Helpful Score: 1
Very interesting histories of women of the renaissance period who DARED to be different, dared to be strong-minded and strong-willed, despite the strictures of the time.
Helpful Score: 1
Very funny. A great bathroom book!
Helpful Score: 1
This and Uppity Women of Ancient Times are a hoot! A right blend of history, humor and hubris makes these a delight. The "chapters" are short, easy to read in a brief time. The book Uppity Women of the New World seemed written by another author: didn't make the cut in either wit or wisdom.
This book is a great one to share. I have a friend whose husband really enjoyed laughs as he read the book so it's not just for the fems in the club.
This book is a great one to share. I have a friend whose husband really enjoyed laughs as he read the book so it's not just for the fems in the club.
Helpful Score: 1
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Our age doesn't have a lock on outspoken women, as Vicki Leon proves in this impudent, flippant history of the Middle Ages. In the 1600s, Lady Castlehaven charged her husband with rape and had his connubial rights--and head--removed. Prioress Eglentyne, who appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, fell afoul of clerical colleagues by ignoring rules about "dress, dogs, dances" and worse yet, "wandering in the world." And let's not forget Isabel, Queen of Castile, patron of Columbus, and wife to Ferdinand. Her marriage motto was "They rule with equal rights and both excel, Isabel as much as Ferdinand, Ferdinand as much as Isabel."
Review
Historian Leon provides a lively history of a middle ages period filled not with homemakers and princes; but with feisty women who defied cultural expectations and built powerful lives. This is actually a series of biographical sketches of selected women; from an early Italian physician who developed a virginity-restoration technique to a fashion designer. -- Midwest Book Review
Amazon.com Review
Our age doesn't have a lock on outspoken women, as Vicki Leon proves in this impudent, flippant history of the Middle Ages. In the 1600s, Lady Castlehaven charged her husband with rape and had his connubial rights--and head--removed. Prioress Eglentyne, who appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, fell afoul of clerical colleagues by ignoring rules about "dress, dogs, dances" and worse yet, "wandering in the world." And let's not forget Isabel, Queen of Castile, patron of Columbus, and wife to Ferdinand. Her marriage motto was "They rule with equal rights and both excel, Isabel as much as Ferdinand, Ferdinand as much as Isabel."
Review
Historian Leon provides a lively history of a middle ages period filled not with homemakers and princes; but with feisty women who defied cultural expectations and built powerful lives. This is actually a series of biographical sketches of selected women; from an early Italian physician who developed a virginity-restoration technique to a fashion designer. -- Midwest Book Review
