Hidden Figures Book

Known as the American Dream and boundless story of the black women who changed and helped win the space race, a book written by Margot Lee Shetterly. It was printed in the United States of America and published by HarperCollins, New York. At the same time, a hardcover edition was published in 2016 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Making reference to the author, Shetterly is a non-fiction writer, researcher and businesswoman born in 1969 in Hampton, an independent city of Virginia. She graduated from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, after that she moved to New York and worked many years in investment banking at J.P Morgan and later on Merrill Lynch Bank of America Corporation. Posterior, she switched to the media industry and started working at Volume.com an HBO funded website.

It is very important to mention that Hidden Figures a number one New York Times Bestseller, is the one and only book that rocketed Margaret to fame in her writer career. Although that is her only published work, she has done other important things like founding The Human Computer Project in 2013, an undertaking that is recovering the names and achievements of all the women who worked in the areas of mathematics, computers and science at the NACA and NASA.

Making emphasize on the style of the book which is a narrative work; the author wrote it in third person and in the past tense. Furthermore, the main theme and ultimate goal of the writing is to show the world the importance women have, that their intelligence can be used to do amazing things in different areas of life. That women are necessary in this world. At the same time, it demonstrates how all of the characters were able to overpower the obstacles in their lives through suffering, perseverance and community backing. Since Margot grew up around scientists because her father was working with NASA, she knew where to find information in the different organizations. One of the major used sources was the Black Newspapers chronicled, primarily her father was her main source to write because he knew everything about women working at the NASA.

The intended audience of the book could be women specifically and people who are interested in knowing the story of how NASA was founded and the beginnings of the organization itself. People interested in knowing how they worked by the 1930’s and 1960’s. While reading the book it is very clear that there is a connection between it and history, as said before, the writing is non-fiction, therefore based on a real story. It talks about important topics like: equality, fairness, and inclusion. Also, the struggles for racial and gender justice at work specifically for women.

To sum up, I really enjoyed the book; it is interesting and I feel proud to know women made and are still making great changes in the labor world. I find it fascinating how the author portraits as a narrative the three stories and makes the reader feel everything those three women are. I would definitely read it again and makes me feel interested in knowing more about the NASA.

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