The Girl Explorers

January 4, 2021
Historian Zanglein debuts with an entertaining look at the founders and early members of the International Society of Women Geographers. Founded in 1925, the society was started by explorers, artists, scientists, and writers who shared a common love for travel and exploration in an era when women were told their place was in the home. Zanglein briskly recounts the accomplishments of individual members and their fights for recognition, detailing, for example, how mountain climber Annie Peck (1850–1935) was the first to scale the northern peak of Mount Huascarán in Peru, in 1908, but was ignored by the media 26 years later, when a group of men ascended the southern peak. Other members included Margaret Edith Trussell (1928–1988), who argued that the female perspective was essential to the field of geography, and society cofounder Blair Niles (1880–1959), whose ex-husband, with whom she had participated in several expeditions, refused to include her name on their publications and plagiarized large sections from her personal publications for his book. With careful research and clear enthusiasm for her subjects, Zanglein makes a strong case that restoring these pioneers to the spotlight will “give a new generation of women courage to chisel away at the glass ceiling.” Armchair adventurers will thrill to this inspirational account.