Women Who Ruled: History's 50 Most Remarkable Women

by Claudia Gold

'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.
Each biographical profile sets its subject clearly in the culture and context of its time, enabling the author not only to tell the stories of these 50 astonishing women, but also to provide a fascinating and informative alternative social history.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Feminism, Biography, Womens, Asia, France

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2015

Reviews

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars.. RTC

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Women Who Ruled" contains 50 short biographies of female rulers throughout history. Although the majority of the women featured in this book are European, Gold does write about several women from non-European regions (mostly Asia), which I appreciated.

Gold approaches each woman by weighting the positive and negative aspects of their rule, and I really liked how she gave fair assessments to everyone - particularly figures like Jezebel and Marie Antoinette, who have gone down in history as Evil Women. Gold also has a very clear writing style; I've read several histories recently, and this is the only one where I wasn't constantly pulling up Wikipedia for clarification on people or events mentioned by the author.

4 stars because this book achieves exactly what it set out to do.

[Amalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While a very interesting topic the book seemed incredibly one-sided and not very well researched.
Gold tells controversial theories yet neglect to mention more widespread ones. As for not seeming very well researched as an example, in the chapter about queen Margaret I of Denmark, it mentions her "nickname" "Prancing Charger" which is in fact the name of an earlier queen consort also called Margaret.

[G. Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine and remarkably balanced introduction to women rulers from Hatshepsut to Elizabeth II. Many countries and cultures covered. A good introduction to women of history, but it is a broad range and therefore only covers a few pages per remarkable ruler. Enjoyable and easy to read, it has put me on to a few historical figures I will be reading more of.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, remarkable women! Each unique and powerful in their own right! It is so shameful that history portrays Queens/women in power in such negative light. They are not she-wolves or whores they are powerful independent women! They are Queens"

[Mills · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm officially giving up on Women who Ruled. I'm bored out of my brain and it barely has any more merit than the dreadful Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours - or in other words, not a whole lot.

Gold seems to have made her selection criteria any woman who may have taken a throne at some point. Many of them were really not particularly remarkable rulers - take, for example, Jane Grey, who never wanted to be Queen and was only a pawn, mainly of the men around her - and some may not even have existed. The biographies are short - necessitated by the ridiculous scale chosen by Gold - and you'll find more detail on Wikipedia. In fact, Wikipedia may even be a more reliable source as Gold places far too much faith in unlikely/extreme theories, neglecting those which are more widely believed, but perhaps less exciting. And even though short, the biographies focus on events around the women as a whole, going off on tangents. Anyone with an internet connection or an encyclopaedia could look up their histories; in depth insight into the women themselves is what I wanted.

Women who Ruled is not the insightful examination of a selection of truly remarkable women I hoped for but a mere collection of the best-known names. It is not worth tracking down. I'm not even sure it's worth reading if it is already sitting on your bookcase.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a novel as another reviewer states. It is a reference book. I knew that going in, but I expected it to be more of a commentary or analysis of female rulers. Instead, each woman gets a 5-7 page chapter in the book. It reads like a collection of Wikipedia articles, only not as informative.

It will live on the table next to the chair where I read and I see myself making my way through it a few entries at a time, but this isn't the book I expected it to be.

[Leena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't often write reviews anymore or even rate my readings but thought I'd make an exception for this book.

There are a lot of claims that the work of Gold is biased and not factual. I do not know enough to remark on that. But I found this book fascinating.

It is sad to say that there aren't enough focus on women that make political change. I hope that this changes over the years.

I especially liked how certain figures in her book were given the benefit of doubt when it came to accusations on them being labeled as 'jezebels, whores, practicing in incest' simply because they were ruling or wanting more than a woman is deemed fit to have.

I would have liked to see more figures from the middle east and Africa, but it saddens me to think that maybe there aren't that many to showcase. I like to believe that one day there will be a book honoring the women in the middle east that work hard in their fields to better their countries.

Overall, I enjoyed the book very much because it did give me glimpses of women and their struggles as rulers.

My personal favorites were:

- Queen of Sheba
- Tomyris
- Christina Queen of Sweden

[Gab · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'Poisoners', 'whores', 'witches' and 'murderers' - or so their enemies claimed." This book had me at the blurb! As soon as I saw it in the library I wanted to read it. The book consists of 50 short chapters which summarise the life of each woman. The book starts with Hatsheput, Queen of Egypt who reigned in the 15th century BC and finishes with Benazir Bhutto, the Prime Minister of Pakistan who was assassinated in 2007.
The author's research is amazing, with a five page bibliography of over 50 books. Claudia Gold has used many quotes from the women themselves, which really brings them to life. From mystical historical figures like Jezebel the Queen of Israel who died around 800 BC to well-known women like English queens Elizabeth I, Victoria and Elizabeth II I really learned a lot.
The sad thing is that some things really haven't changed much over the centuries - many times women rule instead of a man and were not necessarily in their leadership roles in their own rights. There is a lot of mention of the 'marriage market' and women being used as pawns by powerful men.

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book delivers what it sets out to do - give an introduction to 50 remarkable women in history. I enjoyed it as light reading to leisurely pick up, though if I could I would probably give it 3.5 stars. I have one major disappointment. I understand that it was reliant on current literature and most of the literature in English will be about European subjects, however, the western bias is incredibly evident. Over half of the rulers are European and a full fifth are English. The book could have made a better attempt at moving away from the easily accessible sources in order to present a more balanced view of powerful women around the world. Further, it was sad, though common in historical recounts, to see the queerness of some queens downplayed.

[Gilda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Each story about a "remarkable woman" consisted of five or six pages of densely packed names, dates, battles, and historical references, written in such a dry and uninteresting style as to be almost impossible to digest. I had borrowed the book, thinking that I'd be inspired to learn more about a few of the subjects, but that didn't happen at all.

[MJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book interesting, but with major flaws. I couldn’t help but notice the undertone bias in every chapter, stemming from unfounded theories by the author and selective omission of historical events that pushed the author’s narrative.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because it is not written like a story, it's hard to read sometimes. You can't read it in one sitting but a chapter a day. But I have to say, these women do inspire me.

[Cecilia Tellez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Big disappointment. Poorly written. At times, author is just as misogynistic as some of the critics/enemies of the women she's writing about. Do NOT recommend wasting your time on this book

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides a short overview of 50 female leaders over the last few thousand years. Interesting introduction but the writing style didn’t always gel with me.

[Ashlen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and interesting. Brings awareness to some obscure female rulers who have surprisingly interesting stories. I enjoyed it enormously.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light read, think of this book as an index of sorts, for when you eventually want to narrow your reading with an in-depth biography on "women who ruled."

Offhand, I wouldn't say these were "History's 50 Most Remarkable Women." A good number of them were in positions of power only because they had wimps for partners. China alone had two horrid empresses who started out as third class concubines who end up controlling the kingdom thanks to a combination of weakness, ineptitude, and apathy in their partners. And they made even more horrific mothers. Nothing remarkable about that.

A small percentage here also found themselves occupying seats of power only because their male blood relations (fathers, brothers, uncles) or spouses died during their reign or time in office. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Indira Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma, it turns out, as Indira's married name was originally spelled Gandhy) and Benazir Bhutto come to mind. Or abdicated, as in the case of Elizabeth II, whose uncle, the Prince of Wales, chucked the monarchy in favor of his twice-married paramour, paving the way for her reluctant father. Others still were their fathers' or patrons' pawns in the Machiavellian plays for power (even though some of them predate Machiavelli): Isabella the "She-Wolf" and Lucrezia Borgia and Caterina Sforza were indeed different shades of remarkable: Isabella for what she did to her husband, Lucrezia for what she supposedly did with her brother, and Caterina, for what she was about to allow her enemies to do with her kids, prompting even Machiavelli to write about it! Using this yardstick, the writer overlooked Agrippina the Younger, Nero's mother, who should have been in that bunch. But most undeserving to be called "remarkable" would be Mary Queen of Scots and Sweden's fickle dilettante, Queen Christina. And Bathsheba. What exactly did she accomplish by her moonlit skinny-dipping, apart from having her husband killed so she could canoodle with the king?

Which is not to say that all those who inherited their positions through the same channels did too badly. Deserving special mention here are Boudica of Britain, Zenobia of Palmyra, Theodora of Byzntium, Cleopatra of Egypt, and Livia of Rome. Even Tomyris of Massagetae. Props too, to Queens Victoria and Elizabeths I and II. Especially Elizabeth I.

But topping my list are two women who owed their positions to no man--they came to power by virtue of their own merits. First runner-up would be the Oxford Chemistry grad Margaret Thatcher, and my overall winner for the epitome of remarkable in its truest translation of the word, which is to say she is "worthy of being or likely to be noticed especially as being uncommon or extraordinary," Golda Meir. And lastly, a special award goes to the woman whose husband owed his position to her: Eva Duarte Peron.

[T.O. Munro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that - in the best ronseal tradition - does what it says on the tin. 50 women who ruled served right up there, in that here are a half century of women drawn from nearly 6 millennia of human existence who ruled de jure or de facto over their respective countries.

There are many fascinating vignettes in these pages, pocket sized visions of fascinating lives. The nature of such list based books is that they draw you in with the temptation to devour another five pages or so and see another notable life laid bare.

The stories are presented in chronological order of the subject's birth so that - when we get to the crowded 16th Century there is an overlap of Marys, Catherines and the odd Elizabeth - each story referencing the others in an inevitable crossing of paths. It reminded me of a long ago episodic BBC drama "Accident" where the lead up and aftermath of a multi-vehicle road traffic accident was told with a series of episodes each focussing on a different participant.

One might baulk at the subtitle - History's 50 most remarkable women - because associating remarkableness with rulership does the contribution of women through the ages a disservice. It risks perpetuating the myth that history is about kings and queens.

Certainly there are some women in ths list whose contribution to their countries future was ambivalent, or even disasterous. There are others - like poor Lady Jane Grey who made so slight a contribution to history and exerted so little rulership that one wonders at their inclusion. But to be fair, remarkable is a subjective term and these are all interesting and - in their way influential lives.

I have an interest in history, so many of the characaters were familiar to me. But some were new and even those already known had new lights shone on their lives. The fact that Lady Jane Grey was severely abused by both parents, whipped to be driven into an unwelcome marriage and chastised for any failing from imagined perfection - yet her parents abandoned her at the end.

Most enlightening was to hear of the sex education of one French king and queen who needed the intervention and advice of the queen's brother before their conjugal relations could proceed to the point of full consumation - never mind conceiving a child - some years after the marriage ceremony. Claudia Gold sensibly leaves the detail of what needed to be done to a direct quote from the incredulous brother.

[Tracey Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admittedly more of an interesting primer than in-depth history, this is nonetheless fascinating (even if, for some of the earlier women, she seems to be using the bible as a source of historical fact, which is a bit questionable!). The prose is also quite pedestrian. But a good place to start if you want to find out about women in history - some well-known, some frequently overlooked, and short chapters make it a great book to dip in and out of.

[Cerys · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Women who Ruled" is an excellently well composed novel which gives brief but reasonably detailed overviews of each historical figure. It's definitely worth reading to pique your interest in a few characters and inspire further research.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good primer in rulers who happened to be women with a few pages each giving a tantalising glimpse into their lives and exploits. To be followed up by more detailed books, perhaps "Warrior Queens: Boadicea's Chariot" by Antonia Fraser or else books dedicated to the 50 women.

[Éowyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting brief bios of 50 influential women rulers. Obviously a fairly Anglo-centric bias, but interesting nonetheless with a bibliography to send you off in search of more information should you so require it.

[Millie Sansoye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book about women who have had power. So informative and what I love is that this book talks about women from all over the world.

[EmiliaC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written with not a very positive description of most women portayed in the book

[connie · Rating 1 out of 5]

★ - 1/5 stars

the author decided to include 'golda meir' aka the queen of zionism herself, which brings the book from a 3 star to a 1 star. anyway free palestine 🍉

[amy]

i'll finish this eventually (probably)

[Greyson | Use Your Words]

I read 'Queen Nefertiti of Egypt' and I was sold thanks to my special soft spot for ancient Egypt from my childhood.