Thank you to Vanda Krefft, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for the copy of this audiobook.

Expect Great Things explores the life of Katherine Gibbs, founder of the prestigious Katherine Gibbs School, and delves into what inspired her passion for educating young women, along with the stories of many who attended the school.

I found the first quarter of the book absolutely fascinating and really enjoyed learning about Katherine’s journey. However, as the book progressed, I struggled to stay engaged. While I usually love nonfiction, the narration lacked the energy and personality needed to hold my attention, and I often found myself rewinding to catch details I had missed.

Overall, it’s a powerful and important story, but I think it could have been delivered in a more compelling and dynamic way.

If you enjoyed the Mad Men series or the film, Mona Lisa Smile, this is right up your alley! I had never heard of Katharine Gibbs but after reading about the impact of just a few women she set up to be a success in the world, I’m so thankful for her as a woman. I think some read into stories like this as not providing enough for women but I think the book does a great job of explaining what it was like for career women in the 1920s-60s, especially. It was very much preparing women to be skilled enough to replace a man even if the opportunities would never arise. More so, they were taught loopholes to get as close to the top as possible. In most cases, at this time, getting close WAS the win! It was almost unheard of and not heavily accepted to be more than a housewife if that’s what you wanted so reading of the incredible achievements many of these women reached just filled me with gratitude for the skills they were taught through Gibbs school and how effective they truly were in applying their education to propel them.

This was an interesting look at a very specific aspect of women’s history in America. Between the narrative and the narration, it has the feel of a PBS documentary in the best way. Later in the book it became a bit difficult to follow the threads of the chapters, but the information was interesting nonetheless.

Katherine Gibbs (b. 1865), lived in comfortable circumstances until her husband died in 1909 and left the family destitute. Katherine had no skills, so she enrolled in a secretarial studies course where she learned typing, shorthand, bookkeeping, business practices, etc. Better yet, Katherine learned to teach those subjects, and in 1911, Katherine opened her first secretarial school. Eventually, branches of the 'Katherine Gibbs School of Secretarial and Executive Training for Educated Women' opened in Rhode Island, Boston, New York City and New Jersey.

In addition to teaching secretarial skills, the Katherine Gibbs schools had courses in art and music appreciation, English literature and composition, psychology, sociology, economics, contemporary civilization, and world government. The curriculum also included lessons in personal grooming, elocution, and fashion sense. As a result, Katherine Gibbs' graduates were in high demand as secretaries, and many 'climbed the ladder' in a world where "men still held tight to high-paid, high-prestige occupations.

Gibbs' plan to give women a boost was simple. She'd give employers women who were better than men: speedier typists, flawless stenographers, tidy organizers, and well-groomed, nicely dressed, gracious hostesses. In addition, 'Gibbs girls' would stealthily learn all about the organization, observe leadership, gain new skills, make new contacts, earn a decent living, and move up in the world....striking out on their own if necessary.

Krefft includes mini-biographies of 'Gibbs girls' who succeeded in a variety of professions. I'll give some examples.

◈ Katherine Towle: Towle got a degree from UC Berkeley, then graduated from the Gibbs school in 1923. After being employed by the Berkeley admissions department for three years, Katherine was denied admission to the school's PhD program because she was a woman. So Towle got a job as resident dean at the elite Ransom and Bridges school in Piedmont, California and soon became headmistress. Then in 1943, Towle joined the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Marine Corps and was eventually promoted to Colonel.

◈ Mary Sutton Ramsdell: Ramsdell had a turbulent life before she graduated from the Gibbs school in the 1920s. Ramsdell then put her education to good use in Boston - at a home for unwed mothers. This was really a private detention center, and Mary was dismayed by the fact that women who 'fell from virtue' were penalized, but the men involved weren't punished. So Mary became a Massachusetts State Policewoman with a badge and gun, and she handled crimes involving women. Mary hauled in men who seduced underage girls; tracked down sexual predators reported to the police by teachers, ministers, nurses, and child protection agencies; went after negligent parents, etc. Mary had a twenty-year career where she was an advocate for women and a respected leader in the law enforcement community.

◈ Mary Goodrich : Goodrich was an aviation reporter and columnist who earned the first woman's pilot's license in Connecticut. In the early 1930s, Goodrich was appointed director of the Betsy Ross Corps, a group of female pilots ready to assist in national defense during emergencies. Mary lost her pilot's license in 1933 for faulty depth perception, after which she enrolled in the Gibbs school. This led to a job as a publicist and then a position with the Walt Disney Studio. Hired as a secretary, Goodrich was soon scouting out story ideas, writing summaries of the plot and characters, and doing background research on costumes, landscapes, and buildings. Krefft notes, "Mary's time at Disney would always remain a prized memory."

Other Gibbs school graduates with distinguished careers include:

◈ Lenna Wilson - who became a New Hampshire State Representative in the 1920s;
◈ Natalie Stark - who volunteered with the Sacco and Vanzetti defense team and later - while living in the Philippines - lobbied for United States aid to starving Chinese farmers;
◈ Lillian Lorraine - who flew domestic missions for the Army Air Forces during WWII;
◈ Loretta Swit - who became an award winning actress (she played 'Hot Lips' Houlihan in M*A*S*H);
◈ Loudell Insley - who worked for Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy; and more.

In addition to discussing the Gibbs schools, Krefft writes about society pressuring women to be 'stay at home wives and mothers', which would leave the good paying jobs for men. Women were welcome to work as nurses and teachers, but for much of the 20th century, it was almost impossible for females to become lawyers, doctors, engineers, scientists, and so on. The Gibbs schools played a part in remedying that situation, so kudos to them.

This book, which contains a fine synopsis of women's professional advancement - along with many photographs - is an excellent addition to women's history. Highly recommended.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Eliza Foss, who does a fine job. I also had access to a digital copy of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Vanda Krefft, and Algonquin Books for copy of the book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC!

I'll admit, I initially picked this book up based on the cover of the glamorous women and their wide hats among the back-drop of the big city. I had never heard of the Katharine Gibbs School before this book, and I'm so glad I took the time to listen to this audiobook.

Expect Great Things! begins with the story of Katharine Gibbs, a widow with two children left nearly penniless when her husband died. She made it her mission to teach young women the necessary skills to ensure they could stand on their own two feet and make a living without relying on a man or anyone else lest the same misfortune happen to them.

What followed Katharine's story were the stories of many notable Gibbs' graduates who went on to take their Gibbs education and make a name for themselves in the predominantly male workforce. While their secretarial skills got them into the offices of the most hire-powered men, these women ultimately went on to forge their own careers working alongside people like Walt Disney, Howard Hughes, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and as the head of the Women's Marines, a writer of Wonder Women comics, a presidential advisor, and a U.S. Ambassador to name a few. As a huge fan of M*A*S*H it was really cool to hear Loretta Swit's story too!

I love narrative non-fiction books, especially ones that focus on lesser known, but incredibly important parts of history. Many people my age have never heard of the Katharine Gibbs School, and the thought of a secretarial school may sound laughable in the 21st century, but it played a huge role in educating women and giving them freedom to earn their own money and work in the areas where decisions were being made, often subversively becoming decision-makers themselves.

While I'd heard of the Katherine Gibbs schools before picking up Expect Great Things, I wasn't overly familiar with their programming. This was a well researched look into a program that had profound impacts on many women's lives. The narration was well done and appropriate for the context of the subject matter.

3.5 ⭐

I have read a few historical fiction novels that mention The Katherine Gibbs school but I have never known the full story. And this is a great book about why she started this school and how she achieved great success AND the achievements of the graduates.

Y’all…the women who went before us were super heroes!

This author has done some amazing research. She has captured the best of the best and she has done a fabulous job with this information. I learned so much in this book. And these women…talk about strength, character and courage in a time of unbelievable hardship. They changed the laws and expectations!

This is narrated by Eliza Foss. She did a great job. Very matter of fact and great pacing.

Need a true story about changing your stars…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this audiobook from the publisher for a honest review.

This is a book about women’s history we never learned in school. This one covers some of the many women who went to the Katharine Gibbs school. It starts with Katharine’s history and how she started the school. It was advertised as a secretarial school but taught so much more. They taught women to stay strong when things didn’t work out and to not be afraid to move on. It taught them to have confidence in themselves. The book goes on to name many of the women who went through the school over the years, including actress Loretta Swit. One story was particularly interesting to me because I learned part of that story in another book on women’s history. This one was a pilot who went on to help ferry new planes to their destinations. The women were considered civilians and it was many years before their efforts were acknowledged by the military.
I had heard of the Katharine Gibbons school but had no idea of its impact on women’s history. A lot of influential women came from there.
I read this as an audiobook and thought the narrator did an excellent job.
I received this book as a free ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I heard of Katharine Gibbs School and knew it was a secretarial school, but that was pretty much it. After reading this book, I realise how oversimplified my impression was, as Katharine Gibbs School was so much more. The book primarily focuses on the stories of dozens of graduates and how their education helped them to transformed not only the workplace, but to shift the whole perception of women as a work-capable part of society.

In the early 20th century, when women were expected to marry young rather than pursue careers, first women to challenge these norms had to overcome so many obstacles. It’s difficult to imagine how many different sexist stereotypes they encountered daily, but thanks to their effort, persistence and dedication, the world was gradually changing.

That said, it may be an exaggeration to credit the Katharine Gibbs School alone for this progress. Even the book says that many graduates hadn’t worked a single day (still marrying instead). Then, there were also other women, who did a great impact, while not getting their education at Gibbs. Thought, when viewed as a collection of success stories, I admit that this book is uplifting and inspiring, which makes it a nice read overall.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of a well narrated audiobook!

Expect Great Things! by Hachette Audio was very interesting. It is a history of the Katherine Gibbs School for Women. It was the prevailing school for women in the 1920s – 1960s. Their main mission was to provide a way for women to lead independent lives. Most women were expected to be secretaries. But their plan was for many to be much more. They had to adapt with the times during the depression where they taught the girls to be smart shoppers and to adapt to the items that are available. You might recognize a few names. But most of them are not common names. It was interesting to hear about many women that did important things in history and many have been unrecognized.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

(ALC provided by NetGalley). This was a really great, comprehensive history of the Katharine Gibbs School. This is a part of history I never knew about, and the author did a fabulous job pulling together so many stories of the women who graduated from and/or were connected to the school. This was a very empowering read and it’s a good reminder that without strong women in the past, we wouldn’t be where we are today. This book kept my attention the entire time and there were not “slow” parts in my opinion. I was really shocked to learn that the school only closed down officially in 2011.


One major criticism is the lack of acknowledgement that this book is written about white women who attended the school and white women in history in general. There were only 3-4 brief parts that acknowledged racism and racial differences during the time periods discussed in the book. In my opinion, there should have been a very clear disclaimer at the beginning of the book and also a clear definition of “women” (I.e. white women) as it is used in this book. If this was better explained and acknowledged in the book, it would have been an easy 5/5 stars!

I highly recommend this read to everyone as it was very well done and an important piece of women’s history in the US.

The narrator was fabulous and the absolute perfect pick for this book. They had a very strong voice and fit very well with the contents of the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

I had heard about Katharine Gibbs school as a preteen- an family friend daughter went on a tour, and somehow I was there too. I was young and thought it was a "typing" school. I was happy to learn how wrong I was with this book. Very educational and inspirational.
I liked learning the stories of the women and the way the school may have changed their lives.

3.5- voted up.

This book is a history of the Katharine Gibbs School, once the preeminent business prep school for women. While it seems like the majority of the curriculum was built around creating maximally efficient secretaries, the book's goal is to demonstrate how many women rose above those limitations to break into male spaces and achievement. Beginning with the story of Gibbs herself, it eventually becomes a series of profiles of successful graduates. For some, outcomes were not great; not by any fault of their Gibbs education, but broader societal challenges facing women. In all, the book frames the Gibbs School as a mostly progressive option for women in a world of limitations, and its downfall due more to predatory investors than societal shifts.
The audio was good. The narration is straightforward and direct, which feels right for a relatively low-drama historical topic. It's a niche 20th-century history topic that I think some patrons at my library might pick up, but probably not one with enormously wide appeal.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Listening to the audio book, the narrator has a perfect voice, tone, and inflection for reading aloud. The book is very thorough sharing the life of Katharine Gibbs from Galena, IL birth, through schooling in NY for high school, singleness through her 20's and then marriage later in life, two sons, a husband who died and left her no provisions, and her response to recognizing that all women in her time, needed opportunity to become self supporting, not out of a feminist push, but just to be prepared for anything life brought on.

Her mindset is that of what modern thinkers would say is a "growth mindset" as well as showing courage, resilience, ingenuity, common sense, and intentional choices that suit her goals, not the cultural expectations of her era.

Expect Great Things if read and reviewed with wonder, and seeking the mindset of how to be successful in life when your perspective and ideas are different from the social norm, is a great inspiration. She empowers all women with the shared perspective that "anything is possible for those WILLING TO WORK HARD." We are lucky to have this life story to inspire young and older women alike that they can do anything if they are willing to work at it.

After learning about the way the school was created, who taught there, and how many locations there were, you continue to learn how the students at the Gibbs schools use their skills throughout huge events in history, and with connections to vital government offices, red cross, etc. So many layers of experience and perspectives brought in through the explanation of how Gibbs girls used their skills. Famous women who you may have heard of, or maybe have never heard of, but you hear how women had huge impacts on the government, companies, presidents, etc. And you learn about women who themselves went into politics serving at local, state, and national levels!

Thankful to netgalley for the opportunity to read/listen to an advance copy of the book, I suspect it will have an impact on me as I mentor young women and encourage them..

Thank you to Netgalley for the free arc!

Before listening to this book, I had heard the name Katherine Gibbs Schools but did not know anything about them. It was interesting to learn about their history and some of their alumi. However, the book felt disjointed to me. The chapters did not flow seamlessly from one to the next so the book was easy to put down. Also, some of the stories, especially about the alums, held varying levels of interest. I found some of the stories (such as the woman who worked on Wonder Woman) to be more interesting than others. The narrator has a great voice for audiobooks!

3.5 Stars
Thank you to Hachette Audio for this ARC. The narrator did a fabulous job.

I had been very excited to read this, but was a bit disappointed in its execution.
The way the book was structured was difficult to get past. I would have loved to hear more about the school. The facts provided of Katherine Gibbs life had more content than on the school itself.
The stories chosen from Gibbs alumni were awesome to hear (and at times difficult), but they too just seemed to be brilliant stories, with a credit to Gibbs school almost as a footnote.
There seemed to be so many unnecessary, and dare I say irrelevant factoids to beef up book.
All in all, I gave 3.5 stars because this could have been great given the subject. Unfortunately, it read as two different books and wasn’t seamless in its execution.

I picked this book because I always love a history book about something I don’t know. I knew that the Katherine Gibbs school was a technical school, but I didn’t realize what the school once was. Reading this book, you see how confident this school made its graduates, really cool guest speakers, classes, and it just really seems like the admin made it fun to go here, and the women who graduated had such a confidence in them. Makes you wonder if a for-profit technical school could get to a level like this again. I loved seeing how this school shaped women, especially with stories of different women who attended.

I'd never previously heard of the Katherine Gibbs school, but I've heard of multiple go their graduates. A feminist uprising clad in white wrist length gloves, the school was a bastion of class and propriety, and its graduates were confident and determined. At a time when women were supposed to be dainty and quiet, pretty and pleasing, this school taught women to strive for whatever they wanted. This book is well researched and informative, as well as inspiring. The audio was well read and entertaining.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the digital copy of this audiobook; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Expect Great Things is the latest in a long line of books about women in history that were looked over despite their accomplishments because most histories until the past few decades was written by white men. I had never heard of the Katharine Gibbs School, yet when I got immersed into the book I realized that I should have known about the founder because she really did change the world of academics and jobs for women.

Katharine Gibbs was a woman who was left a widow with two small children and almost penniless. She vowed that she would one day prepare other women so they did not end up like her. And she did. The Katharine Gibbs School that she founded taught women life skills and work skills that previously had been the prevue of men. For the most part, men were secretaries to important people, but Gibbs school changed all of that. Women secretaries revolutionized the workforce in the United States.

We as a society need to keep reading and writing about women’s history and bringing these stories to light. I am so glad I got to know Katharine Gibbs and all the women that went on to successful careers with VIPs.

This book was narrated by Eliza Foss, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever listened to something else with her, but I would definitely listen to something Foss narrated again. She has a great voice for audio!