[4] In explaining their motivation to write the book, the authors say, "If history shows one thing, it's that the world needs gutsy women.

[2] Entries range from 17th-century nun and self-taught scholar Juana Inés de la Cruz to contemporary teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, and include women who are little known to the general public.

[1] Some of the less familiar subjects include astronomer Caroline Herschel, doctor Mary Edwards Walker, pediatrician and professor Mona Hanna-Attisha, and women's rights advocate Manal al-Sharif.

[3] The cover image shows, as the authors state, a group of women firefighters in a training exercise at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard sometime after U.S. entry into World War II.

[12] Additional attention came to Hillary Clinton during interviews for the book, as publication of it happened to coincide with the filing on an official impeachment inquiry against the man who had defeated her in the 2016 election.

"[7] She asked whether anyone in the president's party was willing to act like the pioneering U.S. senator Margaret Chase Smith, who was one of the profiles in the book.

[7] The book received a positive notice from Viv Groskop, writing for the British newspaper i, who praised the "beautifully written stories of women's lives" and characterized it as "possibly a first: a cultural artefact inspired by a mother and a daughter which is neither cringeworthily sentimental nor frighteningly bitchy.

"[15] Keziah Featherstone, writing for TES, said that for educators the book was "a great introduction for those dedicated to a diverse and representative curriculum ... the range included is undoubtedly terrific."

[17] The book debuted at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list for combined print and e-book nonfiction for the week of October 20, 2019.