Book excerpt: Moving portraits of seventeen independent women who helped make Arizona what it is today Remarkable Arizona Women profiles the lives of seventeen of the state’s most fascinating figures—women from across Arizona, from many different backgrounds, and from various walks of life. Read about Sister Mary Fidelia McMahon, designer of a thriving Tucson hospital; Sharlot Mabridth Hall, poet and territorial historian;Pearl Hart, the original lady bandit; and Polingaysi Qöyawayma, a Hopi educator of thousands of young people. With enduring strength and compassion, these remarkable women broke through social, cultural, or political barriers to make contributions to society that still have an impact today. The third edition features new biographies of Laura Kerman, the Tohono O’odham seed saver; Sara Plummer Lemmon, nineteenth-century botanist and artist; and Ayra Hammonds Hackett, the only African American female newspaper owner in Arizona—and one of very few in the entire country. Each of these women demonstrated an independence of spirit that is as inspiring now as it was then. Read about their extraordinary lives in this captivating collection of biographies.