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porshea's review against another edition
Writing is informative without being engaging
thebookishnic's review
5.0
This book was really great. I loved the short biographies of all these wonderfully badass women, especially those that I didn’t know. It was also really great that there was a section for “villains”. I would highly recommend this book as a starting point if you’re interested in feminism, women’s history, or enjoy bite-size portions of historical non-fiction. I’ll definitely be researching and reading more about some of these women later.
laurenmcdon's review
3.0
While at times this book seemed slightly aggressive towards feminism it is still an excellent account of some pretty cool women, with lots of points I agree with being a feminist believing in equality for all myself.
sionna's review
4.0
*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
This is a harder review to write because the formatting and display of the e-ARC was mixed up in places. So, it is a little hard to determine my thoughts on the writing, but I still have a favorable opinion of this book.
This isn't the first women's history nonfiction I've read -- heck this is actually the 3rd this year. It has been a popular year for forgotten women of history. Yet, all three books have different writing styles, categories, and even women to talk about. There is of course some crossover, but surprisingly, this book only contained about 4 I've read about before, and that might be because it is so difficult for English-speakers to learn about or be able to translate texts from other languages.
I like how a picture is included with the text and the highlighted passages were usually ones I would have wanted noticed. Also, I love how a section for bad women of history is included as well, and explained why we need to recognize women of all different areas of history, the good and the evil.
I think this book handled issues well and it felt like they did try to branch out from Western history.
This is another book I think people should read just so they can learn about forgotten people of history.
This is a harder review to write because the formatting and display of the e-ARC was mixed up in places. So, it is a little hard to determine my thoughts on the writing, but I still have a favorable opinion of this book.
This isn't the first women's history nonfiction I've read -- heck this is actually the 3rd this year. It has been a popular year for forgotten women of history. Yet, all three books have different writing styles, categories, and even women to talk about. There is of course some crossover, but surprisingly, this book only contained about 4 I've read about before, and that might be because it is so difficult for English-speakers to learn about or be able to translate texts from other languages.
I like how a picture is included with the text and the highlighted passages were usually ones I would have wanted noticed. Also, I love how a section for bad women of history is included as well, and explained why we need to recognize women of all different areas of history, the good and the evil.
I think this book handled issues well and it felt like they did try to branch out from Western history.
This is another book I think people should read just so they can learn about forgotten people of history.
julia_w's review
5.0
4.5 stars. I think this is a good starting place for learning about these awesome women. It didn't go into much depth on any of them- understandable with the format, and it could feel a bit preachy sometimes, but overall, pretty good.
I'm glad they included a villain section bc when I first got it and was flipping through, I saw the section on Margaret Thatcher and was just like, oh no...
I'm glad they included a villain section bc when I first got it and was flipping through, I saw the section on Margaret Thatcher and was just like, oh no...
crystalisreading's review
5.0
A thoroughly enjoyable and very interesting addition to the plethora of books about notable women of history that have been published recently. There were multiple women featured in this book that I did not know about before, and found fascinating--rebels. athletes. artists. politicians. I was in awe of so many of their accomplishments, and the courage it must have taken to achieve them. My only complaint about the book is small--while the pencil drawings for each woman were absolutely gorgeous, the rest of the graphic design, both colors and patterns, gave me a headache. Perhaps this is just to remind me that I'm not the target audience? at any rate, that's a small quibble. Otherwise I very much enjoyed these stories and raced through them. I also appreciated that Ms Sarkeesian and Ms Adams included more commentary than usual in each segment on one of the women. I didn't know much about Margaret Thatcher, other than who she was, prior to this, but the very thoughtful chapter on her not only taught me the facts of her life, but also why the authors included her in the villains section, next to lady pirates and drug lords, and one of my favorites, the riotous Moll Cutpurse. I now have so many more women to learn more about.
I definitely recommend this collection--it's accessible for a younger generation, but not dumbed down in a way to repel older readers (aside from the graphic design *shakes cane. get off my lawn!*), and you'll learn about women you may never have heard of before, who certainly deserve to have their achievements recognized. Some of my personal favorites, aside from Moll Cutpurse? Trieu Thi Trinh, Vietnamese freedom fighter from the third century. Fatima al-Fihri, medieval founder of a still active university. Khutulun, the unbeatable wrestling princess. Jackie Mitchell, the female pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. and so many more. Go read the book. Now!
I definitely recommend this collection--it's accessible for a younger generation, but not dumbed down in a way to repel older readers (aside from the graphic design *shakes cane. get off my lawn!*), and you'll learn about women you may never have heard of before, who certainly deserve to have their achievements recognized. Some of my personal favorites, aside from Moll Cutpurse? Trieu Thi Trinh, Vietnamese freedom fighter from the third century. Fatima al-Fihri, medieval founder of a still active university. Khutulun, the unbeatable wrestling princess. Jackie Mitchell, the female pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. and so many more. Go read the book. Now!
joinreallife's review against another edition
4.0
Probably closer to 3.5 stars for me, but I didn't want to round down...
theresidentbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
As someone who follows Feminist Frequency's work, I was excited to see Anita and Ebony had this book coming out. I preordered it immediately and knew I would enjoy it. I wasn't wrong.
History vs Women was my night book for about a week; it is not a book that will take up much of your time. The chapters are relatively short, each covering five women with each entry about two pages or more. The writing is informative while also maintain a critical feminist lens on the women covered and how we study women in history. The women selected were mostly new to me; each entry is well-researched and footnoted. I almost wish this book was longer because I wanted to know more, but maybe we will get a Volume Two. I would be here for that.
Overall, History vs Women is an interesting and informative read that highlights several women we should remember in history. If you're a feminist, a history nerd, or better yet both, History vs Women should be on your bookshelf.
History vs Women was my night book for about a week; it is not a book that will take up much of your time. The chapters are relatively short, each covering five women with each entry about two pages or more. The writing is informative while also maintain a critical feminist lens on the women covered and how we study women in history. The women selected were mostly new to me; each entry is well-researched and footnoted. I almost wish this book was longer because I wanted to know more, but maybe we will get a Volume Two. I would be here for that.
Overall, History vs Women is an interesting and informative read that highlights several women we should remember in history. If you're a feminist, a history nerd, or better yet both, History vs Women should be on your bookshelf.
sar_p's review
5.0
This is a short introduction to historical women I had never heard of and I'm sure many others have not either. I especially appreciate that Sarkeesian and Adams focused heavily on non-Western women, because even as feminist scholars unearth the works of women long forgotten, many inevitably focus on Western women. That can be because of resources available or the scholars' own limitations as they do their research (funding, travel, etc.) Sarkeesian and Adams don't pretend to be academic scholars who are writing about forgotten women; they merely provide an easily accessible resource that can be used as a jumping point for others to look into and learn more about whoever they want to. It was sometimes frustrating to have so little information about the women discussed, but that is not the fault of the authors that records were never kept on women.