Warrior Queens (Women In History)
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First published in 1988 as Boadicea's Chariot, Fraser's study of the great women who have led their people in war and peace over the last two millennia makes for entertaining reading. She discusses the careers of some remarkable queens of the past - Zenobia of Palmyra, Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great - who presided over armies, empires and male-dominated societies. She also takes us into the modern period where formidable female leaders such as Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher have battled all-comers. A fascinating conclusion explores some of the ways in which such women have been regarded by their contemporaries and by posterity in struggling to come to terms with female leadership. (Kirkus UK)
In her 1984 best seller, The Weaker Vessel, Fraser contrasted the low status of women in 17th-century England with their actual strengths and achievements; here, she's not quite as dramatic, but still intriguing as she ranges throughout world history for examples of women who ruled nations and armies. Fraser's 12th book gets off to a somewhat slow and cautious start with groundwork material about mythic traditions, war goddesses, Amazons, matriarchal societies, and the semilegendary figure of Boadicea, the British queen who led armed resistance against the occupying Romans in A.D. 60. Pace and interest quicken with accounts of better-documented female rulers, including Elizabeth I, Isabella, Catherine the Great, and Golda Melt, and women leaders who actually took part in battle - among them, Queen Jinga of Angola and the Rani of Jhansi. Some of Fraser's points: Warrior Queens create identifications with mythic female figures in order to gain legitimacy; their sex can be advantage or impediment, but never irrelevant; they win greater loyalty from their troops than male rulers can; the extremely potent (though antifeminist) role of "honorary man" may play best when (as in the Thatcher government) no other women are admitted to the precincts of power. Lively, readable history with new insights into some familiar figures and provocative introductions to national heroines little known in the West. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
In her 1984 best seller, The Weaker Vessel, Fraser contrasted the low status of women in 17th-century England with their actual strengths and achievements; here, she's not quite as dramatic, but still intriguing as she ranges throughout world history for examples of women who ruled nations and armies. Fraser's 12th book gets off to a somewhat slow and cautious start with groundwork material about mythic traditions, war goddesses, Amazons, matriarchal societies, and the semilegendary figure of Boadicea, the British queen who led armed resistance against the occupying Romans in A.D. 60. Pace and interest quicken with accounts of better-documented female rulers, including Elizabeth I, Isabella, Catherine the Great, and Golda Melt, and women leaders who actually took part in battle - among them, Queen Jinga of Angola and the Rani of Jhansi. Some of Fraser's points: Warrior Queens create identifications with mythic female figures in order to gain legitimacy; their sex can be advantage or impediment, but never irrelevant; they win greater loyalty from their troops than male rulers can; the extremely potent (though antifeminist) role of "honorary man" may play best when (as in the Thatcher government) no other women are admitted to the precincts of power. Lively, readable history with new insights into some familiar figures and provocative introductions to national heroines little known in the West. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a fascinating book, which brings to life a whole range of great female leaders - rescuing several from insulting obscurity.
The catch, unfortunately, is a couple of quite difficult chapters to introduce the book. The concept of the duality of a female leader as a real figure signified by 'Boudica' and the creature of legend 'Boadicea' is clever and sustained convincingly throughout the book, it's unfortunate that the exposition of the theory is such heavy going. Boadicea, for me anyway, is one of the least interesting figures in the book. Largely, I guess from the familarlity of her legend and the stage on which it was played.
That aside, the book is full of fascinating detail about a whole range of figures from varied historical periods and from across the world. Personal favourites of mine are Tamara of Georgia and Zenobia.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book gives a fairly entertaining account of the lives of some little known women in history (such as Tomyris of the Massagetai, Zenobia of Palmyra, Matilda of Tuscany, Queen Jinga of Angola and Queen Louise of Prussia) on whom there is perhaps not enough material to warrant full biographies. Fraser also deals with better known figures such as Elizabeth I, Isabella of Spain and Margaret Thatcher.
The various chapters are all linked by the theory that such "warrior queens" have a lot in common with each other when it comes to their contemporaries' and posterity's treatment of them. Fraser uses the figure of Boadicea, to whose life and legend she returns in each chapter, to provide this link.
Although I felt it didn't really work, I respected the author's attempt to synthesise the material with some overarching theories on the nature of female rule. However, the terminology she uses to describe the characteristics of warrior queens (such as appendage syndrome, voracity syndrome, "only a weak woman" syndrome) seemed a little forced at times. Moreover her spurious distinction between "Boudica" to describe the historical Queen of the Iceni and "Boadicea" to describe the legendary figure which lives on in literature and the popular conciousness, was a little annoying.
At two places in the book Fraser stated things that were factually incorrect. The first instance of this was on p. 224 she writes that Miguel, the Portugese prince who could have united Iberia into one kingdom had he survived infancy, was the son of Isabella I's daughter Maria. In fact he was the son of Isabella's eldest daughter, Isabella. Secondly, on p. 279 she states that Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia was Catherine the Great's mother-in-law. In fact Elizabeth was the aunt, not mother, of Catherine's husband. Such errors were downright shoddy from a historical biographer of Fraser's (supposed) ability.
I'm glad I only read this book on the train on the way to work rather than saving it as a holiday or weekend read, because it was entertaining only insofar as I didn't think too much about it. Having said that I recently gave Fraser a second chance by buying her biography of Mary Queen of Scots in a discount book shop for 3 pounds. I'm hoping this will redeem her.
The various chapters are all linked by the theory that such "warrior queens" have a lot in common with each other when it comes to their contemporaries' and posterity's treatment of them. Fraser uses the figure of Boadicea, to whose life and legend she returns in each chapter, to provide this link.
Although I felt it didn't really work, I respected the author's attempt to synthesise the material with some overarching theories on the nature of female rule. However, the terminology she uses to describe the characteristics of warrior queens (such as appendage syndrome, voracity syndrome, "only a weak woman" syndrome) seemed a little forced at times. Moreover her spurious distinction between "Boudica" to describe the historical Queen of the Iceni and "Boadicea" to describe the legendary figure which lives on in literature and the popular conciousness, was a little annoying.
At two places in the book Fraser stated things that were factually incorrect. The first instance of this was on p. 224 she writes that Miguel, the Portugese prince who could have united Iberia into one kingdom had he survived infancy, was the son of Isabella I's daughter Maria. In fact he was the son of Isabella's eldest daughter, Isabella. Secondly, on p. 279 she states that Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia was Catherine the Great's mother-in-law. In fact Elizabeth was the aunt, not mother, of Catherine's husband. Such errors were downright shoddy from a historical biographer of Fraser's (supposed) ability.
I'm glad I only read this book on the train on the way to work rather than saving it as a holiday or weekend read, because it was entertaining only insofar as I didn't think too much about it. Having said that I recently gave Fraser a second chance by buying her biography of Mary Queen of Scots in a discount book shop for 3 pounds. I'm hoping this will redeem her.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book isn't my idea of fun but it's for a friend who is into the 'warrior queens' and all that, and they are going to absolutely love it.
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