I wanted to read this book. Really! But the writing made it impossible. Somewhere in the sixth chapter I had to call it quits. Not that the subject was boring, but because the author was. Reading the text was like slogging through hip-deep mud. In every paragraph, on every page, the author would discuss something and then fly off on a tangent, as if to prove how well-read she was. It was almost as if she thought stream of consciousness was the way to hold the reader's attention. Plus, her writing was stilted.

And the reviews on the back cover once again lead you to believe most reviewers don't actually read the books they review. For example---from The New York Times Book Review---"...it is a pleasure to encounter the kind of quick and lively mind that informs every page."

Huh? Perhaps the reviewer was reading some other book, as it certainly wasn't this one, and mistakenly submitted that review for this book. I kept putting this book down and went off to read another. hoping when I came back later it would be better. Didn't happen.

Note: I read a lot of books about women and their role in history, and enjoy almost all of them. In fact, reading history is an addiction of mine. But this book was unbelievably irritating.

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