""Don't take women when you go exploring!" In 1932, Roy Chapman Andrews, the president of the Explorers Club, told hundreds of female students at Barnard College that women and exploration could never mix. He obviously didn't know a thing about either... The Girl Explorers is the inspirational and untold story of the women who broke apart the stuffy men's club and founded the Society of Woman Geographers (SWG), and how some key members-including Blair Niles, Amelia Earhart, Gloria Hollister, and Anna Heyward Taylor-paved the way for women scientists by scaling mountains, exploring the seas, flying across the Atlantic, and recording the world through film, sculpture, and art"-- Provided by publisher.

Prologue: Banned -- Mere women. Reckless ; A place of their own ; Go home where you belong! ; A mere woman ; Reno-vation -- Early advocates for human rights. The prison special ; The backlash of war ; Birth of a nation -- The 'girls' of the Tropical Research Station. Wanted: a chaperone ; Too many girl pictures -- Advocating for Black people, gay men, and French prisoners. Imprisoned by whiteness ; Condemned to Devil's Island ; Gay Harlem ; Rates of mankind -- Networking women. Only a passenger ; Friction ; Networking -- Paving the way for women today. The Matilda effect ; Seeing with both eyes -- Epilogue: the loss will be ours.