By I Start Wondering Columnist Rhonda Collins and Founder Dorian Martin
Many stories passed down over the years about women present them as unsavory archetypes such as sluts and witches, unrealistic overly glamorized or saintly types, or the people-pleasing sweet girl-next-door types.
Or worse, still: the stories of female heroes are simply ignored. In fact, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum noted that only one in five (20%) of Wikipedia English biographies are about women
Fortunately, there are excellent fiction and nonfiction books that do get it right--presenting the complex and less understood stories of women in history who are famous and less known. I Start Wondering’s team wants to offer readers our recommendations for a few of these books. We believe you will love them as much as we did.
Rhonda Collins’ Recommendation:
A summary of the book from the author’s website:
The Women is that rarest of novels―at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.” When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation.
Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But . . . When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten.
What Rhonda says about the book:
The Women* tells Frankie’s journey from youth’s idealism to war’s reality, and from post-war despair to leadership and closure, with a romance (or three) for good measure. It has a memorable heroine, along with other strong, complex, fun female characters that remind us the importance of girlfriends.
I particularly recommend the book for those who lived through the tumultuous 1970s, and know the challenges of working alongside men in those days. The beautifully written book highlights disparities in health care for women compared to their male counterparts, and reminds us how resourceful women always have been in solving their own problems and taking care of one another. I enjoyed and endorse The Women for sharing little-known stories of the paramount contributions of women during and after the Viet Nam war.
Dorian Martin’s Recommendation:
A summary of the book from the author’s website:
Her palace shimmered with onyx and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world.
Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way the supple personality has been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order a generation before the birth of Christ. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff’s is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.
What Dorian says about the book:
Growing up, I accepted the cultural version of Cleopatra that’s been depicted in history classes and the movie with Elizabeth Taylor. According to that perspective, she was conniving woman who used her feminine wiles to get what she wanted—and she got what she deserved, thanks to that asp in the jar.
But Stacy Schiff’s book, Cleopatra: A Life*, completely changed my understanding of this historical icon’s life. Yes, she was considered beautiful for the day, and yes, she understood the power of sexuality but she was a far more nuanced human being and, ultimately, as capable a leader as Julius Caesar.
In the book’s introduction, Schiff described the Egyptian ruler, who was actually descended from a Greek family, as being “a commanding woman versed in politics, diplomacy, and governance; fluent in nine languages; silver tongued and charismatic.”
She was a brilliant woman, having been educated using the traditional Greek system and enjoying access to the Great Library Alexandria and its museum throughout her life. “The most prestigious of its scholars were her tutors, its men of science her doctors. She did not have to venture far for a prescription, a eulogy, a mechanical toy, a map,” Schiff said.
She brought all of her education and skills to bear in helping her nation prosper. As Egypt’s leader, Cleopatra was responsible for dispensing justice, commanding the military, regulating the economy, negotiating with foreign powers, presiding over the temples, determining the price of raw materials, and supervising Egypt’s canals and agricultural system.
Schiff noted that during Cleopatra’s rein, Egypt’s harvests were the greatest in the Mediterranean world. Her leadership also meant that Alexandria, the nation’s capital at the time, continued to grow as a cultural center, and eventually luring noted individuals such as Caesar to learn from the city’s scientists and philosophers.
Yet, as we all have learned, the winners claim all the spoils. As a result, Cleopatra’s intelligence and ability to govern were glossed over by the conquering Romans—many of them powerful men who were focused on the acquisition of power. That narrative continued until Schiff and others began looking more closely. So I’d suggest that it’s time to begin to delve into this female leader’s life as well as the contributions of other women in history.
You can find these books on I Start Wondering’s bookshelf on Bookshop. I Start Wondering will receive a portion through this affiliate program, while another portion of each purchase goes to support local independent bookstores.
Thank you Rhonda and Dorian for these 2 recommendations! I look forward to reading them.