This book recounts the deeds and sings the praises of 21 Jewish women. They lived in different eras, came from different backgrounds and followed different paths. They were community leaders and social reformers; innovators, entrepreneurs and trailblazers; doctors, jurists and teachers; artists and writers; humanitarians, scholars and philanthropists. Some lived in this region their entire lives. Others moved here. One spent her formative years here, before undertaking her work in other cities. Despite their connections to Western Pennsylvania and its Jewish community, their accomplishments often reached beyond their immediate community and region. Their biographies offer insight into the often-unheralded role of women in American social, political, educational and economic development, as explained in an introduction that sets a scholarly framework for understanding the writing of the history of Jewish women in 20th Century America. from the Foreword