What do you think?
Rate this book
The Warriors
Women Warriors: A History (Warriors
WOMEN WARRIORS takes the reader back through history and around the world to uncover a clear pattern of women as warriors. It is a fascinating comment on the nature of gender, on the power of the warrior image, and on the image’s source in history.
296 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1997
2 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 20, 2020
Many people think that throughout history women have always been weak, demure and completely controlled by men. This book sets out to disprove this. It's not an indepth study of individuals but is a good introduction to various women, their time periods and their cultures. It's a worthy start for those who want to know a little of the topic before committing to a full biography of one woman.
October 4, 2007
READ UNTIL YOU'RE CONVINCED, THEN SET ASIDE
Anthropologist Jones might have benefited from a bit more ambition in planning the scope of this project. From page one, he's on a mission to convince and makes an unqualified success of it. Throughout recorded history, women have successfully fought and defeated their male counterparts in battle.
The historical and anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. We're talking hand to hand combat - women win. We're talking riding at the forefront of the calvary charge - women win. We're talking all-female armies - victorious. You name it, women can and have repeatedly gone to war and succeeded as well or better than men.
Even today, the tradition continues - although less commonly in westernized societies. In the west, we experience a different kind of war - the household war. Yes, the battle of the sexes continues without abatement. Women are natural guerilla fighters, and when the outlet of real combat is closed off, the silent war is ready and able to fill the void.
Reviewer tongue-in-cheek bias aside, with the case made so early, why the hundred extra pages of detail? For anyone not vitally interested in amassing a thousand cases to cite as evidence in support of women as pure warriors, this work overwhelms with minutia. Writing is about making choices but here, the author doesn't seem to know how. Long after irrefutable evidence is amply presented, the droning continues. Names, names, names, and too-thin sketches of events. At this point, an unspoken question screams to be answered: fine, so that's the way it is, but what happened? What changed society? How did women fade from glorious contributors worthy of male respect to become dainty objects who knew only how to say, "no" and, "I can't"?
Here is the failure in scope mentioned earlier. To the extent that the author does not apply himself to suggesting answers to the questions he raises, and that these, to this reader at least, are critical to the fulfillment of our new understanding, Women Warriors succeeds, but falls short of being memorable.
Art Tirrell is the author of "The Secret Ever Keeps", a novel in which a strong female protagonist has to face her fears and prove herself on and under the dangerous waters of Lake Ontario. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601...
Anthropologist Jones might have benefited from a bit more ambition in planning the scope of this project. From page one, he's on a mission to convince and makes an unqualified success of it. Throughout recorded history, women have successfully fought and defeated their male counterparts in battle.
The historical and anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. We're talking hand to hand combat - women win. We're talking riding at the forefront of the calvary charge - women win. We're talking all-female armies - victorious. You name it, women can and have repeatedly gone to war and succeeded as well or better than men.
Even today, the tradition continues - although less commonly in westernized societies. In the west, we experience a different kind of war - the household war. Yes, the battle of the sexes continues without abatement. Women are natural guerilla fighters, and when the outlet of real combat is closed off, the silent war is ready and able to fill the void.
Reviewer tongue-in-cheek bias aside, with the case made so early, why the hundred extra pages of detail? For anyone not vitally interested in amassing a thousand cases to cite as evidence in support of women as pure warriors, this work overwhelms with minutia. Writing is about making choices but here, the author doesn't seem to know how. Long after irrefutable evidence is amply presented, the droning continues. Names, names, names, and too-thin sketches of events. At this point, an unspoken question screams to be answered: fine, so that's the way it is, but what happened? What changed society? How did women fade from glorious contributors worthy of male respect to become dainty objects who knew only how to say, "no" and, "I can't"?
Here is the failure in scope mentioned earlier. To the extent that the author does not apply himself to suggesting answers to the questions he raises, and that these, to this reader at least, are critical to the fulfillment of our new understanding, Women Warriors succeeds, but falls short of being memorable.
Art Tirrell is the author of "The Secret Ever Keeps", a novel in which a strong female protagonist has to face her fears and prove herself on and under the dangerous waters of Lake Ontario. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601...
April 24, 2015
Eh...
If you're looking for very, very brief snippets of information this is for you; it's a good reference book.
I enjoyed the longer bits of information and wish that Jones would have just selected maybe 5 great women warriors or groups from each geographical area rather than stuffing dozens of them into one section. And seriously... ONE paragraph to Queen Elizabeth I of England? Yeah, she may have really only been involved as a "warrior" during the Spanish Armada but she gave one of her best speeches during it! And TWO paragraphs for the Vikings??? WHAT!? Viking women has some of the most freedoms of women during their time and yes, they were shield maidens but maybe describe that a little more? Props for a more detailed look at Grace O'Malley (maybe a page).
If you're looking for very, very brief snippets of information this is for you; it's a good reference book.
I enjoyed the longer bits of information and wish that Jones would have just selected maybe 5 great women warriors or groups from each geographical area rather than stuffing dozens of them into one section. And seriously... ONE paragraph to Queen Elizabeth I of England? Yeah, she may have really only been involved as a "warrior" during the Spanish Armada but she gave one of her best speeches during it! And TWO paragraphs for the Vikings??? WHAT!? Viking women has some of the most freedoms of women during their time and yes, they were shield maidens but maybe describe that a little more? Props for a more detailed look at Grace O'Malley (maybe a page).
March 14, 2009
Amazing that I really had no idea what an ancient, common phenomenon women in the military is. Entire all-female battalions, in modern Europe. Something in me is a little shocked by the idea, but my worldview will adapt.
But the book itself was no more than a string of anecdotes. Some interesting and told in detail over a few pages, others given only a couple of lines. Rather tedious to read; I would have liked some analysis, statistics, drawing together of threads. And I wish his sources had been more accessible from the main text.
But the book itself was no more than a string of anecdotes. Some interesting and told in detail over a few pages, others given only a couple of lines. Rather tedious to read; I would have liked some analysis, statistics, drawing together of threads. And I wish his sources had been more accessible from the main text.
May 7, 2017
Excellent information, and TONS of examples. I'd consider this a starter reference book at which point you'd go more in depth elsewhere. The information is organized geographically and chronologically but can read a bit like a list of names paragraph after paragraph.
April 30, 2024
I'll be honest, I've read only a small part of this book. But that's why I won't be reading the rest of this book.
I wanted to love this; it's a fascinating topic with a lot of historic material. I feel bad writing a poor review of the book, because someone will take that as justification that the history isn't there, which isn't the case.
But the chapter I started with, further researching an era with which I'm already familiar, showed that this book was written with a handful of incomplete notes without much review. A few quick examples from Heian-Kamakura Japan:
"The twelfth century witnessed the winning of Japan by the first Minamoto shogun. In his bloody rise to power, his wife Masaki Hojo rode with him as his most able general. When he died, she appointed her son to the position of shogun and ruled as queen regent in his name."
and a page later
"When the great Shogun Yoritomo died, his wife Hojo Masa-Ko took control of the government..."
This is the same woman, presented separately as if she is two different people. Jones is apparently not familiar enough with the material to realize that the Minamoto shōgun is also the shōgun Minamoto Yoritomo and that Hojo Masa-Ko and Masaki Hojo are both Hōjō Masako (still not her real name, but the one she is known by today). Masako, the Nun Shōgun, is legitimately an astounding historic figure (wife of shōgun #1, mother and de facto regent of shōgun #2, mother and de facto regent of shōgun #3, great-great-aunt and de facto regent of shōgun #4, and a skillful politician who exiled her own father to slow the bloody churn of political assassinations and talked her people down from a civil war). She absolutely deserves mention in such a book, but as a single person with more of her accomplishments represented than merely accompanying her famous husband.
Another woman is mentioned as leading the Taira clan warriors against the numerically superior Heike. This would have been quite a feat, as the Taira and the Heike are the same clan (with different pronunciation). Hangaku Itazaki is also listed twice as if she is two different people in different places, first as Itagaki and later as Hangaku. Again, this diminishes a legitimately impressive figure who did lead 3,000 Taira against 10,000 opponents (they were the Hōjō's shōgunate forces, not the Heike).
I'm not enough of an expert to comment on the rest of the book and its accuracy in other eras and locations, but these errors in the subject I do know disappointed me and give me skepticism for other chapters. And that's sad, because the topic deserves better attention.
I wanted to love this; it's a fascinating topic with a lot of historic material. I feel bad writing a poor review of the book, because someone will take that as justification that the history isn't there, which isn't the case.
But the chapter I started with, further researching an era with which I'm already familiar, showed that this book was written with a handful of incomplete notes without much review. A few quick examples from Heian-Kamakura Japan:
"The twelfth century witnessed the winning of Japan by the first Minamoto shogun. In his bloody rise to power, his wife Masaki Hojo rode with him as his most able general. When he died, she appointed her son to the position of shogun and ruled as queen regent in his name."
and a page later
"When the great Shogun Yoritomo died, his wife Hojo Masa-Ko took control of the government..."
This is the same woman, presented separately as if she is two different people. Jones is apparently not familiar enough with the material to realize that the Minamoto shōgun is also the shōgun Minamoto Yoritomo and that Hojo Masa-Ko and Masaki Hojo are both Hōjō Masako (still not her real name, but the one she is known by today). Masako, the Nun Shōgun, is legitimately an astounding historic figure (wife of shōgun #1, mother and de facto regent of shōgun #2, mother and de facto regent of shōgun #3, great-great-aunt and de facto regent of shōgun #4, and a skillful politician who exiled her own father to slow the bloody churn of political assassinations and talked her people down from a civil war). She absolutely deserves mention in such a book, but as a single person with more of her accomplishments represented than merely accompanying her famous husband.
Another woman is mentioned as leading the Taira clan warriors against the numerically superior Heike. This would have been quite a feat, as the Taira and the Heike are the same clan (with different pronunciation). Hangaku Itazaki is also listed twice as if she is two different people in different places, first as Itagaki and later as Hangaku. Again, this diminishes a legitimately impressive figure who did lead 3,000 Taira against 10,000 opponents (they were the Hōjō's shōgunate forces, not the Heike).
I'm not enough of an expert to comment on the rest of the book and its accuracy in other eras and locations, but these errors in the subject I do know disappointed me and give me skepticism for other chapters. And that's sad, because the topic deserves better attention.
May 6, 2009
This is a good read for anyone who wants to learn about Female warriors from around the world. The book gives good information about famous warriors, but is a little brief in detail. The book divides warriors by geographic region and is excellent for anyone interested in history or feminism
July 28, 2011
Great book
March 31, 2014
Best book of it's kind. Fascinating telling of history.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews