It’s that time of year again with my yearly list of nonfiction books for those who want to learn about women’s contributions throughout history. This year, there weren’t many new books covering new women to interest me. Except for NPR’s Women in Music that I still haven’t gotten my hands on. And . . .

When Women Who Invented Television by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

When we think of women who revolutionized television behind the wscenes, we thibnk of Lucille Ball who became one of the first female producers and studio owners. But before Lucy, there was Hazel Scott, Irma Phillips, Gertrude Berg, and Betty White paving the way for her and the many after.

Gertrude Berg and Irma Phillips led the fictional spheres. Berg showed millions of households the lives of a quirky, loving Jewish immigrant family are just like anyone else’s, making herself America’s mother and the first (and only) openly Jewish show until the 90s with Seinfeld and The Nanny.

Irma Phillips basically created the first soa opera and the whole genre with the longest running show, The Guiding Light, ushering it from its radio beginnings to television (until 2009!), focusing on the concerns and interests of women even though tv execs thought women’s interests were not serious or important. Phillips knew who held the purchasing power in the house though, and ushered in product placement for the first time.

On the talk show side, Hazel Scott’s variety show only aired for one season but showcased black excellence by bringing talented, and sophiscated African-Americans to the average household. Normalizing African-American women onscreen to today’s Oprah Winfrey. Betty White, who’d been part of Hollywood literally since the beginning, makes her own subtle progressive strides with her talk show highlighting working women, animal rights and African-American talent, ushering the wholesome, good news talk we’d see with later talk show hosts like Barbara Walters and Drew Barrymore.

Although there is no proof these women met face to face (but we can all imagine since Hollywood is a small town), Armstrong weaves a compelling thread through the quartet, comparing and contrasting their experiences in breaking into the industry, dealing with the Red Scare and its effects on their respective shows (all cancelled), their personal lives, and how the 50s’ shove to paternalism backtracked the strides women were making behind the scenes and on screens.

Here is the usual list below

Rejected Princesses and Tough Mothers by Jason Porath

100 Bad Girls Throughout History, Revolutionary Women, and Nevertheless, She Wore It by Ann Shen

Bygone Badass Broads by Mackenzi Lee

Dead Feminists by Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring

Monster, She Wrote by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

She Represents by Caitlin Donohue

Forgotten Women: The Leaders, The Artists, The Writers and The Scientists by Zing Tsjeng

League of Extraordinarily Funny Women by Sheila Moeschen

Renegade Women in Film and TV by Elizabeth Weitzman

Modern Herstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani

Dynamic Dames by Sloan DeForest

In Praise for Difficult Women by Karen Karbo

The Book of Gutsy Women by Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton

Thrill Seekers by Ann McCallum Staats

Girls Who Green the World, and Girls Who Run the World by Diane Knapp

Our Brave Foremothers by Rozella Kennedy

Unsung Heroines of the Holocaust by Sarah Silberstein Swartz

Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage by Anita Kunz

Bookish Broads: Women Who Wrote Themselves into History by Lauren Marino

Black Girls Rock edited by Beverly Bond

Behind Every Great Man by Marlene Geller-Wagerman

Nonfiction for Kids

Because I was a Girl edited by Melissa de la Cruz

Native Women Changing Their Worlds by Patricia Cutright

In the Line of Fire: Eight Women War Spies by George Sullivan

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 1, and 2, 100 Stories of Immigrants by Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli

100 Real Life Tales of Black Girl Magic edited by Lily Workneh

100 Inspiring Young Changemakers edited by Jess Harriton

Women in Science, Women in Sports, and Women in Arts by Rachel Ignotofsky

Anathology of Amazing Women by Sandra Lawrence

They Led the Way by Joanna Johnston

Bad Girls by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple

Rad Women Worldwide, Rad Women A-Z, and Rad Girls Can by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klien Stahl

Nice Jewish Girls by Julie Merberg

Girl Squad, and Wonder Women by Sam Maggs

The Girl Who Rode a Shark: And Other Stories of Daring Women by Aisla Ross

America’s First Ladies by Kathleen Krull

Women Who Changed the World by Laurie Calkhoven

Women vs History by Anita Sarkeesian and Ebony Adams

Nonfiction Comics

Femme Magnifique by various

Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu 

Amazons, Abolitionists and Activists by Mikki Kendall and A. D’Amico

Noisemakers: 25 Women Who Raised their Voices and Changed the World from Kazoo Magazine

Wonderful Women of the World by various

Smash the Patriarchy by Marta Breen

If I Go Missing by Brianna Joannie