Laurie Coulter

Embellished with quotes and historical asides, Cowboys and Coffin-Makers does a superb job of capturing the 19th-century work world. Some of the jobs included are exactly what you'd expect to find---frontier farmer, coal miner, robber baron---but Coulter covers several lesser known occupations as well---hokey pokey seller, breaker boy, sandhog---and presents all of them with fresh facts and a good dose of humor. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that salt maker might have been just the job for me in 19th-century America...and maybe I'd have written a dime novel or two on the side.… (more)

There are probably several books out there doing a beter job of introducing these princesses to kids (the Royal Diaries series comes to mind) and getting them to ´connect´ with these historical figures.
On the other hand, the texts are concise, and a decent introduction to both the princesses and non-fiction reading, even though it only scratches the surface on both.
Not very effective, however, if you want to break the Disney-bewitchment.
That the selected bibliography suggests 4 books by Carolly Erickson, who is known to be a bit... cavalier with her historic facts and sources, also casts a bit of a shadow on this tome.… (more)