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Episode Description

Change is sometimes sparked by unexpected characters—outsiders whose clarity of vision and strength of purpose can catalyze a revolution. VISIONARY WOMEN: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World (Ecco; On-sale March 13, 2018) is the story of four renegades who profoundly shaped the world we live in today. Together these women—linked not by friendship or field, but by their choice to break with convention—showed what one person speaking truth to power can do. Rachel Carson warned us about poisoning the environment; Jane Jacobs fought for livable cities and strong communities; Jane Goodall demonstrated the indelible kinship between humans and animals; and Alice Waters urged us to reconsider what and how we eat. With a keen eye for detail, Andrea Barnet traces the arc of each woman’s career and explores how the work of these visionaries collectively changed the course of history. Their efforts ignited a transformative progressive movement.

Andrea Barnet

Andrea Barnet was a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review for twenty-five years, where she wrote primarily on the arts and culture. She is the author of Visionary Women, How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall and Alice Waters Changed our World, a finalist for the 2019 PEN/ Bograd Weld Award for biography and one of Booklist’s four “2018 Editors’ choice for biography” selections. Her previous book, All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem, 1913-1930, was a nonfiction finalist for the 2004 Lambda Literary Awards. Her journalism has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, the New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and The Toronto Globe and Mail, among other publications. She splits her time between New York City and the Hudson Valley. While diverse in their field, there are certain common threads among these Visionary Women. Drop In with us to learn what contributes to a woman who makes a difference in this world and how can we do the same?