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A review by jesikasbookshelf
What Would Boudicca Do? by Beth Coates
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
As a starting point for a history of remarkable women, this is great. It is clearly written for teenagers and it highlights the varied and incredible ways women across time and cultures have chosen to live on their own terms. Considering information about such women is unlikely to be the focus in most textbooks, this book is a great resource.
That said, this really is aimed at teenagers -the language is sometimes frustrating to the adult ear and many aspects of these women's lives are oversimplified. Yes the book does enough to indicate that there are complexities, but so many of them are dealt with at a surface level, leaving the indication that bad behaviour is fine if you're iconic. There's also a serious undertone of suggesting that real and longterm difficulties faced by modern women pale in comparison. In some ways that's true, bit modern problems are obviously different to historical ones for...everybody.
The book uses the biographies of 50 women to give readers an indication of the different ways in which traditionally feminine, ladylike behaviour should and can be ignored in favour of women being rightfully independent, intelligent leaders. Its just...it doesn't really offer any practical advice on how to actually do that which leaves the book title feeling slightly misleading.
Overall, this is a great starting point for younger readers that deserve to know that history ignores the lives of women in a deep way, but it absolutely is a starting point and not a book that offers a full or complex understanding of women's lives as a contextual arc through social progress.
That said, this really is aimed at teenagers -the language is sometimes frustrating to the adult ear and many aspects of these women's lives are oversimplified. Yes the book does enough to indicate that there are complexities, but so many of them are dealt with at a surface level, leaving the indication that bad behaviour is fine if you're iconic. There's also a serious undertone of suggesting that real and longterm difficulties faced by modern women pale in comparison. In some ways that's true, bit modern problems are obviously different to historical ones for...everybody.
The book uses the biographies of 50 women to give readers an indication of the different ways in which traditionally feminine, ladylike behaviour should and can be ignored in favour of women being rightfully independent, intelligent leaders. Its just...it doesn't really offer any practical advice on how to actually do that which leaves the book title feeling slightly misleading.
Overall, this is a great starting point for younger readers that deserve to know that history ignores the lives of women in a deep way, but it absolutely is a starting point and not a book that offers a full or complex understanding of women's lives as a contextual arc through social progress.