History is full of brave men performing heroic deeds. But what aboutwomen? Though their stories are often overlooked, they are no less thrilling:

• On the night of April 26, 1777, sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington rode her horse to warn local minutemen that the British were attacking Danbury, Connecticut. Sybil rode all night, covered twice as much ground as Paul Revere, and did not get captured.
• Betty Zane helped save Fort Henry in the Northwest Territories in 1782 while running to get ammunition for the defenders. Author Zane Grey was her great-great grandson.
• Susie Taylor was born a slave in 1848. After escaping in 1862, she joined the military. She also taught others to read and write, later opening a private school for black children in Savannah, Georgia.
• In the early 1700s, Anne Bonney and Mary Read began their careers as pirates. Ride the high seas with them and Calico Jack on theSloop William.

Want to know more?Courageous Womenbrings these stories and many others to life in thirty-two intriguing sketches.