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larissachurch's review against another edition
4.0
I can’t tell you how much I wish this book had existed when I was in high school!
cosimareads's review against another edition
5.0
Whyyyy do we keep making movies about High Schools Sports Championships or The Emotional Journey of the Coach That Came in to Lead This Team when we could be making movies about the 1964 Japanese Women's volleyball team, aka the "Witches of the Orient"?!
Each chapter in this book could have its own movie, but largely they do not. Women pirate friends who were caught and pregnant in prison together. A culture of women who deep-dive without scuba gear to keep their economy going and their families fed. Sisters who led a revolution in Vietnam, the women who defended China from colonizers with their 'superpowers', the women who fought abuse and left their home countries to become doctors so they could provide real health care for women in a time when women weren't even doctors... Are you kidding me?! And they all did it with the help - emotional, financial, etc. - of other women. I WANT TO SEE THESE MOVIES. I want people to know about these amazing women, from all different time periods and countries around the world. In pairs and in groups, they kicked ass.
The writing in this book is full of humor, and the stories will blow your mind because how are you reading about these women for the first time?! I know, I know.
Each chapter in this book could have its own movie, but largely they do not. Women pirate friends who were caught and pregnant in prison together. A culture of women who deep-dive without scuba gear to keep their economy going and their families fed. Sisters who led a revolution in Vietnam, the women who defended China from colonizers with their 'superpowers', the women who fought abuse and left their home countries to become doctors so they could provide real health care for women in a time when women weren't even doctors... Are you kidding me?! And they all did it with the help - emotional, financial, etc. - of other women. I WANT TO SEE THESE MOVIES. I want people to know about these amazing women, from all different time periods and countries around the world. In pairs and in groups, they kicked ass.
The writing in this book is full of humor, and the stories will blow your mind because how are you reading about these women for the first time?! I know, I know.
biblioholicbeth's review against another edition
4.0
So much of history as it is written revolves around dudes. Men who did things, applauded because they did things or found things or what-have-you. But women, well...they've been pretty effectively scrubbed from so much of history, for so many reasons. It wasn't "proper" or "how dare she" or "not good enough"...so much nonsense. This book, however, aims to change at least some of that. Women have been doing awesome things for a long time, and quite often, they were doing them together - in Girl Squads.
I picked this up for my daughter, originally. I ended up reading it myself. I love the varied countries and people and categories. I like that the stories about these women are shorter, but with enough history that those interested could certainly take their research further. Frankly, I also like the traces of snark directed at the dudes within the stories who were all "Pshaw. Women.". To me, this is suitable for YA, though adults will like it as well.
This is a great book for classrooms and libraries - again, enough to get someone interested to pursue further research for papers, or even just to read to feel a bit more empowered.
I picked this up for my daughter, originally. I ended up reading it myself. I love the varied countries and people and categories. I like that the stories about these women are shorter, but with enough history that those interested could certainly take their research further. Frankly, I also like the traces of snark directed at the dudes within the stories who were all "Pshaw. Women.". To me, this is suitable for YA, though adults will like it as well.
This is a great book for classrooms and libraries - again, enough to get someone interested to pursue further research for papers, or even just to read to feel a bit more empowered.
cupiscent's review against another edition
4.0
More of a light-hearted introductory survey with a solid message - girls do better when they lift each other up - than a thorough piece of academia, this book was a great time with a lot of interesting stories to uncover. I particularly enjoyed the pieces on the Korean divers, the trobairitz (predictably, given my love for GGK's A Song for Arbonne), Manon and the French revolution, and the original Blue Stockings (more a sparkling literary salon than the later pejorative use of the term suggests). But every single story was engaging and enlightening.
jacquelinepon's review against another edition
3.0
I found Maggs’ book a super engaging read and I thought her choice in different female friendships to focus on was refreshingly diverse.
I docked a star for the tone of the book (the voice comes off like an older lady trying to imitate a millennial), but otherwise pretty good.
I especially liked the chapter about the black women of the NACA (later NASA) during the 60s, and how it shed light on two other figures (kathryn peddrew and miriam daniel mann) who the recent movie Hidden Figures omitted. Otherwise, most of the empowering female friendships in this book are relatively unknown, making it all the more interesting to read.
I docked a star for the tone of the book (the voice comes off like an older lady trying to imitate a millennial), but otherwise pretty good.
I especially liked the chapter about the black women of the NACA (later NASA) during the 60s, and how it shed light on two other figures (kathryn peddrew and miriam daniel mann) who the recent movie Hidden Figures omitted. Otherwise, most of the empowering female friendships in this book are relatively unknown, making it all the more interesting to read.
ijustkindalikebooks's review against another edition
5.0
Sam Maggs writes great books about women in history, and Girl Squads continues that greatness as she writes about teams of women who have worked together to make history.
Representing a great range of people from the skiing sisters, Shirley and Sharon Frith to the Patriotic Women’s League Of Iran to The Red Lanterns Shining in China, this book covers a variety of squads that worked together to create and do things and does it well. With funny moments and poignant thoughts this book delivers some incredible stories about incredible people.
This book has a great layout with different sections for different areas and if the cover is anything to go by the illustrations to come to go with these chapters are going to look incredible. The stories are told beautifully and cover everything you would need to know - and makes you want to know so much more about these squadss and make your own to go save the world with.
A fantastic read I highly recommend to anyone who wants to know about the power and strength of women or wants to share it.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for a honest review)
Representing a great range of people from the skiing sisters, Shirley and Sharon Frith to the Patriotic Women’s League Of Iran to The Red Lanterns Shining in China, this book covers a variety of squads that worked together to create and do things and does it well. With funny moments and poignant thoughts this book delivers some incredible stories about incredible people.
This book has a great layout with different sections for different areas and if the cover is anything to go by the illustrations to come to go with these chapters are going to look incredible. The stories are told beautifully and cover everything you would need to know - and makes you want to know so much more about these squadss and make your own to go save the world with.
A fantastic read I highly recommend to anyone who wants to know about the power and strength of women or wants to share it.
(I received an ARC from Netgalley for a honest review)
elyseng's review against another edition
4.0
3,5*
Good table read. I found the entries to be unequally interesting. Some of them lost themselves in contextualization and almost forgot about their main angle : female squads/ friendship.
Despite the over-wordiness of the book, I'm happy I could learn about otherwise unknown women.
Good table read. I found the entries to be unequally interesting. Some of them lost themselves in contextualization and almost forgot about their main angle : female squads/ friendship.
Despite the over-wordiness of the book, I'm happy I could learn about otherwise unknown women.
niche's review against another edition
2.0
Mixed
This was tricky. I loved the information, but hated the writing style. It had the informal tone of a personal blog that I found grating and would break my reading flow.
This was tricky. I loved the information, but hated the writing style. It had the informal tone of a personal blog that I found grating and would break my reading flow.
bitinglime's review against another edition
3.0
I would only recommend this book to become introduced to the amazing groups of women we never learned about in history class. HOWEVER - I'm a bit disappointed in Sam Maggs' biased writing. When writing about two particular women, it is clear in their actions and correspondence to each other that they were lovers. Maggs seems to derail the very idea by writing in the same breath: "...in her journals... she wrote: 'it was in this rustic place, in this profound solitude, that I realized the value of intercourse with this most attractive of women.' Aren't gal pals just the best?" And again about two other women in a later chapter: "...while on trial, Mary said she only got into piracy because of 'Anne Boney, who was her lover.' Such pals." But then, in an even later chapter, while not even on the subject of lovers, the word "gay" becomes used and Maggs completely MISINTERPRETS the meaning. "...he received a letter from three friends, Peggy Pegrine, Valerie Davey, and Betty Webster, self-described 'sporty girls' who were 'also gay and bright' [Author's note: nice]." As though "gay" itself is a key token word for Maggs and only means one thing, but clearly having intercourse and being lovers with attractive women simply just mean being "gal pals." Extremely disappointed.
Overall, I did learn about a lot of amazing women. Did you know the Dahomey Amazons of Africa were the inspiration behind the all-female Wakandan army in the Black Panther series? But you wouldn't know this as it wasn't even mentioned in the book. Instead, Maggs compares them to the Amazons of Wonder Woman, simply because of their titles. So my three stars I'm giving this book are not at all celebrating Maggs or her writing style. It's celebrating the women mentioned and that I would not have known about them had I not picked up this book, but do yourself a huge favor and research the women mentioned in this book on your own after reading it.
Overall, I did learn about a lot of amazing women. Did you know the Dahomey Amazons of Africa were the inspiration behind the all-female Wakandan army in the Black Panther series? But you wouldn't know this as it wasn't even mentioned in the book. Instead, Maggs compares them to the Amazons of Wonder Woman, simply because of their titles. So my three stars I'm giving this book are not at all celebrating Maggs or her writing style. It's celebrating the women mentioned and that I would not have known about them had I not picked up this book, but do yourself a huge favor and research the women mentioned in this book on your own after reading it.