Reviews

An absolutely fascinating book. If you love strong women, if you are an advocate for feminism in every way, and you love history. Then this is absolutely the perfect book for you.

Lots of detail in places, which really gives a scope of the worlds each of these women are from. Fantastic.

sheri_of_literaria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

ggoyeobb's review against another edition

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Yikes bc she's a TERF and had a goddamn Zionist in this. On me for not checking

heidi_84's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

leemac027's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

3.0

If anyone was asked to nominate 21 women who had made a significant contribution during their lives (and still may be doing so) I think we would all come up with a different list. There could be some commonalities but depending on where we are from, our belief systems, our life experiences, we may think differently about which women were more influential.

I quite enjoyed Jenni Murray's choices and the reasons behind them. Some of my favourites were Pharoah Hapshepsut, Artemisa Gentileschi, Clara Schumann, Marie Curie, Coco Chanel, Toni Morrison and Anna Politkovskaya.

In each brief chapter, we gain an insight into their lives, what they achieved, the battles they faced and how their legacy is ongoing. I think it is a great introduction to some incredible women and perhaps a kickoff point for delving further into the lives of those that inspire you most.

maisiewrites247's review against another edition

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4.0

A history of the world in 21 women follows the lives of 21 women throughout history, including Coco Chanel, Toni Morrison, Hilary Clinton, Madonna, and Frida Kahlo. It details their lives and how their experience was shaped by their gender, as well as race and sexuality. It discusses women’s rights, sexism, misogyny, intersectionality, objectification, the patriarchy, and sexual harassment and assault. It’s hard to choose a favourite, but Coco Chanel, Frida Kahlo, and Madonna stood out to me the most. I always admired Coco Chanel as a designer growing up, and Frida Kahlo is one of the most well known queer women of colour, and Madonna always stayed true to herself and that’s where her success came from. I recommend this book because I think it’s important to learn about women in history, because we’re always learning about men in history, but women existed and overcame a lot, too. My only issue is that some of the women featured were quite problematic, but at the same time I think it’s important to celebrate the good someone has done without ignoring the bad. ‘But a woman prevented from walking out in the world has no opportunity to make her way.’

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