“Laura Ramos’s talent is what sets the precise tone for Las señoritas . The stories of those teachers who Sarmiento brought over from the United States, who worked in various locations around Argentina, don’t need to be emphasized with extravagant adjectives: what is admirable about them arises, so to speak, on its own. The stories of those teachers are stories of emancipation, either closer to or beyond the limits of their time.”

“They were known as great and intrepid educators, with their names preserved in schools and libraries, perhaps some portraits, and little else. Laura Ramos dove into the universe of the pioneers who outlined current Argentine education in order to draw a map of magnetic identities and trace a path of adventures around a country that was convoluted and dangerous at the time. The result is Las señoritas (Lumen), which was just published and confirms—in case any confirmation was needed—the talent of the one-of-a-kind essay following her magnificent Infernales, which seemed difficult to top.”

“ Las señoritas by Laura Ramos follows the thread of History and of the stories—context, the time period, intimacy, domestic life—of a handful of exceptional women, or regular women in exceptional circumstances, who taught, founded, and built schools in a new promised land…Laura Ramos accessed exceptional material at Duke University in North Carolina, made up of letters and intimate diaries that far exceeded what was known. With this new and original material, she took on an incredibly delicate job of narrative filtering, and, with wisdom and emotion, reconstructed more than the context for a time period or a femininity ‘of the time.’ The book presents a range of female intimacies that are as diverse as they are exceptional.”

“The ignorance surrounding the educational plan that brought 61 teachers from the United States to Argentina in the 19th century is due in part to the lack of deep investigations on the topic. However, a recent book written by the journalist and author Laura Ramos and published by Lumen fills this information void. This is a complete investigation, through letters and personal diaries written by the teachers, titled Las señoritas. In this book, the teacher’s stories are woven together to present a vivid and very entertaining fresco of their lives in Argentina.”

“In Las señoritas, Laura Ramos once again leads her readers through a riveting story, works with unknown documents with the thoroughness of a historian, and is able to transmit knowledge through the life stories of incredible women while reflecting the spirit of the ideas in the 19th century with the same talent as always.”

“Teaching in a country up in flames: the loves and dangers of the North American teachers who revolutionized education (…) Las señoritas reveals the incredible feats accomplished by these teachers (…) told so well by Laura Ramos.”