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464 reviews for:
Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings
Linda Rodríguez McRobbie
3.6 AVERAGE
464 reviews for:
Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings
Linda Rodríguez McRobbie
3.6 AVERAGE
informative
The writing style was very conversational which drove me up the wall. Otherwise, great info
Well written and very easy to read. Filled with so many interesting historical women I had not heard of before. It inspired me to find out more about many of these amazing women.
funny
informative
fast-paced
The style was very light, maybe too light to hold my interest
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
To join the chorus of several others who have read this book, I liked the idea behind it, but the end product turned out to be....well, problematic, to say the least.
For me, one of the biggest issues is the enormous disconnect between its aggressive self-presentation as a history book about women who were anything but stereotypical princesses, and a lot of its actual content. It's a book that plainly states right in its title "Real Stories from History, yet in the very first section, several of the first women it covers are figures who are famous for exploits that are far, far from established historical fact. To make matters even more confusing, the the author plainly admits it whenever someone's accomplishments are based on mere unsubstantiated stories more than anything.
If "Princesses Behaving Badly" is so gung ho on presenting royal woman breaking the mold, it could at least do so with solid real-life examples. Trying to create an alternative narrative to Disney-style fairytale princesses stories is a lot less effective when those other tales, although a lot darker and grittier, may also be no more real.
I couldn't finish this book. This is not the light and interesting history read I wanted. And I don't think this book knows exactly what it wants to do, to be honest.
For me, one of the biggest issues is the enormous disconnect between its aggressive self-presentation as a history book about women who were anything but stereotypical princesses, and a lot of its actual content. It's a book that plainly states right in its title "Real Stories from History, yet in the very first section, several of the first women it covers are figures who are famous for exploits that are far, far from established historical fact. To make matters even more confusing, the the author plainly admits it whenever someone's accomplishments are based on mere unsubstantiated stories more than anything.
If "Princesses Behaving Badly" is so gung ho on presenting royal woman breaking the mold, it could at least do so with solid real-life examples. Trying to create an alternative narrative to Disney-style fairytale princesses stories is a lot less effective when those other tales, although a lot darker and grittier, may also be no more real.
I couldn't finish this book. This is not the light and interesting history read I wanted. And I don't think this book knows exactly what it wants to do, to be honest.
Utterly fucking delightful.
This is a collection of short pieces, each written in a breezy tone with an unrepentantly feminist backbone, focusing on 60 or so princesses (not all of whom are crown princesses, but yes, women who generally were referred to by that term). It doesn't go in very deep, but that's not really something you can do in a compendium; this intended to be light fare for a casual reader, and not something you cite in your MA paper. And unf, does it succeed. I read most of this on a rainy Saturday afternoon and it was great.
This is a collection of short pieces, each written in a breezy tone with an unrepentantly feminist backbone, focusing on 60 or so princesses (not all of whom are crown princesses, but yes, women who generally were referred to by that term). It doesn't go in very deep, but that's not really something you can do in a compendium; this intended to be light fare for a casual reader, and not something you cite in your MA paper. And unf, does it succeed. I read most of this on a rainy Saturday afternoon and it was great.
This book explores the stories behind female rulers and royalty and attempts to separate facts from fiction. The book fell a little flat for me. Great premise, but a missed opportunity.
That being said, a couple of the chapters were interesting because of other books I’ve read recently. Queen Nzinga mentioned by Ta-Nehisi Coates in “Between the World and Me” and Franziska Schanzkowska, whose story has been adapted into historical fiction work “I Was Anastasia” by Ariel Lawson.
That being said, a couple of the chapters were interesting because of other books I’ve read recently. Queen Nzinga mentioned by Ta-Nehisi Coates in “Between the World and Me” and Franziska Schanzkowska, whose story has been adapted into historical fiction work “I Was Anastasia” by Ariel Lawson.