Lydia Reeder

Lydia is the author of the award-winning DUST BOWL GIRLS: THE INSPIRING STORY OF THE TEAM THAT BARNSTORMED ITS WAY TO BASKETBALL GLORY, a thrilling depiction of the birth of women's competitive basketball that takes place in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. An Oklahoma native, Lydia's roots run deep. Some of her favorite times as a child were spent on her grandfather’s ranch near Chickasha making hay-bale tunnels, fishing for bass, or traipsing through miles of pasture. Today, she lives in Denver with her husband and their five cats. Her outdoor adventures include hiking the long, rocky trails that wind through the mountains of Colorado. Her upcoming book, THE CURE FOR WOMEN: DR. MARY PUTNAM JACOBI AND THE CHALLENGE TO VICTORIAN MEDICINE THAT CHANGED WOMEN'S LIVES FOREVER (St. Martin's Press, December 2024), reveals the nineteenth-century origin of the pseudo-science that supposedly connects all of women's ills to her reproductive system. It tells the story of the women doctors and suffragists, led by Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, who fought back against this attempt to control women's bodies and lives. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY starred review for THE CURE FOR WOMEN: “[Brilliant] … Reeder’s winsomely written narrative touches on issues strikingly similar to ones widely discussed today, including women’s ongoing frustration with the lack of robust medical study of the female body and the troubling reemergence of reactionary assertions that women are by design not fit for work. It’s an urgent and revealing slice of history.” Prior to becoming an author, Lydia worked for many years developing eLearing for continuing education in the fields of nursing and healthcare.