by Tiya Miles
First published 2024
Award-winning historian Tiya Miles examines how connection to nature shaped remarkable American women across centuries. Miles traces the outdoor experiences of figures like Harriet Tubman, who gained knowledge of terrain while enslaved on a Maryland plantation that later enabled her escapes. She explores Louisa May Alcott's childhood freedom in New England woods that defied social constraints on girls. The book highlights the Indigenous women's basketball team from Fort Shaw, Montana, who dominated white competitors at the 1904 World's Fair and reclaimed athletic confidence. Miles recontextualizes well-known figures like Sacagawea and Pocahontas alongside lesser-known women including Native American writer Zitkála-Šá, labor activist Dolores Huerta, and organizer Grace Lee Boggs. Through archival research, Miles demonstrates how outdoor access fostered independence and resistance against racism and sexism. The book argues that navigating wilderness, athletics, and street protests served both as sources of joy and tools for social change. Miles connects these historical experiences to contemporary debates about equal outdoor access for young women of all backgrounds.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, gender-studies, feminism, biography-memoir, 21st-century, activism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, social-commentary
Setting: Fort Shaw, Maryland, Montana, New England
Period: 1904, 19th-century, 20th-century, 21st-century
208 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company