Hidden Figures LP - Large Print by Margot Lee Shetterly (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The #1 New York Times
bestseller

The phenomenal true
story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel
some of America's greatest achievements in space--a powerful, revelatory history
essential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in modern
America. The basis for the smash Academy Award-nominated
film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten
Dunst, and Kevin Costner.

Before John Glenn
orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated
female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and
adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and
astronauts, into space.

Among these
problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women,
some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to
teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into
service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics
industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these
overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they
answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating,
high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

Even as Virginia's Jim
Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the
women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one
of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the
Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.

Starting in World War
II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space
Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan,
Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American
women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles
their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances
and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country's future.

-WINNER OF
ANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION

-WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK

-WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK

-WINNER NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE COMMUNICATION
AWARD

From the Back Cover

The #1 New York Times bestseller

The true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture.

Originally math teachers in the South's segregated public schools, these exceptionally bright women answered Uncle Sam's call during the labor shortages of World War II. With new jobs at the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, in Hampton, Virginia, they finally had a shot at jobs that would push their skills to the limits.

Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of four African American women, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, for nearly three decades as they participated in some of NASA's greatest successes.

Review Quotes

"Much as Tom Wolfe did in "The Right Stuff", Shetterly moves gracefully between the women's lives and the broader sweep of history . . . Shetterly, who grew up in Hampton, blends impressive research with an enormous amount of heart in telling these stories - Boston Globe
"With HIDDEN FIGURES, Shetterly enacts a revolution no less crucial and pivotal as her subjects. Restoring the truth about the individuals who were at once black, women and astounding mathematicians, in a world that was constructed to stymie them at every step, is no easy task. Shetterly does it with the depth and detail of a skilled historian and the narrative aplomb of a masterful storyteller. ... Shetterly is never heavy-handed, but always searingly honest, and it's refreshing and devastatingly frustrating that the injustices these women endured extended to their erasure from history. ... This is a compulsively accessible work for anyone with an interest in history, science, civil rights, women's rights, or simply a great story." - Bookreporter.com
"Restoring the truth about individuals who were at once black, women and astounding mathematicians, in a world that was constructed to stymie them at every step, is no easy task. Shetterly does it with the depth and detail of a skilled historian and the narrative aplomb of a masterful storyteller." - Bookreporter.com
"Meticulous... the depth and detail that are the book's strength make it an effective, fact-based rudder with which would-be scientists and their allies can stabilize their flights of fancy. This hardworking, earnest book is the perfect foil for the glamour still to come." - Seattle Times
"You don't have to be black, female or a whiz at math to be fascinated by the story of these smart human computers." - Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Hidden Figures is clearly fueled by pride and admiration, a tender account of genuine transcendence and camaraderie." - New York Times Book Review
"Genuinely inspiring. . . . Much as Tom Wolfe did in "The Right Stuff", Shetterly moves gracefully between the women's lives and the broader sweep of history . . . Shetterly, who grew up in Hampton, blends impressive research with an enormous amount of heart in telling these stories." - Boston Globe