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breannasbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. First, the subject matter is something I find very interesting. The friendships were interesting and many were unknown to me. I enjoyed learning about these women. I liked that the tone was conversational, but it came off as trying too hard most of the time. Maybe I'm a little older than the intended audience but that was disingenuous to me. Some of the chapters were too detailed. Context is important for many of these stories, but some focused more on their circumstances than the friendships themselves. The author used way too many parenthetical phrases, to the point of being incredibly distracting. Sometimes there were four and five on page. Doing this decreases readability significantly (regardless of who the reader is). Finally, I'm not sure how I feel about the order of the stories. They are separated by athlete, science, activist, etc. I think I would have preferred to have them randomly ordered because they start to hit the same note after the third story (specifically in the athlete section). My final review is 2.5/5 stars. While I enjoyed this book, I think it could have used a better editor to catch these issues. I would, however, recommend it to younger audiences who want to learn about some awesome ladies in history!
sevenacrebooks's review against another edition
4.0
If you think that female friendships are full of competition, catfights, and spite-then you can thank all the crappy writing that has filled our books and television screens for far too long. Sam Maggs takes a deep dive into 20 awesome female friendships that helped change the world and make it a better place.
Covering five categories-athletes, political and activist, warrior, scientist and artist squads, Maggs tells the stories of some pretty amazing ladies who stuck together to create change throughout history. Some are pretty well known ladies like Anne Bonny and Mary Read, as well as our three amazing ladies on the U.S. Supreme Court. Others were a joy to discover like the Haenyeo free divers who are continuing the 2,500 year-old practice of diving for the various sea creatures found on the sea floor or the Trobairitz who were active during the 12th century.
Sam Maggs covers the globe and all of time to bring us some of the most fascinating female friendships that have helped shaped history. I really enjoyed her points on how no matter how far back you go in history, women have worked together to bring about important change. It’s been through women working together, not alone, that brought about education and equality for women.
Maggs writing is both informative and entertaining. Her other titles look equally awesome and I’m looking forward to checking out more of her work.
Covering five categories-athletes, political and activist, warrior, scientist and artist squads, Maggs tells the stories of some pretty amazing ladies who stuck together to create change throughout history. Some are pretty well known ladies like Anne Bonny and Mary Read, as well as our three amazing ladies on the U.S. Supreme Court. Others were a joy to discover like the Haenyeo free divers who are continuing the 2,500 year-old practice of diving for the various sea creatures found on the sea floor or the Trobairitz who were active during the 12th century.
Sam Maggs covers the globe and all of time to bring us some of the most fascinating female friendships that have helped shaped history. I really enjoyed her points on how no matter how far back you go in history, women have worked together to bring about important change. It’s been through women working together, not alone, that brought about education and equality for women.
Maggs writing is both informative and entertaining. Her other titles look equally awesome and I’m looking forward to checking out more of her work.
runoutofpages's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this collection featuring amazing girl squads from across the world and from many different time periods. The authors were a little sassy and were throwing some shade and I was total into it. Several of the girl squads I had heard of and I enjoyed getting to know a little more or getting to hear about them in a different light, but overall I hadn't even heard of most of the women discussed in this book.
I think this book will make a great holiday present for all the strong women in your life and I can't wait to see the finished copy (the illustrations are super cool too).
Thanks Netgalley and Quirk Books for my review copy!
I think this book will make a great holiday present for all the strong women in your life and I can't wait to see the finished copy (the illustrations are super cool too).
Thanks Netgalley and Quirk Books for my review copy!
rachaelarsenault's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
This was an absolute delight to read. We don't learn nearly enough about women in history, and this book fills that void beautifully. But it's not just about women and their accomplishments - it's about their friendship, comradery, and bravery against the odds and within systems and communities that often pushed back hard against them.
I hope to see more books like this one in the future. The prose was witty and easy to follow, and each piece was just long enough to give you a clear understanding of who the women were, what they were about, and what they were achieved without getting tediously long or overstaying its welcome. Definitely highly recommended.
I hope to see more books like this one in the future. The prose was witty and easy to follow, and each piece was just long enough to give you a clear understanding of who the women were, what they were about, and what they were achieved without getting tediously long or overstaying its welcome. Definitely highly recommended.
aquahogcodes's review against another edition
5.0
Exceptionally amazing, witty and humorous and badass. The ode to womanhood that we deserve. Sam Maggs's words are quirky and insightful. I stan.
monetp's review against another edition
5.0
“People ask me sometimes, ‘When will there be enough women on the court?’ and my answer is, ‘When there are nine.’ ” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg
I'M SO ON BOARD WITH THIS BOOK. I loved learning about eco-feminism in Korea, the patriotic women's league of Iran, the ladies of the supreme court, real life Amazons and female pirates. These are just a few of the remarkable stories shared in this book. Even though many female friendships are featured, [a:Sam Maggs|8445946|Sam Maggs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1578516847p2/8445946.jpg] leaves enough room to describe in detail each woman's individual life. She throws in fun details as well as historically accurate information. My favorite was when she mentioned Elena Kagan's support of frozen yogurt machines in the Supreme Court cafeteria lol!
Maggs's informal commentary, usually written in parentheses, is delightful. She makes her opinions known and her jokes makes the tough subject matters more digestible. She always ends each chapter with a note of hopeful finality. Through Maggs's writing, the reader becomes hopeful that more women's stories will rise from the shadows and be shared. I need a Netflix documentary series based on all this book's chapters!!!!!!!! I recommend this book to every women and gender studies class.
I'M SO ON BOARD WITH THIS BOOK. I loved learning about eco-feminism in Korea, the patriotic women's league of Iran, the ladies of the supreme court, real life Amazons and female pirates. These are just a few of the remarkable stories shared in this book. Even though many female friendships are featured, [a:Sam Maggs|8445946|Sam Maggs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1578516847p2/8445946.jpg] leaves enough room to describe in detail each woman's individual life. She throws in fun details as well as historically accurate information. My favorite was when she mentioned Elena Kagan's support of frozen yogurt machines in the Supreme Court cafeteria lol!
Maggs's informal commentary, usually written in parentheses, is delightful. She makes her opinions known and her jokes makes the tough subject matters more digestible. She always ends each chapter with a note of hopeful finality. Through Maggs's writing, the reader becomes hopeful that more women's stories will rise from the shadows and be shared. I need a Netflix documentary series based on all this book's chapters!!!!!!!! I recommend this book to every women and gender studies class.
vadersvalkyrie's review against another edition
4.0
A great survey course about amazing women you want to know more about.
faerieontheshelf's review against another edition
4.0
This rolled up in the mail just as I finished The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy so I dropped right into it to continue my great adventure reading about badass women.
What’s super cool is that some of these stories tied back into The Lady’s Guide as Lee was inspired by some of the women featured here - the Edinburgh Seven, the female pirates, and so on.
A really solidly enjoyable read about badass women, most of whom I didn’t know about before (which is sad ngl). I felt sometimes it was really colloquial and slang-y for me, but the target audience is teens so that’s a deliberate choice.
What’s super cool is that some of these stories tied back into The Lady’s Guide as Lee was inspired by some of the women featured here - the Edinburgh Seven, the female pirates, and so on.
A really solidly enjoyable read about badass women, most of whom I didn’t know about before (which is sad ngl). I felt sometimes it was really colloquial and slang-y for me, but the target audience is teens so that’s a deliberate choice.
thejourneyofmybooks405's review against another edition
4.0
The term, "squad", in relation to friendships, was extremely overused a few years ago, but the theory behind it is empowering. Pitting women against each other is a favorite past time of mainstream media, but there are several stories of women banning together and making an impact on history.
In "Girl Squads", author Sam Maggs tells 20 brief stories about about women working together and making a better life for themselves and the women that come after them. Some of the stories are well known, most recently with the African-American women of NASA who calculated the numbers to send the first man to the moon to the story behind the 3 women who currently sit on the Supreme Court. But have you heard the story of the Edinburgh Seven, who were the first women accepted into medical school in the United Kingdom? The Patriotic Women's League of Iran, which was composed of Persian women who fought for equal rights? Or the work a group of women did in Antarctica?
The stories are short and concise, but with some more research, any of these stories could be a full fledged book just asking for a movie adaptation. This was a fun, interesting history read and you will walk away continuing to be in awe of women and their accomplishments.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.
In "Girl Squads", author Sam Maggs tells 20 brief stories about about women working together and making a better life for themselves and the women that come after them. Some of the stories are well known, most recently with the African-American women of NASA who calculated the numbers to send the first man to the moon to the story behind the 3 women who currently sit on the Supreme Court. But have you heard the story of the Edinburgh Seven, who were the first women accepted into medical school in the United Kingdom? The Patriotic Women's League of Iran, which was composed of Persian women who fought for equal rights? Or the work a group of women did in Antarctica?
The stories are short and concise, but with some more research, any of these stories could be a full fledged book just asking for a movie adaptation. This was a fun, interesting history read and you will walk away continuing to be in awe of women and their accomplishments.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.