventually took her life; the Mexican refugee who gracefully held her family together without a large income when her husband cheated on her and left her; the woman who never took time to go to the hairdresser, the manicurist nor the fine apparel store yet daily took care of needy neighbors, aching-hearted friends and her ancestors back to Adam.
I think of the woman honored in Heaven in C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce:
"I cannot now remember whether she was naked or clothed ... If she were clothed, then the illusion of nakedness is doubtless due to the clarity with which her inmost spirit shone through the clothes. For clothes in that country are not a disguise: the spiritual body lives along each thread and turns them into living organs. A robe or a crown is there as much one of the wearer's features as a lip or an eye.
But I have forgotten. And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
“Is it?...is it?” I whispered to my guide.
“Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
“She seems to be...well, a person of particular importance?”
“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”"
I also think these thoughts from Orson Scott Card apply.
October 2, 2013
Whew! Finally finished reading this book for the second time because I wanted to go back and take some notes. Here's what I found:
Out of the 100 profiles
55 of the featured women are now dead
only 11 of the featured women were born after 1960
number of women whose only claim to fame was the arts or writing-too many!
number of women who became CEO of a company-zero!
number of women who served a term as governor or senator of their state-Olene Walker-though "good old boys club of Utah" will never admit it.
number of women who never married-8
Of which only 4-Liriel Domiciano, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Anne Perry, and Janie Thompson are still alive.
The absence of Sheri Dew was troubling. Why didn't she make the cut? While Eliza R. Snow, who is one of my personal heroes, could be a never-married "honorable mention" I know for a fact she was a plural wife to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Too bad polygamy is such a dirty word such a courageous and honorable woman is shut out from her story getting told properly.
Very interesting read and despite the lack of prominent women born in this century I enjoyed learning new things such as that Anita Stansfield struggles with self-esteem issues and that the wife of church president John Taylor was 36 when she married him and he was 25!
Out of the 100 profiles
55 of the featured women are now dead
only 11 of the featured women were born after 1960
number of women whose only claim to fame was the arts or writing-too many!
number of women who became CEO of a company-zero!
number of women who served a term as governor or senator of their state-Olene Walker-though "good old boys club of Utah" will never admit it.
number of women who never married-8
Of which only 4-Liriel Domiciano, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Anne Perry, and Janie Thompson are still alive.
The absence of Sheri Dew was troubling. Why didn't she make the cut? While Eliza R. Snow, who is one of my personal heroes, could be a never-married "honorable mention" I know for a fact she was a plural wife to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Too bad polygamy is such a dirty word such a courageous and honorable woman is shut out from her story getting told properly.
Very interesting read and despite the lack of prominent women born in this century I enjoyed learning new things such as that Anita Stansfield struggles with self-esteem issues and that the wife of church president John Taylor was 36 when she married him and he was 25!
September 12, 2011
Thoroughly enjoyable compilation of short biographies of 100 LDS women. I appreciated the variety. The women profiled cover the entire time span of this dispensation. There are widows, divorcees, women who never married, married women who had no children and women who had 13 kids. Their accomplishments were in the fields of education, athletics, politics, the arts, medicine, law, and the home, just to name a few. Some found and joined the Church later in life and some were born in the Church. Several had multiple graduate degrees, while others had little formal schooling. All are admirable in their own right and proof that there is no one single right way to be a good LDS woman.
I especially appreciate the inclusion of women that some would consider slightly unorthodox including Claudia Bushman (who founded the modern LDS women's magazine Exponent II), Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (who self-identifies as a feminist and a Mormon), and Juanita Brooks (whose research and publications on the Mountain Meadows Massacre led some to question her faithfulness). One minor quibble - for each of the women, the authors/editors identified a quality or virtue as a subtitle for her bio. Sr. Brooks's primary quality was listed as a "disputatious temperament," which I think could have been better described as integrity or, as she put it herself, "intellectual honesty."
Some of my favorite stories were of women I'd never heard of before. Martha Hughes Cannon, for example, ran for political office in 1896. As a Democrat. Against her husband (a Republican). And beat him by 3000 votes! There was a profile of Lucy Jane Brimhall Knight, one of the first two sister missionaries called in this dispensation. Mary Ellen Edmunds coined the "14th Article of Faith" that begins "We believe in meetings--all that have been scheduled, all that are now scheduled, and we believe that there will yet be scheduled many great and important meetings..." I loved learning more about the only woman besides Emma Smith mentioned by name in the Doctrine & Covenants, Vienna Jacques. There were a few difficult historical points that were glossed over in some of the biographies, but on the whole I was impressed with the amount of information condensed into these three-page sketches.
My biggest criticism is that I would have liked to see more women from other cultures profiled. The vast majority (96 out of 100!) were from the United States and Great Britain (and those from the British Isles were mostly from the 1830s and 1840s). One was born in the LDS colonies of Mexico, one was from Canada, one was from Hawaii (before it was a state), and - the most exotic - one from Brazil. It would have been nice to have the worldwide membership of the Church better represented.
The book is best summed up by a quote from Ardeth Greene Kapp's bio: "I have...learned that the best mission in life is the one the Lord has prepared for me." As varied as the life paths of these women were, I have no doubt that they were each fulfilling the missions the Lord had for them.
*Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
I especially appreciate the inclusion of women that some would consider slightly unorthodox including Claudia Bushman (who founded the modern LDS women's magazine Exponent II), Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (who self-identifies as a feminist and a Mormon), and Juanita Brooks (whose research and publications on the Mountain Meadows Massacre led some to question her faithfulness). One minor quibble - for each of the women, the authors/editors identified a quality or virtue as a subtitle for her bio. Sr. Brooks's primary quality was listed as a "disputatious temperament," which I think could have been better described as integrity or, as she put it herself, "intellectual honesty."
Some of my favorite stories were of women I'd never heard of before. Martha Hughes Cannon, for example, ran for political office in 1896. As a Democrat. Against her husband (a Republican). And beat him by 3000 votes! There was a profile of Lucy Jane Brimhall Knight, one of the first two sister missionaries called in this dispensation. Mary Ellen Edmunds coined the "14th Article of Faith" that begins "We believe in meetings--all that have been scheduled, all that are now scheduled, and we believe that there will yet be scheduled many great and important meetings..." I loved learning more about the only woman besides Emma Smith mentioned by name in the Doctrine & Covenants, Vienna Jacques. There were a few difficult historical points that were glossed over in some of the biographies, but on the whole I was impressed with the amount of information condensed into these three-page sketches.
My biggest criticism is that I would have liked to see more women from other cultures profiled. The vast majority (96 out of 100!) were from the United States and Great Britain (and those from the British Isles were mostly from the 1830s and 1840s). One was born in the LDS colonies of Mexico, one was from Canada, one was from Hawaii (before it was a state), and - the most exotic - one from Brazil. It would have been nice to have the worldwide membership of the Church better represented.
The book is best summed up by a quote from Ardeth Greene Kapp's bio: "I have...learned that the best mission in life is the one the Lord has prepared for me." As varied as the life paths of these women were, I have no doubt that they were each fulfilling the missions the Lord had for them.
*Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
July 19, 2015
I read most of it. I'll admit, I didn't finish it because it was all pretty much the same. Many of the stories were uplifting and interesting, but many also were not. A lot of them read like an obituary might - trite, boilerplate statements about how faithful and wonderful and devoted the women were, without giving any other insights. There also seemed to be an inordinate number of women who just wrote a lot of poetry I've never heard of. The writing style overall was a little bland, juvenile, and inconsistent, but I guess it's not that big of a deal because it's meant to be read in snippets, probably not cover-to-cover.
The good news is, I thought it was reasonably well-rounded in the way it presented the more traditional homemakers versus the career women/athletes (and those in between). There was a nice, fairly equal representation of both without the reader having to feel guilted into not being one or the other.
Overall an interesting light read, but nothing to start sending all the women in your life copies of.
The good news is, I thought it was reasonably well-rounded in the way it presented the more traditional homemakers versus the career women/athletes (and those in between). There was a nice, fairly equal representation of both without the reader having to feel guilted into not being one or the other.
Overall an interesting light read, but nothing to start sending all the women in your life copies of.
July 5, 2019
This was not a quick or especially enjoyable read. The biographies were less about who the women really were, and more a list of accomplishments, titles held, honors bestowed. It was definitely written in a more academic than literary style. That said, there was a line here, or quote there that I was moved enough by to keep reading. As a fan of the movie, Somewhere in Time, I was especially excited to learn that Maude Adams was the real life inspiration for the character Elise McKenna -- a little nugget at the very beginning of the book. I find the lives of women inspiring, and although I struggled with the format of this book and the style -- I don't dispute the the lives of women can be inspiring in almost any circumstance or era. Ultimately I am glad to know more of these women's lives.
July 9, 2019
I loved reading a short profile of each of these amazing women before bed each night. I only knocked it down a star because sometimes I felt like the profiles weren't detailed enough or that they focused too much on the women's husbands or things that just didn't seem to matter as much as other accomplishments. However, overall, it was very well done and I thought it was a very uplifting, spiritual read.
August 23, 2011
I spent several hours today going through this book in preparation for a Relief Society lesson about the remarkable nature of LDS women. I didn't read every biographical sketch through, but I learned a lot about women in the church who have made a difference in large and small ways. I was most interested in the sections on contemporary women. My absolute favorite bio was that of Jane Clayson Johnson. I grew up with big career dreams, but in the end decided I really wanted to be a full-time mother, so I deeply relate to her sacrifices and joys.
As I read the book, in the back of my mind I was continually asking, "What makes an LDS woman remarkable?" Is it that she has sung with the Metropolitan Opera Company, that she has been a general Relief Society President, that she has published books, or driven a wagon across the plains? Those are all great things, but what makes her really special is that, whatever her path in life, she follows it while holding to the iron rod and living the gospel. That's not always easy to do, especially in today's world. But countless LDS women do it with grace and perseverance, which makes me determined to live my life in such a remarkable way.
As I read the book, in the back of my mind I was continually asking, "What makes an LDS woman remarkable?" Is it that she has sung with the Metropolitan Opera Company, that she has been a general Relief Society President, that she has published books, or driven a wagon across the plains? Those are all great things, but what makes her really special is that, whatever her path in life, she follows it while holding to the iron rod and living the gospel. That's not always easy to do, especially in today's world. But countless LDS women do it with grace and perseverance, which makes me determined to live my life in such a remarkable way.
August 2, 2011
I was really excited to get this book for Mother's Day but as I began reading it I was less than impressed. I didn't feel like the writing was that good, they would jump from one time to another time within a 3 page bio instead of just telling things in a smooth, chronological form. There was no unity in the way that they presented the 100 different bios (some would have the birthdate of the person, some not. Some the parents, some not, etc) and I felt that they left out some critical info that they would often illude to within the bio. I didn't feel like they were objective either, but felt like they emphasized certain ideas.
The idea of this book was great, they just did a poor job of executing it I feel. Still it was interesting to read about 100 different LDS women. It was disappointing.
The idea of this book was great, they just did a poor job of executing it I feel. Still it was interesting to read about 100 different LDS women. It was disappointing.
May 24, 2011
These short biographies of 100 LDS women are interesting to read. The format was such that very little detailed information could be given about each of the women - only 2-4 pages per person. The women profiled ranged from Lucy Mack Smith, Emma Smith and some of the other early sisters of the church to Chelsea Rippy (the founder of Shade Clothing) and Jenny Oaks Baker with other sisters in between these time periods. It would be interesting to know how the authors chose who they considered prominent women. Most of the sisters I had heard of, but some were a little obscure in our history. The book left me wanting to know more about several of the women. It was interesting to see how many of these women overcame personal difficulties (and bad marriages) to achieve their prominence. So overall, a nice quick read.
April 21, 2011
Love the idea behind this book, and the eclectic mix of historical women, religious leaders, modern businesswomen, musicians, etc (arranged alphabetically) creates a very diverse read. The short bios of necessity can't cover an entire life, but some details vary inexplicably (we learn first and middle names of Jenny Oaks Baker's 4 young children, but nothing about Ariel Bybee's daughter who is a prominent LDS woman in her own right) and skipped over (why not mention Beverly Campbell's books about Eve along with her other accomplishments?) as well as deliberately omitted (tricky polygamy facts in Zina and Vienna's histories, Anne Perry's "serious situation" as a teenager). A great effort; obviously meant to be a Mother's Day gift, which would be lovely.
July 18, 2011
My sister-in-law, Janie Thompson, gave me this book for Mother's Day. In her note to me, she wrote, "Who would think this country-gal from Idaho would ever be in a wonderful book like this along with Emma, Lucy Mack, Eliza, and others--all dedicated sisters in the Lord's Restored Gospel." I was pleased that she was recognized for her work with youth in the entertainment field. (After all, she gave me my start, which led to my giving readings all over the world.) I would have liked it, however, if Sheri Dew had been included, but I was impressed that women who might be considered somewhat controversial, such as Juanita Brooks, author of "The Mountain Meadows Massacre," were covered.
September 14, 2011
A book about 100 impressive Mormon women!! Not impressive as the world unfortunately calls "impressive" but impressive in the way of honorable, good women. How wondeful it is that such women have live on the earth for these type of women have certainly left a positive mark on the world. Oh, that there could be more who would value the strong character traits like compassion, dedication, perseverance, and creativity that so many of these women possessed. I at least hope by reading about each of these women their goodness has rubbed a bit off to me that I now come away with being closer to a "women of character". I would give it a 4.5 if I could.
June 15, 2012
Believe it or not, I did read this entire book. It is a collection of short biographies of prominent LDS Women throughout time. This was not my favorite book because I felt like, although not the case for all of these women, that I needed to have a job in order to be a prominent woman. Not that I am striving for that anyway, but I had really hoped this book would do just the opposite for me. That it would help me to see that there is a way to be a stay-at-home mom and still give time/service in a remarkable way. I did glean some great quotes from this book and some very thought provoking ideas.
April 18, 2011
This book was really interesting--I loved reading about all of the admirable LDS women who set the path for us. However, I felt like I was reading the blurb at the end of a book that describes the author. They were all given one characteristic but I didn't always understand why that characteristic was so much of them. Sometimes their characteristic was "Education" just because they had gone back to school or something along those lines. I wish the authors would have delved more into WHY they were given that description.
May 24, 2011
This was really inspiring. Each of the women are unique and had their own interest or passion which they persued or continue to persue. It has been a positive encouragement to me that I can persue my own passions to increase my talents to share with others and to live according to the dictates of my heart. Each of us can be considered Women of Character if our individual story were to be told. Some woment I identified with more than others, but still I can appreciate the dedication of those women too. If you're looking for an uplifting read, this is easy to pick up.
March 30, 2011
A truly inspirational book about prominent LDS women and the contributions they have made to all different aspects of life...home, community, business, education, etc. To me, it represented 100 different ways to be a woman of faith! Celebrating individual women from pioneer times to modern days, it truly highlights the amazing capacity that a woman has to influence the world around her. I loved the book and the variety of phenomenal women! Great book for mother's day...
April 3, 2012
I really enjoyed some of the sections of this book. There were 100 women given 3-4 pages about her life. Some of the women's lives really inspired me and was enjoyable to read and learn more. However, some of the women's lives I felt like the impression they wanted to give was that in order to be a woman of character you have to do something big outside of the home, and that if you are just focusing on your family it isn't good enough--which I don't agree with that sentiment.
July 1, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. The vignettes were very short and easy to read, making it a great book for taking with you when you may only have a few spare minutes to read. ( some if them were almost too short and left me wanting to know more about them) I was also impressed with the variety of women in the book. They really did come from many walks of life and time periods. They weren't all RS Presidents like I was kind of expecting. I would recommend it to other LDS women.
December 28, 2013
Susan Easton Black was one of my favorite professors. She has a unique gift for storytelling so it's no surprise I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the variety and reading about women that are well known to me and those I had never heard of. There were a couple of inclusions/exclusions that seemed a bit strange, but overall it was well worth the time. Reading a brief introduction into the lives of many of these women has sparked an interest in further reading and study.
July 20, 2011
I enjoyed the format of this book, set up as 100 short biographies of prominent LDS women. Like other reviewers, I wondered how the authors selected the 100 featured women. Overall, it was a unique and interesting sampling of LDS women who have made a name for themselves over the last 300 years. Some women I had never heard of but I was inspired by their "story" nonetheless.
May 9, 2011
This was a really enjoyable book. Each of the profiles was just 2-3 pages, making it easy to pick up and read a little at a time. There were many women that I was already familiar with, but lots that I had never heard of. It was fun to read about the history of the church through the perspective of women....they had far more opportunities in the early years than I would have guessed!
June 14, 2012
Overall I enjoyed this book. I liked the stories. I enjoyed reading about the women's lives. I would like to have had more information about each woman. Also, I would have liked to know how the women were chosen. There were some women in the book that I would have excluded and other women, who were not in the book, whom I would have included.
August 17, 2015
This is an inspirational book with short biographies of 100 influential LDS women. I like that the bios are short and concise while also being fairly detailed. I learned some things about some of these women that I hadn't known before and I learned about a great deal of women I'd never heard of. I nice book for reminding us that we all have ways we can influence the world.
May 17, 2011
I enjoyed reading the brief life sketches of many LDS women. Reading this book, I got to know some I'd never heard of before. Because the sketches were brief, it worked well to just read one or two between tasks I was doing.
August 13, 2011
I enjoyed reading the brief bios of each of the women. I noted that they all followed the spirit and their own hearts in choosing their life path. No matter their circumstances, they seemed determined to be true to themselves. In my opinion, they are all feminists.
July 6, 2011
Fun book- I loved the A to Z style and the fact that they covered a variety of women who lived in the early 1800's to now. I also loved the character traits they defined each woman with. A lot of amazing women out there, reminds me of all the amazing women I know personally.
May 2, 2013
Enjoyed learning about some very interesting & influential women and the amazing things they've done. Didn't agree with all the author's choices of who to profile, but can appreciate how difficult it would have been to decide.
April 6, 2011
still reading it but i really like it, it is very inspiring!
April 7, 2011
Well done and very inspiring. Congratulations to Susan and Mary Jane!
June 2, 2011
Loved this book! Short vignettes of 100 LDS women. Inspiring and motivating.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews