Ann Shen

Readable? Yes. Ground-breaking? No.

The title should really read something more like, Bad Girls Throughout History Mostly Since the 19th Century and Who Are Mostly White, and More Frequently American or Western European.

I liked the concept, but I found some of the information a little off. And as my alternate title suggests, this is by no means even close to a comprehensive or inclusive collective biography. About 80% of it covers the last 200-ish years.

And at first glance, Shen's artistic show more style is pleasing in that twee sort of way, but as the book progressed and I was seeing illustrations of women whose portraits I already knew, I found the style grating. Are we really helped by depicting strong women in a twee sort of way? Are women with harder brows, regular ol' eyelashes, or rounder faces more respectable if we lighten them up a bit?

I'm also reading this coming off the same weekend where I read [b:Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History|28502749|Rad Women Worldwide Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History|Kate Schatz|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460671020s/28502749.jpg|48656093], which I think does a better job at what this book aims to do. show less

All in all, I am disappointed in this book. The 100 women presented were interesting, and with short vignettes about each, the book is a quick and accessible overview that points the way to learning more about any of them. What bothered me was that so many of the women portrayed were from Hollywood and the American music industry. While we had some scientists and activists, the book seemed to portray women as having major influence primarily in pop culture.

And what really bothered me were show more the illustrations! Everyone was nicely coifed with makeup and big, BIG eyelashes. Real women don't look like that! And if you are writing about women's contributions to history, you shouldn't make nearly all of them all look like the stereotype of beautiful. show less

When I got this book the first thing I did was flip to each of the pages with Indian goddesses on them (seven in all!!!) and just stare in amazement. If you were raised on a mythology other than Greco-Roman or Egyptian, you may have a similar experience to mine as you flip through. An earlier review described this book's illustrations as "Disneyfied" versions of these goddesses; that is true, and Disneyfication isn't without its disadvantages. However, I'm honestly thrilled to see the way show more the book represented its pantheon of women: innocently sweet, magical-looking, and yeah sure, Disney. But if you grew up playing pretend that you were one of these goddesses (or if even now, you daydream of morphing into destruction-goddess Kali once in a while, just to keep people on their toes) the illustrations in this book will feel like they were beamed straight from your childhood imagination to Ann Shen's pen. Raw mythology is no kids' movie, for sure, but I think that women who don't look like any animated princess may get a big kick out of seeing themselves represented in the goddesses of this book. I know I did.

As the cover shows, this is clearly a gorgeous book. Luscious illustrations portray the fifty legendary ladies and through them, their diverse cultures, costumes, stories, and forms of physical beauty are honored as well. Skimming through, you'll quickly build up a list of favorite pages. Some of mine were the Norse goddess Freya, in her cat-drawn chariot; Hindu sky goddess Aditi, whose starry sari flows off the page; and my absolute favorite, the Hawai'ian goddess Pele, who has a smoke cloud for hair and an active volcano for skirts.

Each illustration comes with a brief, Wikipedian-sounding summary of the goddess's role in mythology, which either works well or feels too dry depending on the page. Overall I can see the rationale for sticking to broad overviews; the literally gory details of mythology would no doubt overwhelm some readers, and the book is clearly intended to be light reading. Capping each of the summaries is a short blurb with directions on when and how to call on each goddess. These directions unfortunately are so generic and new-agey they're likely to invoke only eye-rolls; it would've been better to axe them and instead quote an interesting line or two from the written mythology concerning each goddess. That would have countered the dryness of the main text, and connected readers directly with the myths the book celebrates.

The major weakness of this book for me was that huge swaths of the globe are not represented in it. We meet no ladies of legend from South America, Canada or Alaska, Russia, Australia, the Middle East, Central Asia, or Africa apart from West Africa and Egypt. The book is clearly not meant to be an exhaustive list, so it's understandable that there had to be a cutoff point somewhere. But to compensate for that, I would've liked to see a much more thorough bibliography both for the goddesses mentioned and for plenty of others, to acknowledge as much of the world and as many mythologies as possible.

Overall, this book is so eye-catching and fun to page through, it's bound to be a great armchair read for just about anyone in need of a girl-positive pick-me-up. Or to anyone who just likes beautifully illustrated books. It'd also be excellent for introducing readers, especially young adults, to world mythology. Despite the gaps in its coverage there are still relatively few books that put all the world's mythologies on the same footing as the Greeks'. This book's greatest success is that it makes each goddess, regardless of culture or fame, look truly legendary. I think that quality will pique readers' curiosity, and hopefully lead them to seek out stories of incredible women that they haven't heard before. show less

In the past few years, there has been a most welcome influx of books highlighting the contributions women to society and culture. From science to history to culture, works like “Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World” and “Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History” serve as an important reminder of the too-often ignored ways that women have had an impact on the world. A recent addition to this show more growing collection is “Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World” by Ann Shen, a beautifully illustrated look at different women who have influenced the world in a variety of ways. Starting with Lilith, the first wife of Adam, and moving chronologically to the present with Malala Yousafzai, the book provides a two-page spread on each woman included. One page features a brief overview of the woman’s life and accomplishments, and the facing page features a full-color illustration by Shen. The result is a light, enjoyable, and gorgeous book.

As indicated by the book’s layout and focus, there isn’t a lot of depth regarding the attention each subject receives. For curious readers who want to learn more, Shen includes a helpful bibliography at the end of the book, which provides further reading on the different women. The approachable and succinct nature makes “Bad Girls Throughout History” a great book to read in pieces and to skip around in.

The 100 women Shen opts to focus on are all intriguing, and they encompass a variety of fields and accomplishments. These range from fashion (Diana Vreeland and Edith Head) to entertainment (Gypsy Rose Lee and Alice Guy-Blache) to science (Marie Curie and Sally Ride). The downside of constraining the book to 100 (or any specific number) of women is that this inevitably leaves some people out, and if I had to identify a drawback with “Bad Girls Throughout History,” it is that it tends to feature women primarily from western culture. On one hand, it is understandable that Shen decided to feature many women who are well known, such as Beatrix Potter and Madonna. On the other, it would have been nice to have some more representation from different countries and cultures, particularly in the second half of book. That said, I did appreciate the diversity in the first part of the book, which includes Tomyris from Iran and Empress Wu Zeitan from China. Furthermore, Shen does a nice job spotlighting some women from more recent times who might be under people’s radar, such as Christine Jorgensen, the first American trans woman, and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

In short, Shen’s work helps bring to life Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s assertion that “well-behaved women seldom make history,” and it would be a worthy addition to any library, particularly for people who are curious about women’s contributions but aren’t certain where to get started or those who want to provide a primer on the subject. show less