This unique collection of narratives, essays, and poems includes 
an original interview with Maya Angelou and pieces by Naomi 
Shihab Nye, Pat Mora, Rosemary Catacalos, and many others. 
Each work relates how women have demonstrated courage by 
taking a risk that has changed their lives.

    The introduction explores courage not as a battlefield quality, 
but as the result of thoughtful choices demonstrating integrity and 
self-awareness. Each section opens with a description of its 
organization and the significance of individual pieces. Themes 
include sustenance for living, faith in the unknown, the courage of 
choice, the seams of our lives, and crossing borders. The book 
begins with a conversation with Dr. Maya Angelou, the 
embodiment of a courageous woman. She urges readers to 
"Envision" and concludes the book with the wish "Good morning," 
inviting all to join her in a new day reflecting "The Power of One." 
Voices of racial and ethnic diversity speak throughout the work, 
underscoring both difference and unity in the female experience.

    Including role models for university audiences and powerful 
reflections of life experiences for older readers, this work serves 
many purposes: a textbook in Literature or Women's/Gender 
Studies classes, a focus for book study groups, and a source for 
providing perspective during quiet moments. All net proceeds 
from book sales will go to the WINGS nonprofit organization, 
recipient of Oprah's Angel Network award, providing uninsured 
women with free breast cancer surgery, radiation, counseling, and 
follow-up treatments such as chemotherapy.

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KAREN A. WALDRON is Professor Emeritus of Education and 
former Director of Special Education at Trinity University, San 
Antonio, Texas. She holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Syracuse 
University and has supported the education of women and families 
throughout Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, and 
Hong Kong. JANICE H. BRAZIL is a widely published poet with 
involvements in Girl Scouts, Amnesty International, and hospice in 
Massachusetts, Illinois, and Texas. LAURA M. LABATT was 
president of the Bexar County Women's Center and focuses efforts 
on literacy, career development, and hospice. All three reside in 
San Antonio, Texas.


What people are saying about this book
"I wish women could see themselves free. Just see and imagine 
what they could do if they were free of the national and 
international history of diminishment. Just imagine, if we could 
have a Madame Curie born in the nineteenth century, suppose that 
twenty other women had been liberated at the same time? That's 
what I wish for women: See it. Try to see yourself free. What 
would you do?"—from "Sources of Courage: An Interview with 
Dr. Maya Angelou"