 Ross wrote some twenty nonfiction books, many of which were lives of famous women, ranging from the wives of American presidents to physician Elizabeth Blackwell, American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, and Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow.Her other books addressed more general topics such as education for the blind ("Journey into the Light", 1951) and American taste ("Taste in America", 1967).Her books were considered well-researched though written in a journalistic rather than academic style.