Bygone Badass Broads

A fun, quick, informative read with awesome illustrations! I definitely learned about some new ladies of history, and appreciated the diverse range of women & accomplishments collected here.

‘'They span time, the globe, socioeconomic situations, sexual and gender identities, and races. They are queens, scientists, athletes, politicians, spies, warriors, peacemakers, criminals and scoundrels. They are trendsetters, barrier breakers, innovators, and rebels.''

Outstanding, brilliantly beautiful work by Mackenzi Lee. I cannot begin to tell you how much I loved this book in which she presents 52 women who deserve to be much more famous than they are. Women from all over the world, women of every race and social status that achieved miniscule things such as overthrowing dictators, curing diseases, resisting oppression, doubting and crushing every gender stereotypes of a male-dominated world.

Lee writes in a comprehensive, direct and concise way, presenting the facts in engaging, fun language. The humorous tidbits are tasteful and delightful without becoming sarcastic or rude. Having in mind that a number of these glorious women's lives are a mix of fact, fiction and hear-say, Lee's task becomes even more demanding but sha passes the test with flying colours. She doesn't build ‘'loud'' pedestals but composes short, comprehensive biographies of women who vary from heroines, to leaders, to athletes, to criminals. Intelligent, dangerous, brave, alluring but, most importantly, fiercely determined to earn the right to live according to their rules, resisting and breaking the bars of patriarchy and prejudice.

The 52 women are all marvelous, but here are my absolute favourites:

Empress Xi Ling Shi, the woman who discovered sericulture and invented the silk loom, creating the legendary Silk Road that still continues to excite our imagination. She became a Chinese deity for her efforts. Not bad...

Hatshepsut, the first female Pharaoh, who took the throne after her husband's death- because she could- and ruled her people in prosperity for 22 years.

Agnodice, the woman who disguised herlself as a man to practice medicine in Ancient Athens. And guess what? She succeeded in the end because Athenian women are made of wonders.

Arawelo, a legendary queen of Somalia, who discarded every gender stereotype by creating a government consisting entirely of women. At the same time, she and her awesome cabinet showed the men what taking care of a household truly demands.

Queen Christina of Sweden. Naturally, Sweden would have one of the coolest monarchs ever. Peacemaker, protector of the Arts, advocate of religious equality, hater of matrimony and all-around awesome person. No surprise really given her homeland.

Mariya Oktyabrskaya, an extraordinary woman from Russia who blew the guts of many Nazi scums to pieces while inside her very own tank, aptly named Fighting Girlfriend. She took part in the Battle of Kursk, enough said.

Irena Sendler, a Polish nurse who fought against religious discrimination from an early age and saved more than 2,500 Jewish children from the nightmare of the ghetto during WWII.

Azucena Villaflor, an Argentinian mother, who organised the first demonstrations against the ‘'disappearances'' ( the desaparecidos) of young people who were deemed ‘'rebels'' by the military dictatorship of the country during the 70s. And we all know what it means to ‘'disappear'' when fascists are in power, don't we?

Petra Eriksson has created 52 absolutely beautiful portraits of each woman,painted in bold colours in a style combining pop art and poster illustrations. Fabulous!

Can you tell that I fell utterly in love with this book? I think you can and I urge you to read it, keep it in your collection as one of the jewels of your bookcase, a treasure of courage, empowerment and the fervent, everlasting fight and determination of women who succeeded on their own terms and became pioneers in their fields.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com

This book is pretty awesome.

I liked the pictures and the laid back writing style. Well, sometimes the writing could be a little too laid back, but for the most part the book didn't bore me. It doesn't read like a history or nonfiction book, which made it really pleasant.
The pictures are a great addition to help the reader connect with the woman being talked about and the colored pages kept the book fun. The entries were also kept decently short, never longer than 5 pages, usually around two, which kept it from feeling like it was droning on and on. I prefer the bite-sized chunks.
Also, there are some entries with footnotes explaining some difference of scholarly opinions and even additional info about other women featured in the story.

There are a few entries which crossed over with Princesses Behaving Badly (written by a different author), but they are written so differently, I still read the entries in this book.
This book focuses more on the positives and fighting part of women, which kept me happy. I know many of these stories might have ended badly, I get that, but I like knowing that they were able to kickass too.

So, this is one I'll recommend to people, probably more younger readers because of the writing style, slang, and colorfulness, but really I think many people will enjoy reading it.