Women have been active in American business since the eighteenth century, and while they have made enormous contributions, they have also had to overcome tremendous obstacles. This encyclopedia chronicles the accomplishments of women in American business since the colonial era and discusses the historical events and issues that have concerned them. The encyclopedia additionally summarizes important legislation and organizations and covers such industries as accounting, advertising, banking, and manufacturing. Quotations from the women profiled capture their experiences in their own words. Included are more than 300 alphabetically arranged entries on such American businesswomen as Lucille Ball, Clara Brown, Hattie Carnegie, Liz Claiborne, Abby Joseph Cohen, Jenny Craig, Carleton S. Fiorina, Jamie Gorelick, Rosa Maria Hinojosa de Balli, Abigail Pierrepont Johnson, Estee Lauder, Christine Liang, Martha Stewart, and many more. Entries discuss the lives and careers of these women and cite works for further reading. The encyclopedia also includes roughly 100 interspersed entries on topics central to American businesswomen, including career planning, childcare, diversity, education, the finance industry, flexible work arrangements, golf, and real estate. Appendices list the most influential businesswomen in America, the top women-owned American companies, and women business leaders from particular ethnic and cultural groups, historical periods, and industries. A chronology details important events in the history of women in business, and an extensive bibliography concludes the encyclopedia. More than 425 entries, most of them biographical, comprise this resource. The women who are covered range from Lady Deborah Moody (1586-1659), who founded and planned the colonial settlement of Gravesend on Long Island, to Louise Kitchen (1969-), who was Enron's chief operating officer. Selection is limited to women in profit--making enterprises and generally excludes government officials and women who are known mainly as artists. The remaining 100 or so entries deal with topics such as Automobile industry, Latina businesswomen, Mommy track, Sexual harassment , and telecommuting . The biographical entries provide a few personal details, but emphasis is on professional accomplishments. Most are brief, although a few, such as those for Barbara Proctor and Oprah Winfrey, cover more than two pages. All entries conclude with short further reading lists of books, articles, and Web sites, which can be found with fuller citations in the 50-page general bibliography. Other content includes a chronology; Fortune magazine's list of the 50 most powerful American businesswomen, 1998-2003; and lists of businesswomen who are covered in the encyclopedia organized by ethnic heritage, historical period, and profession. We found no entry for colonial printer Dinah Nuthead, even though she appears in the "Businesswomen by Historical Period" appendix. There is some overlap with other reference sources that treat women in business, among them A to Z of American Women Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (Facts On File, 2002) and Historical Encyclopedia of American Women Entrepreneurs (Greenwood, 2000). Encyclopedia of American Women in Business: From Colonial Times to the Present covers more than twice as many women as either of these, is more up-to-date, and adds depth to its treatment by combining biographies with topical entries. Smaller collections that own one or both of the older titles may not need to acquire the current work, but it belongs in academic and larger public libraries, especially where there is an emphasis on business or women's studies. Mary Ellen Quinn Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved CAROL H. KRISMANN is head of the William M. White Business Library at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the author of Quality Control in Business and Industry: A Bibliography (1990), and her work has appeared in such journals as College & Research Libraries and Journal of Academic Librarianship .