"Lowe's appealing work profiles the careers of nearly 300 women active in silent film, mostly as performers. Entries have biographical information, film credits, and, often, a still of the biographee. A few subject entries dot the text, some on unusual topics--e.g., "suffrage films." The work's unique scope--women from any aspect of the early history of the film industry--fills a vacancy in the literature at a time when interest in silent film is growing. For deeper coverage of about 50 early figures, readers may want to consult Ally Acker's Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema 1896 to the Present (1991). The appendixes of Lowe's work often provide arcane information difficult to find elsewhere: which silent film actress had the longest careers, which were WAMPA (Western Associated Motion Picture Advertisers) baby stars and sisters, which are memorialized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and which covered in the main text functioned behind the scenes in the film industry. Strengths of this title include its breadth and extent of coverage, illustrations, readable style, and unique information." (Choice, June 2005)