cover image How Jane Won: 55 Successful Women Share How They Grew from Ordinary Girls to Extraordinary Women

How Jane Won: 55 Successful Women Share How They Grew from Ordinary Girls to Extraordinary Women

Sylvia B. Rimm. Crown Publishers, $25 (351pp) ISBN 978-0-609-60758-9

In the popular See Jane Win, psychologist Rimm enumerated the primary factors that help girls grow into successful women, demonstrating to parents the value of encouraging healthy competition, intellect, hard work and careful decisions about schools and friends. In this companion book, which will be welcomed by parents and by those simply curious about women's psychology, Rimm and her daughter, a research psychologist, interviewed women ranging from their 30s to their 80s about their roads to success and satisfaction, at work and in their personal lives. The authors wisely let them tell their own stories, though given the challenges, adventures and strokes of luck these women have experienced, and the strength they have displayed, they seem to defy the description ""ordinary."" Grouped by profession (e.g., ""Healers and Discoverers""), her subjects include high-profile women (Gov. Christine Whitman and space shuttle Cmdr. Eileen Collins) as well as doctors, scientists, teachers, executives and many other professionals. Every reader will find resonance somewhere in this wide array of experiences of hardship and comfort, mediocre and top grades, social success and difficulty, though some interviews are disappointing (the women in media professions, for instance, come across as strangely bland). Particularly affecting are the stories of Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller, U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez of New York, and the memorable Mary Previte, New Jersey state assemblywoman, who spent part of her childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China. This impressive group of mainstream feminist role models will inspire girls and women alike. (Feb.) Forecast: The bestselling record of the Rimmses' previous book, a 20-city radio tour, a 23-city author tour and widespread interest in girls' development should guarantee this book broad exposure and a long life.