Books published by publisher Mason Crest

Alicia Keys has dominated hip-hop and R&B music since first bursting onto the scene in 2001. She has released four hit albums, several number one singles, and thrilled fans throughout the world with her live performances. This one-woman dynamo is also a best-selling author, an actress, and a tireless advocate for charitable causes. Success did not just come overnight to Alicia. The biracial daughter of an Italian-American mother and an African-American father from Jamaica, Alicia grew up in the treacherous Hell's Kitchen section of New York City. She had to learn how to avoid danger while staying focused on her dream. It was a dream that required practice, patience, and persistence in the face of several false starts. However, Alicia never gave up and never gave in, and today she has achieved superstardom.

In early America, married women had no rights under law. They belonged to their husbands. Their voices were not heard in public. But with the War of Independence, women found a voice as patriots. They supported the rebellion with boycotts. During wartime, women spied on the enemy. They served as messengers. They tended the wounded. Some even served as soldiers. Women performed daring feats of bravery. And they proved they were capable of doing much more than 18-century society allowed them. Some women called for change. Abigail Adams asked that the laws of the new nation recognize legal and educational rights for women. Judith Sargent Murray called for educational reform. It would take several more decades before women took up the cause for their legal, educational, and political rights. But leaders of the movement would be able to look to 18th-century American women for inspiration.