CRITICAL AND POPULAR ACCLAIM FOR HIDDEN FIGURES!
Publisher's Weekly Starred Review
Library Journal Starred Review
Booklist Starred Review
Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2016
Wall Street Journal Most Anticipated Books of 2016
Goodreads Best History and Biography Nominee
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence for Nonfiction
Hollywood Reporter Power Authors 6 up-and-comers to watch
Editorial Reviews
“Much as Tom Wolfe did in “The Right Stuff”, Shetterly moves gracefully between the women’s lives and the broader sweep of history . . . Shetterly, who grew up in Hampton, blends impressive research with an enormous amount of heart in telling these stories (Boston Globe)
“Restoring the truth about individuals who were at once black, women and astounding mathematicians, in a world that was constructed to stymie them at every step, is no easy task. Shetterly does it with the depth and detail of a skilled historian and the narrative aplomb of a masterful storyteller.” (Bookreporter.com)
“Meticulous… the depth and detail that are the book’s strength make it an effective, fact-based rudder with which would-be scientists and their allies can stabilize their flights of fancy. This hardworking, earnest book is the perfect foil for the glamour still to come.” (Seattle Times)
"In...her beautifully written, rigorously researched, and culturally sobering book, Shetterly goes on to explore the lives of a number of the early computers: how they became who they are and what difficult choices they often had to make between their personal and professional lives — choices many of which remain just as impossible and unjust for women today." (Brainpickings)
"This is an incredibly powerful and complex story, and Shetterly has it down cold. The breadth of her well-documented research is immense, and her narrative compels on every level. With a major movie due out in January, this book-club natural will be in demand." (Booklist)
“Shetterly shines a much-needed light on the bright, talented, and wholly underappreciated geniuses of the institution that would become NASA. … Shetterly’s highly recommended work offers up a crucial history that had previously and unforgivably been lost. We’d do well to put this book into the hands of young women who have long since been told that there’s no room for them at the scientific table.” (Library Journal)
SELECTED PRESS LINKS
Science Friday interview (10/21/16)
Margot Lee Shetterly Wants to Tell More Black Stories (NY Times)
The Story Behind This Week's Best Sellers (NY Times)
8 Books by Women for Bill Gates To Read this Summer, Elle Magazine, May 19. 2016.
Uncovering a Tale of Rocket Science, Race, and the '60s. New York Times, May 20, 2016.
Oscars Not So White? There's No Shortage of Black Films in 2016. New York Times, May 9, 2016.
NASA Langley honors a groundbreaking mathematician. Daily Press, May 5, 2016.
Pharrell Williams Producing Taraji P. Henson's 'Hidden Figures'. Variety, April 5, 2016
FOX 2000’s Hidden Figures is Cast--- Sloan Science and Film, March 23, 2016
African American Women Worked as Some of NASA's First Computers. Bitch Media, December 17 2015.
Ted Melfi & Fox 2000 In Talks For ‘Hidden Figures’; How A Group Of Math-Savvy Black Women Helped NASA Win Space Race. Deadline, July 9, 2015
NASA's Black Women Boffins Get Big-Screen Countdown. The Guardian, July 24, 2015
Before Computers Were Machines, They Were Human. Norfolk Journal and Guide, October 9, 2013