Martyr is the first word that comes to mind when bringing up the sacrifice women made in the time their dignity was the normalized sacrifice. To stand where we are making at the men who are the great grandsons of the silencers to our great grandmothers. Great. A word that does little justice to the truly great gift given to us by our moms mammas mother, to normalize our bodies being in courtrooms, office buildings, and military bases and not only classrooms, kitchens and foyes. They were our martyr symbol, and fight that got us toe to toe with ones who think they could walk through us. In Praise of Difficult Women is a collection of 29 different stories about women who were determined to make a difference in gender equality. With each story is a different adjective to describe these determined women, that society painted as “difficult”. The women included in the book are; J. K. Rowling, Elizabeth Taylor, Gloria Steinem, Amy Poehler, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Josephine Baker, Rachel Maddow, Coco Chanel, Martha Gellhorn, Shonda Rhimes, Eva Peron, Helen Gurley Brown, Edie Sedgwick, Angela Merkel, Billie Jean King, Jane goodall, Vita Sackville-West, Elizabeth Warren, Margaret Cho, Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, Nora Ephron, Diana Vreeland, Kay Thompson, Laverene Cox, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Janis Joplin, Lena dunham, and Carrie Fisher. These women all cared very little about society's expectations of them and changed and inspired the world one by one. One woman I would truly like to shine the spotlight on is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and her impact on women today. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a supreme court justice and a breathtaking lawyer. Ruth was soft spoken but highly persuasive. She won 5 of the six cases she argued for in front of the supreme court as a lawyer. She quickly decided that she would take a stance for gender equality and fought for it her whole life. Ruth went to Harvard law where she met her husband Marty. When Marty fell ill, Ruth took all his classes for him, managed to keep her grades perfect and make it into Harvard Law review, while also taking care of her infant daughter alone. Ruth is a fascinating woman. Her story has inspired countless women to get a job in law, stay persistent no matter what, and chase their dreams. As for all the other women written about, their stories do the same. This book is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read and it's amazing to hear about so many strong women's life stories and work. I truly could not put the book down and I was excited after every story to read about the next. The author uses adjectives to describe each woman to help the readers personally connect to these enthralling women. I am honored to have read a book about the women who have carried society on their backs throughout time and to read a book where the author paints these women as heroic and persistent rather than a problem and obstacles.