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Hair-Care Millionaire
Born Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana in 1867, this determined woman developed a line of beauty products, beginning with hair conditioner, that made her rich and famous, the first African-American millionaire. She helped other women go into business for themselves, and she worked hard for the rights and dignity of other African Americans.
* Reviews *
Genius at Work! Great Inventor Biographies series provides excellent starting points for more esoteric research. By taking high-interest topics in a biographical direction, Wyckoff ably combines triumph-over-adversity stories with lots of science and a dollop of historyrare is the volume that doesn't take its subject through a world war or the Great Depression. The Cornflake King details how young Will Kellogg went from broom salesmen to accountant for his health-nut brother to accidental inventor of a delicious breakfast treat. "Not enough people know his name," writes Wyckoff of Ralph Baer in The Guy Who Invented Home Video Games, and hes rightafter fleeing Hitler's Germany, the radio repairman went on to invent a clunky pet project that became a $28 billion industry. Technical sketches of his ideas are especially fascinating. Helicopter Man traces Russian Igor Sikorsky and his single-minded obsession with building an upward-rising airplane. And while The Man behind the Gun doesn't appropriately emphasize the centuries of slaughter wrought by Samuel Colts revolver, its plenty interesting to see young Colt as one of those kids who just likes to blow stuff up. Historical shots enliven an otherwise drab layout, and back matter, with a time line and further reading, is great., Booklist March 1, 2011
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