"... although close to nothing was known, until recently, of the history of women in American science, women have been an integral part of the scientific community for well over a century. I can still recall my astonishment when I discovered in 1972 some women's entries in the old directories, and when I read biographies of several scientists in the then-new '. Here were people who had been present at many of the familiar places and events, but who were totally unknown even to those of us well versed in the history of American science. I felt like a modern Alice who had fallen down a rabbit hole into a wonderland of the history of science that was familiar in some respects but distorted and alien in many others. Learning more about these women and bringing their stories into closer connection with the rest of the history of this period became a compelling and absorbing intellectual task."