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Antonia Fraser's Warrior Queens are those women who have both ru and led in war. They include Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I, Isabella of Spain, the Rani of Jhansi, and the formidable Queen Jinga of Angola. With Boadicea as the definitive example, her female champions from other ages and civilizations make a fascinating and awesome assembly. Yet if Boadicea's apocryphal chariot has ensured her place in history, what are the myths that surround the others? And how different are the democratically elected if less regal warrior queens of our time: Indira Ghandi and Golda Meir? This book is much more than a biographical selection. It examines how Antonia Fraser's heroines have held and wrested the reins of power from their (consistently male) adversaries.… (more)
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If you want more information look elsewhere and it left me
This was a particularly interesting read as Hillary Clinton was in the midst of running for President
A timely, beautiful read. Can't recommend it enough.
I thought the
I wish I had enjoyed the book more. But I found the author's constant speculation annoying, and her prose surprisingly uneven.
The book did introduce me to aspects of world history I had no experience of, which kept me reading. I found the sections on Queens Isabella of Spain and Louise of Prussia particularly interesting, probably because I had some knowledge of other events of those times, and other subjects entice me to read more European and colonial history. But I'm not sure I'd recommend this text.
It can;t by its nature, be a detailed history, but there's enough detail here to provide some background and put the lady in question into a social and cultural context. There are also enough notes and references that further reading could be readily identified.
I found the evolution of the Boadicea myth through the ages the most interesting, who she was reinvented for each succeeding generation, moving from leading a bloody uprising to being viewed as an establishment figure. How times change. This was an interesting read, and one that shows that the more we think things change the more they stay the same.
Avoid this one at all costs.
*Seriously, it's like saying Eleanor of Aquitaine was Polish.
Second, queens from non-europe was not featured as much as they should - be we have a queen from Africa and Asia, and I found these a lot more interesting than the rest of the queens. The writing is a bit dry, but British, and I suspect the information is well researched. Overall, a decent introduction into the subject, but I suspect there are better books on the subject.
She begins with the history of both Cleopatra and Boudica (heroically "Boadicea") as the earliest examples of women who led their nations in wartime, and how they as warriors fulfilled Goddess imagery in their respective cultures. Her research into Boudica forms the main narrative for how warrior queens are remembered and changed by history. Lady Antonia also pulls together Syndromes (archetypes) to show how women who lead are viewed by their contemporaries and by history: Voracity, Shame, Appendage, Figurehead are examples.
What little we do know about the historical Boudica comes from the writings of Tacitus and Dio Cassius and, interestingly enough, from modern era excavations starting in 1915 of a "red layer" attesting to the burning of Londinium from the time of Boudica and the Iceni wars with the Romans. Fraser then continues with her research into Matilda, Maud, Zenobia, Catherine the Great, and the other women warriors with the legend of Boadicea as her backdrop. Which is a good way to tie the history together with a common thread, instead of having a thousand years and a host of countries and disparate lives.
The distracting part of reading this book, again, is the writing style. Lady Antonia can tell a straightforward tale as she does with Cleopatra and Boudica; she seems to fill an inner need by making asides and references within sentences again and again, thus filling in pages with writing but failing to advance Story as a whole. And maps - when will book publishers insist on maps when geographical locations are as varied as they are here?