gobblebook 's review for:

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

4.0

---

Lepore focuses on William Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, and especially on his relationships with his feminist wife and his lover, the niece of Margaret Sanger. Marston is a fascinating character - he comes across as a bit of a narcissist and snake-oil salesman, but there is no denying that he was a feminist and that he created Wonder Woman to spread some of his feminist ideas. In fact, his description of his purpose in creating her comes practically word for word from some of Margaret Sanger's feminist writing. Lepore writes about Marston with detachment and does not make judgments or speculations about him. It would be very easy to portray him as a total nut-case, or bigamist, or masochist. However, Lepore lets the evidence speak for itself, noting that despite the prevalence of bondage in Wonder Woman comics, there is no evidence that Marston and his lovers participated in BDSM in their real lives. This book clearly makes the case that Wonder Woman was conceived as a feminist icon, and that she lost that stature after Marston's death when other writers took over. It is fascinating and disheartening for me to see that a lot of stuff that was said about Wonder Woman when she was first created is still being said now: girls need role models, we need greater diversity in popular culture, etc. And to see that for some reason the producers of comic books then and movies now are shocked when Wonder Woman sells well and makes a lot of money. This book can be a little dry at times, but is a fascinating account of the history of Wonder Woman.