In The Women Who Built Hollywood, Susan Goldman Rubin profiles 12 female powerhouses who made big contributions when movies were a new American art form in the early 20th century. Among those featured are Anna May Wong (1905-1961), the first Chinese American movie star, and actress Hattie McDaniel (1893-1952), the first African American to win an Academy Award. Replete with archival black-and-white photos, this galvanic book gestures at the secret to so many of its subjects' long careers in Hollywood, both on-screen and behind the scenes: as Frances Marion (1888-1973), the first woman to receive an Oscar for writing, says here, "I hope my story shows one thing--how many women gave me real aid when I stood at the crossroads." --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author