Women's History Month book recommendations from University of Arizona Press Publicity Manager Mary Reynolds include We Are the Stars, Ladies of the Canyons, and No Place for a Lady – all written by women authors. 

Education is great, except when it’s used to kill culture. 

“I learned more about the United States as a settler colonial nation when I read 'We Are the Stars: Colonizing and Decolonizing the Oceti Sakowin Literary Tradition' by Sarah Hernandez," said Reynolds, "and I encourage others to explore how colonizers used the printing press and boarding schools to displace Oceti Sakowin women as traditional culture keepers and culture bearers with the goal of internally and externally colonizing the Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota nation."

"This literary analysis recenters Oceti Sakowin (historically known to some as the Sioux Nation) women as their tribes’ traditional culture keepers and culture bearers, while offering thoughtful connections between colonialism, nationalism, and gender.”

Want to know about Victorian-era women who moved to Arizona and nearby states?

Reynolds recommends "Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest," by Lesley Poling-Kempes. “I love hiking and biking in northern Arizona and this book shows what it was like to hike and ride horses through this region in the mid-19th century. The author took a deep dive into the archives and uncovered stories of women who traveled down canyons, across Monument Valley, and to the high mesas of the Hopi. It's a prequel to conventional ‘old west’ tales, peopled by women with long skirts and cinched waists in the desert heat, riding cowboy style, trying to do right by the land they loved.”

“I’m headed to Santa Fe and Taos on vacation this summer, and to get in the New Mexico headspace, I’m reading 'No Place for a Lady: The Life Story of Archaeologist Marjorie F. Lambert,' by Shelby Tisdale. The author uses extensive personal interviews with Lambert to write this comprehensive biography. Lambert became a professional archaeologist and museum curator and was successful at both when relatively few women were able to enter either of these professions. As a curator, she supported the arts of Native Americans and Spanish Americans in northern New Mexico. In this compelling biography, Lambert’s work in Santa Fe comes to life and serves as inspiration for today.”

Note: This book will be published in June, but you can pre-order now.