Description
The title of this book makes it clear what it covers: the presence, role, and achievements of women in the field of microbiology from the early 20th century to present day, with all the obstacles, fights, and other barriers that such a topic implies.

Purpose
The goal of this collection of portraits is to motivate and encourage women to engage in scientific careers and to pursue with tenacity, however difficult it might be. The numbers are eloquent: "Women obtain approximatively 50% of all doctorates in biology, yet only 36% of Assistant Professors are women, a number that drops to 18% for Full Professors."

Audience
One would think that the main readership of this book would be men and women, generally speaking. Certainly, that is true, but the reality is more complex. It might be an inspirational collection for young students, kids in high school, and apprentice biologists in the early phase of learning. But this book goes beyond: it is a contribution to the writing of a history still in the making. It probably cannot be read from cover to cover because of its format, but it can be consulted on an episodic basis and could also be used as a textbook, with the chapters used as a basis for discussions, seminars, mid- or end-of-term papers, and other student essays.

Features
Addressing the question of women in the recent field of microbiology with the objective to show that women were not "relegated to supporting roles" whereas "the science of microbiology has been propelled forward by male scientists" probably posed a challenge to the authors: it is probably too soon to write a history of women in microbiology as this history is still unfolding. The authors chose a different strategy — offering a series of 34 portraits. Each such portrait results in a brief chapter (10 to 12 pages), written in a vivid way to share the experience of the life of each of these women.

Assessment
This series of enthralling multifaceted personal stories are like pieces of a mosaic, the full image of which is not yet known. Color and black-and-white illustrations complete the narrative, as do the references to the publications by these women and about them, resulting in a short, yet substantial and comprehensive, portfolio. Just one regret: the portraits are ordered in the alphabetical order of the women's last names, a classification that makes the whole story impersonal and does not provide a sense of history.

Review Questionnaire

Range/ Question/ Score
1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 6
1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 6
1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5
1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 3
1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 3
1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 3
1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 5
1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 3
1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 3
1-5 Are there sufficient references? 5
1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 3
1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 3
1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 5
1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book N/A
1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 6
1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? N/A
—Alain Touwaide, PhD (The Huntington)