This was a fascinating story about a group of women setting up a bank in Denver in the 1970s. Even with the removal of discriminatory laws, women were still discriminated against and struggled to access credit.

One of the things I kept thinking as I read this is how fantastic it would be as a tv series. The vibrancy and determination of the characters, and the timeliness of the story would make it a must watch.

This could have been more interesting. It was very dry and read like a textbook. It might have been better if the author had focused on just a few women who were involved rather than so many that were mentioned. Each was only mentioned for a short portion. There was just too many names and too much info.

As a young woman without a lot of experience in finances, this book made me think, question and engage with the financial side of life in a new way. This book was extremely accessible and helpful for a newbie.

this is such an interesting story especially as its barely spoken about and the women themselves don't have anything like wiki pages on themselves etc, but unfortunately for me this book was not written in a way that made me want to keep reading

I couldn't tell the point of this book. It seemed more like an biography of different people instead of the event of women receiving the ability to have bank loans. Maybe I misunderstood the premise but I didn't find this appealing.

I thought this would be more of a 30,000 foot view of financial barriers women faced in the 1979’s, and I even thought that was where the story was turning. However, it is more of a focused story on how a specific bank was founded in Colorado and the women who did so. I wanted more from this story and it fell flat for me. The subject matter was well researched though, and I think maybe could have been the framework to tell the larger story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little A publishing for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

I love microhistories, and while I was a bit skeptical going into this one that there was enough material here for a book, Williams surprised me with this delightfully entertaining and intriguing piece of narrative nonfiction about the women’s bank in Denver.

I generally don’t love nonfiction history that focuses heavily on biographical information (preferring instead a broader sociocontextual perspective), but it worked well here and a lot of that is down to Williams ability as a writer. Like all good narrative nonfiction this reads like a novel, and its real-life “characters” are both compelling and easy to invest in.

Sometimes reading things like this makes me kind of mad, thinking about how relatively recent it is that women had so little control over their finances (not to mention that the country now feels like it’s going backward in that regard, further adding to my anxiety and unrest), but the tone and trajectory of this (while certainly recognizing the central misogyny at play) mostly makes it feel like a success story, and I loved that.

What a fascinating story of feminism!

I had no idea Women's Banks like this existed. I loved learning about the quest towards the Women's Bank of Denver and meeting all the women who worked together to make this happen.

Learning about how women from all across demographics came together to do something for all women is especially inspiring to read at a time when women's rights are in flux again.

One downside is that it ends a little abruptly. I enjoyed the 'what happened' to everyone else but a little more on the daily workings would have been fun to read.

.I am on the line about this book. I must have misunderstood the book's synopsis because I thought that this was going to be about the first-ever women's bank—it is not. There were so few banks that actually followed the letter of the law at that time period that you can see why something like this was groundbreaking, life-changing, and filled a great need for women.

I can't believe how far women have come, and reading this book has helped me understand just what women just a few years younger than I was at the time went through to get where we are today.

This book was quite interesting if you don't mind that it has extremely dry writing and too many primary, secondary, and tertiary characters. I know it was necessary, but I felt like I needed a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone.

It was a bit of a chore to keep up with everything, and it may have been more enjoyable if I had a degree in finance!

*ARC supplied by the publisher Little A Publishing, the author, and NetGalley.

"Give Her Credit" is exactly the kind of book we need right now. It is informative and relevant. It reminds the reader of how far we have come as a society and how the fight isn't over for equality. Williams does a wonderful job of making this a personal story and showing how each person involved with the fight for the bank had their own story to tell. My only criticism is that to give the characters more detail and depth she often relied on describing physical traits such as a "dark-haired beauty" or "sparkling brown eyes". This type of physical description is often what women are fighting against, especially in the work place. Men are not often characterized by their physical appearance but instead by their achievements and it should be as such for women. I would love to see this on the syllabus for every high school and college.

Give Her Credit: The Untold Story of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation tells a true story of remarkable women that changed the financial game. These women did not play by the rules. Instead, they changed them and made history.

Feminism began sweeping the nation in the 1970s. But not in every sector. Banking and finance was still the boy's club. Women needed a male co-signer. Income was completely ignored or considered unreliable. Loan applications would include invasive questions about birth control. It wasn't until 1978 that women were given access to lines of credit without a man "vouching" for her. The Women's Bank in Denver, Colorado, would operate like other banks with one caveat: women would be treated fairly and given the same financing/business opportunities usually reserved for men.

In just under 200 pages, we are introduced to a slew of characters. Most are the founders and members involved in the opening of Women's Bank. Others are women who struggled to become entrepreneurs but was granted a loan and given financial advice at the Women's Bank. And the stories I took a liking to most were of the women who made a career in banking, starting from a messenger girl to coin wrapper girl to businesswomen on Wall Street. While I appreciated the many examples, it was still too much jammed into so few pages.

These women came together to build the most successful female-run bank in the nation. Give Her Credit tells their story—the challenges and the achievements. From the rounded countertops design to control of the stock. It is inspiring, revolutionary and will give female readers a jolt of pride. On the same coin, this nonfiction book is a blaring reminder that history can, and often does, repeat itself. Hence, here we are in 2024 fighting for women's rights and equal pay. Deliberate timing on the author's or publisher's part? Hmmm...

Bookhearts, I recommend reading this appropriately titled new book when it releases in the new year. Give Her Credit where credit is due!

Happy Early Pub Day, Grace L. Williams! Give Her Credit will be available Tuesday, January 1, 2025.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

This story about a unique bank during a time of revolution for women's rights was informative and compelling. It is hard to believe that, roughly 50 years ago, women were unable to do things such as banking or obtaining credit without a man. This story tells of a bank that paved the way to change that in the western region of the United States, a region that remained behind the times where equitable treatment for women was concerned. Despite the nay-sayers and negativity, the group pursued it's vision and excelled beyond the expectations. It's been a long road for women in this country, and it's stories like these that show and remind us from whence we came. We will never go back.

Great look at a pivotal time in women’s and the USA’s history! I was excited to learn more about this time and the book absolutely delivered.

An interesting micro history about a group of women who combatted the male dominated banking practices of the 1970’s. Some hidden figures vibes here and readers of that book might also like this one.

thank you to netgalley and to little a for providing me with early access to this book! i will say it was incredibly well-researched and well-written. the prose was easy to read and to follow, despite the lingo and the numbers. there's no doubt that this is an inspiring story. however, i wasn't particularly engaged. i found it hard to continue reading because i wasn't involved in the story. sometimes i felt isolated as a reader. sometimes i found the book hard to follow because the chapters were short and switched perspectives often. there were too many characters to keep up with for my taste. but just because it wasn't for me doesn't make it a bad book, as seen by the other reviews! i hope it finds its niche and a group of readers who will come to love it <3

This book was difficult to rate because it reads as nonfiction, but is listed as fiction. As a nonfiction book, it would be quite compelling. But, as a novel, it is unsuccessful. The writing is all tell, no show. There are long, dry passages detailing historical events. There are even bulleted lists outlining details that, again, would be pertinent and informative if it were a nonfiction book about the banking industry, but as a fiction novel, seem fully out of place. Even the individual women's chapters read more like like biographies rather than stories. Overall, I did not enjoy this book, but that is because my expectations were for an exciting fiction novel with plot and emotion, and instead I got a very detailed history of what was an interesting time in the banking industry.

Well, I appreciate what the author wants to achieve here, and I cannot pinpoint anything essentially wrong with this book.
I simply didn't like it that much.
There were times I was intrigued. Others I was just bored.
There were times I felt invested in the protagonist's motivations. Others I was feeling irrelevant.

(Thank you to Little A for providing an eARC of the book to review.)

It was fascinating to read about the history of this group of women banding together to create banks that catered to women. They created a place for women to apply for loans, open savings accounts, and provide financial education or advice. This was the first book I read that covered this topic and it was well-written. I enjoyed reading about the process these women went through to get their bank to be nationally chartered.

At times, it was confusing with chapters going from being about one of the main women in the group to another; it was also hard to keep track of all the people being mentioned, too.

Give Her Credit is a relatively short, but comprehensive, accounting of the development of a women's bank in 1970s Denver. In the '70s women still could not access credit, loans, or a mortgage without the signature of a man, and in addition, were very limited in reaching higher levels of the banking industry if that was their career.

This book outlines how a group of women in Denver, and some male allies, set out to correct this by developing a community bank run by women that would address women's banking and business needs and provide other services that traditional banks were not willing to provide to women yet. I liked how this book had biographies of each woman involved in the development of the bank, and I appreciate that the author also covered how racism intersected with sexism in how women were discriminated against in the banking world. The conflicts the women engaged in with each other were interesting to think about as well because they obviously all cared very deeply about this project and wanted to make it the best it could be and to succeed. I always am interested to learn about how groups or organizations end up resolving these conflicts and what happens to those who disagree.

This is a really interesting topic to cover because while I think many people do know at this point that women were not able to access credit cards, loans, etc. until relatively recently, I also think that it's something easily forgotten because we take this completely for granted now. It's scary to think about in a time when women's rights are backsliding. It's important to be reminded that we absolutely cannot assume that our autonomy will always be there (which is becoming very apparent now).

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in feminist history. Although this bank wasn't explicitly feminist, it was run by women who rejected traditional gender roles and were interested in giving women control over their own lives.

Many thanks to Little A and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion.

"Give Her Credit" was a really interesting read about the founding of a Woman's Bank in the 1970s. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and learning more about the women driving the bank's founding.