Lady Daredevils: American Women and Early Aviation-nurbook

Lady Daredevils: American Women and Early Aviation book cover

Lady Daredevils: American Women and Early Aviation

Author(s): Barbara Ganson (Author)

Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Publication Date: July 29, 2026
Edition: First Edition
Language: English
Print length: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0252089316
ISBN-13: 9780252089312

Book Description

Though often restricted as aviators, women helped build a stable aircraft industry that became the envy of the world. Barbara Ganson delves into the lives of the women whose work as test pilots, flight school owner-operators, airport managers, and in other roles impacted and reflected larger trends in society.

Women aviators challenged social norms that considered them inept with machinery and incapable of handling early flight’s very real dangers. Ganson follows how the New Woman ethos of freedom of movement and career inspired engagement with aviation. Despite resistance, women pushed limits by setting records for speed, altitude, distance, and endurance. The fashions of airwomen, meanwhile, reflected changing attitudes of women toward traditional roles and the pursuit of their career aspirations.

Informed by interviews and rare archival information, Lady Daredevils tells the stories of the pioneering women of early aviation history and reveals their dynamic interactions with social and technological change.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Ganson is a professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. She is the author of The Texas Takes Wing: A Century of Flight in the Lone Star State.

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