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A review by spiderhands
What Would Boudicca Do?: Everyday Problems Solved by History's Most Remarkable Women by Elizabeth Foley
4.0
I enjoyed this a lot - it was fun to pick up every now and then to read a couple of entries at a time. Each entry focuses on a different woman through history and a different trait that each had, and how it can inspire us in our everyday lives - entries like 'Clara Schumann and being savvy with your cash' or 'Josephine Baker and having it all'.
I liked that the writers made an effort to include a diverse range of cultures and ethnicities in this book (although white women still make up about 60% of the line-up) and I like that they didn't try to sugarcoat any of these ladies, simultaneously acknowledging their flaws, or in some cases, their involvement in hideous atrocities - like the fact that Coco Chanel was a Nazi, or Empress Cixi was a tyrant, or that Marie Stopes spent a while using her platform to promote eugenics... - while also explaining the role that these women played historically in laying down groundwork for future generations of women to excel.
One thing that I did find very weird is the tonal whiplash between, like, GIRL POWER! and Historical Violence, or whatever. It reminds me of that meme that's like "Do you think Margaret Thatcher had girl power? Do you think she utilized girl power effectively by funnelling money illegally into death squads?" Sometimes it felt like the writers were trying a little too hard to be relatable and modern and light-hearted, when it wasn't necessarily appropriate for the subject material.
Like:
"Your frenemy is in an annoyingly cute floral head-dress and post sun-drenched festival pics on IG; your best friend is humblebragging about how 'feisty' her gorgeous baby is on Facebook [...] Venturing onto social media can sometimes feel like having a thousand turmeric lattes thrown in your face. Everyone everywhere else seems to be having such a fabulous time - #seizetheday #yolo #treatyoself - so it's no surprise that we all occasionally from fear of missing out. FOMO can lead you to do things you don't actually care about and swiftly suck you into a whirlwind of triviality. Iconic poet and recluse Emily Dickinson was not immune to social angst: she worried a lot about her friendships and frequently wrote about loneliness in her work..."
Whiplash.
BUT I did love reading this book and I like the idea of flipping back through every now and then to remind myself of cool powerful ladies that I might not have ever been made aware of before.
I liked that the writers made an effort to include a diverse range of cultures and ethnicities in this book (although white women still make up about 60% of the line-up) and I like that they didn't try to sugarcoat any of these ladies, simultaneously acknowledging their flaws, or in some cases, their involvement in hideous atrocities - like the fact that Coco Chanel was a Nazi, or Empress Cixi was a tyrant, or that Marie Stopes spent a while using her platform to promote eugenics... - while also explaining the role that these women played historically in laying down groundwork for future generations of women to excel.
One thing that I did find very weird is the tonal whiplash between, like, GIRL POWER! and Historical Violence, or whatever. It reminds me of that meme that's like "Do you think Margaret Thatcher had girl power? Do you think she utilized girl power effectively by funnelling money illegally into death squads?" Sometimes it felt like the writers were trying a little too hard to be relatable and modern and light-hearted, when it wasn't necessarily appropriate for the subject material.
Like:
"Your frenemy is in an annoyingly cute floral head-dress and post sun-drenched festival pics on IG; your best friend is humblebragging about how 'feisty' her gorgeous baby is on Facebook [...] Venturing onto social media can sometimes feel like having a thousand turmeric lattes thrown in your face. Everyone everywhere else seems to be having such a fabulous time - #seizetheday #yolo #treatyoself - so it's no surprise that we all occasionally from fear of missing out. FOMO can lead you to do things you don't actually care about and swiftly suck you into a whirlwind of triviality. Iconic poet and recluse Emily Dickinson was not immune to social angst: she worried a lot about her friendships and frequently wrote about loneliness in her work..."
Whiplash.
BUT I did love reading this book and I like the idea of flipping back through every now and then to remind myself of cool powerful ladies that I might not have ever been made aware of before.