Book review: 'Breaking Through' is a historical snapshot of women's athletics one hundred years ago

I love history books. And I especially love the ones that focus on particular time periods or people in history. So, Breaking Through: How Female Athletes Shattered Stereotypes in the Roaring Twenties was just perfect for people like me. This book is set during the 1920s, and talks about women athletes.

Image from Amazon

Can you think of any famous female athletes from the 1920s? No? I couldn't either. I think that's a pretty good example of how little has been written about those forward-thinking women who had to do more than train and compete in their sport; they had to fight social prejudices to do so.

Yesterday I went running. I wore running shoes, a tank, and shorts. Average garb for runners, right? Less than 100 years ago, in November 1922, Julia Durrant, a sophomore at the University of Washington, was banned from competing in any athletics for the rest of the quarter because she did something terrible--she wore men's running shorts. Back then, women were supposed to wear bloomers when doing anything athletic. Because Julia refused to apologize for what she'd done--she said she was trying to get the university to broaden athletics for women--she was athletically suspended.

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And that is just one of fascinating stories told by, Breaking Through. This book goes on to tell stories of black and white female athletes. It also recounts how doctors during the 1920s, and before, worried that women's bodies were too fragile to do anything that caused them to break out in a sweat. Crazy, right? It made me wonder how doctors felt about women undergoing the intense physical aspects of giving birth...

Anyway, back on topic.

Breaking Through tells about female soccer players, tennis stars, aviation experts, swimmers, and much more. Along the way, it gives interesting historical anecdotes of what was going on in the general public, to help readers understand the time period of when these female athletic breakthroughs were taking place.

Image from Amazon

Breaking Through has nothing offensive in it. This book does touch on women's suffrage, black suffrage, and refers to women having periods (*experts* in the 1920s didn't think women should do any kind of physical activity during the first two days of their periods). While this volume is in the Children's Books section in most physical and online book stores, I think it would appeal most to those 12 and older. I loved this book and I'm in my 40s!

Review breakdown:
96 pages
Black and white, colorized black and white, and color photographs
Best for ages: 12 through adult
Educational factor: high
Moral content: Nothing to worry about
Parents could be concerned about: Kids might start asking you why people 100 years ago didn't think women could participate in sports