Book Review: Women Who Ruled
Author: Claudia Gold
Publisher: Quercus Publishing Ltd 2015
First Published under the title :
‘Queen, Empress, Concubine’ in 2008
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 311
Date Read: July - August ‘25
Blurb:
‘Poisoners’, ‘whores’, ‘witches’ and ‘murderers’ – or so their enemies claimed.
From Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, to the ‘villainous’ Catherine De Medici and her flying squadron, to England’s ‘Gloriana’ Elizabeth I, and the modern phenomenon of female prime ministers – Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto – Claudia Gold looks at three and a half thousand years of history to examine the lives of fifty of the world’s most exceptional rulers – all of them women.
My review:
I bought this book second-hand from a charity shop (thrift store) because I quite like reading and finding out about history and I thought that this book ‘looked interesting’. I know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but Queen Elizabeth I is interesting for a start, isn’t she? I also thought from the title that it would be a nice feminist rise to power/call to arms. I wasn’t completely wrong as this book does contain 50 short chapters on different women throughout history that did indeed rule in one way or another for varying lengths of time. To give the book it’s due, it delivers exactly what the title suggests, and I was really impressed with the breadth of history explored and the variety of countries and continents that the author has explored in her search for remarkable women. However, unfortunately as with most of history, most of the women who ruled did not rule by default, but by sometimes quite brutal circumstances or their lives were ended prematurely by them. A lot of their lives revolved around marrying the ‘right’ suitor or attempting to conceive and survive childbirth in order to provide a suitable heir. These are concepts which are thankfully beginning to dissipate in our modern western society, but if you look under the surface they are still there in some cultures and societies. Whilst it is important to look back at the past and learn from mistakes, reading this book was a stark reminder of what generations of women before us have had to go through just to get their voices heard or feel that their lives are validated. Reading it made me feel a mixture of negative emotions such as anger, frustration and sadness. I certainly don’t think that I’d necessarily want my daughter to read it. It ultimately left me feeling very grateful that I no longer live in a place where these pressures and ideals are forced on women. The two and a half stars I’ve given this book are mainly down to the depth of research that has been carried out by the author. It was interesting learning about women back in history especially those from different cultures, although I do have to question how much artistic liberty the author has taken in some of her descriptions or whether her judgments have been clouded by recorded evidence that may not necessarily have been accurate. We can never completely believe so called historical evidence or other people’s interpretations of it. I therefore always take historical content with a certain fascination and healthy scepticism.
An interesting read but I am glad that times have moved on.
Star rating: 2.5 out of 5.
