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Scroll down the page to read about these and other books
reviewed on
women's history |
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Helen Castor: Joan of Arc
Don’t read this if you want a detailed bio of the Maid of
Orleans life. Do read it if you want a clear, well written account
of her life and actions within the context of the late Hundred Years
War.
Unless you are a student of the late medieval period (and
perhaps even if you are) the time between Agincourt in 1415 and the
collapse of English rule in France in the 1450’s can be a complex
and confused. What Castor has done has been to provide a clear
explanation of what the war was about, how it had divided France and
then give a clear focus on the main players highlighting the
political as well as military pressures each was under. Only then is
Joan introduced and her actions presented. This enables the
non-specialist reader to better comprehend how she was able to have
such great military and psychological impact on the French and then
why they then gave her such half-hearted support once she was
arrested, put on trial and finally executed by the English. Joan’s
intervention – divine or not – did provide impetus at the crucial
time for France’s Charles VII which eventually led to pushing the
English back to the Pale of Calais.
Castor does not enter the debate as to who exactly Joan’s
voices were or whether Joan was saintly or not. What she does is lay
out the available historical evidence to reveal a troubled
personality, but one in many ways firmly planted in the real world.
Her voices told her to don male attire but as she later explains,
this wearing of men’s clothes was an attempt to ward off male
advances, even although she must have known her persistence in doing
so and admitting to it was condemning herself in the eyes of a
Catholic Church inquisitors who saw such behaviour as heresy.
Castor’s book (as one might expect given her earlier work) makes
clear the role played by strong women in events. Not just Joan, but
also Yolande of Aragon, protectress of Charles VII and early and
strong supporter of Joan when others had doubts, suggesting a key
role in orchestrating Joan's appearance on the scene.
If there is a problem with this book it is the paradox
that in making its greatest strength the focus on context rather
than on Joan herself it sadly underplays the degree of attention
given to Joan’s cultural and theological legacy. An epilogue (four
pages) attempts to draw attention to this but I would have liked to
read more about how her beatification played out as well as the way
writers as diverse as Schiller and Shaw placed her in their dramas.
Nonetheless Castor has provided a very readable introduction to not
just Joan of Arc but also the Hundred Years War. One of the comments
on the cover stated the book was amongst “......the best of popular
history”. Can’t argue with that.
Further Reviews:
Reviews
in History
Times Higher Education
New York Times
January ’16 (****) |
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Helen Castor:
She-Wolves: The Women
Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth
I came to this in a pretty roundabout way – it is not my period at
all but I saw it in a History Today list of best current female
historians. It was also benefiting from recent publicity as it was
the focus of a new BBC history series. For a non specialist it was
worth the read. Helen Castor examines the lives of four women who
'ruled England before Elizabeth'. These were Henry I's daughter, the
Empress Matilda; Henry II's consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine; and the
wives of two of England's least effective kings: Isabella of France
(Edward II) and Margaret of Anjou (Henry VI).
Castor's argument is that although not sole monarchs in the way that
Mary and Elizabeth Tudor were, these four were able to use their
positions as family members/consorts to significantly influence and
to varying degrees, direct royal policy. To be honest none appear as
especially attractive in a power political sense. All are ruthless
in pursuing their aims and very capable of double-crossing and
breaking promises. Tenacity seems to be another ability that they
had by the bucket load – especially Matilda and Eleanor.
Each of the four are given a straight narrative which takes the
reader from post conquest England to the advent of the Tudor new
monarchs. This is well supported with clear (and easily understood)
references to contemporary writers but does not attempt to provide a
complete linear view of the period. However, the four periods
examined do coincide with some of the most significant episodes of
royal history during the period. And it is "royal history". The
focus is on the power politics of those in control. Virtually no
mention is made of anyone else or any other social group. This is
not a fault of the author but a clear indication of the reality of
medieval life. Where its male rulers had personal and political
failings the country was generally thrown into crisis which meant
baronial strife, conquest and counter conquest of castles and
territory with the obvious destruction of crops, villages and
property of those not considered by those leading armies to restore
"order". The order of those in positions of privilege. Stephen was
probably too soft for the age, Richard spent too little time minding
the shop, Edward II had a knack of choosing male friends who
antagonized his lords whilst Henry VI was pretty ineffectual. In
each case a "she-wolf" strove to fill the power vacuum – some more
successfully than others.
The four accounts are set in a Tudor framework: we start with young
dying Edward VI attempting to change his father's Act of Succession
to prevent Catholic Mary from succeeding. The final chapter has Mary
installed and uncontested as a Queen ruling in her own right – so
much so that despite growing unpopularity is succeeded by another
female, Elizabeth. Castor's underlying point (perhaps a little too
drawn out) being that conditions had changed by the 16th century
with the Tudor state having become sufficiently centralized and
institutionalized to weather the types of upsets that earlier would
not have tolerated a woman ruler on her own. Hence ambitious and
capable women close to power had to find other ways to exercise
authority.
This is to be recommended to those who want a clear introductory
framework to English medieval monarchy. Castor writes her stories
well and in an entertaining way. Good clear maps are provided (which
at the same time indicate the ebb and flow of English territorial
possessions in France), but most crucially there are extensive
family trees for each of the four. Without these to refer to the
reader would easily get lost in the web of family and marital
connections relevant to the overall story. Less positive is the
strange lack of foot or endnotes. Not good for further study, let
alone testing the sources used. I have not seen the TV programmes
yet – I wanted to read the book first - so am unable to say how well
they complement each other.
One last point – as Castor herself writes in her section on sources.
Readers wanting to explore characters mentioned in the text could do
lot worse than use the online and very comprehensive Oxford
Dictionary of National Biographies. The ODNB has bios (some over 30
pages long) written by leading modern historians (the name Castor
also appears several times….) and if you have a UK library card or
are part of a subscribing global educational institution is totally
free! April '12 (****)
Further Reviews:
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The Literary Review by
Peter Marshall, Professor of History at the University of
Warwick
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The Guardian by
Ian Mortimer, writer of Medieval
Intrigue: Decoding Royal Conspiracies
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Jane Conway:
Mary Borden: A Woman of
Two Wars
This is the story of Ma(r)y Borden, one of those dynamic women who
managed to flourish in the male dominated world of the early 20th
century. Borden had been given a huge headstart as the daughter of a
millionaire from Chicago and this she used to the full. A writer of
books achieving both popular and critical acclaim this all gave her
an entre into British and French society both before and after the
First World War. Her US birth and (second) marriage to a British
politician ensured equal social acclaim across the Atlantic. The
book is illustrated with many useful photos including several
society magazine shots showing her in the 1920's as quite the
society woman and hostess.
However there was more to Borden than this. She was a Chevalier of
the French Legion of Honour and bearer of the Croix de Guerre
(Petain himself gave her the additional Palm to the award),
presented for her war work in setting up and managing hospitals very
close to the Front and also those with the lowest mortality rates.
It is claimed her Great War hospitals were the ones of choice for
wounded French "l'hospital le plus chic sur tout le front". She
repeated this war work in the Second World War and continued to
write successfully until late in life.
Conway provides a literary commentary on her books as they were
published, attempting to link them into Borden's experiences, but
for historians what is most interesting are her sections on Borden's
war work. In 1914-18 The British (despite the Nightingale
experience) appeared more resistant to having a dominant woman
managing field hospitals. The French support for Borden was fully
vindicated by results. I was also interested to read that she used
innovatory portable hospitals with reinforced windows to withstand
blast damage that could be dismantled and rebuilt in a matter of
hours. (You can hear an extract here from
Borden's memoirs, "The Forbidden Zone" describing
hospital conditions). Nonetheless, with the awakening of the need
today to care so totally for war wounded it is depressing to read of
the relatively basic provision in the earlier war especially when
what we are reading about is probably of the best care available.
The section on her work in World War II is even more historically
interesting. Leading the Hadfield-Spears mobile ambulance unit (an
early version of the Korean war M*A*S*H units) she managed front
line Franco-British nursing care in France, Italy, north Africa and
the Middle East. In this war she found herself more involved in the
political machinations of the Franco-allied relationship. Conway is
perceptive on the chaos and amateurism shown during the Fall of
France as well as the in-fighting involving De Gaulle (which
ultimately sees the disbanding of the unit in 1945). Conway notes
how Borden's Journey Down a Blind Alley, published in
1946, records the history of the medical unit and her disillusion
with the French failure to put up an effective resistance to the
German invasion and occupation.
It is hard though to escape the paradoxes of her existence. Living a
privileged lifestyle she was critical of the British Labour Party
for not doing enough to relieve poverty. Given the hectic nature of
her life it is clear that she spent little of what would be called
"quality time" with her young family despite fighting a long and
(clearly for them) disturbing battle with her first husband for
custody of them. The author could perhaps have given this more
emphasis, especially regarding the impact of the suicide of a
daughter which is dismissed in a few sentences. A more direct
approach at times to some of the paradoxes outlined above would also
help ensure that Borden could be seen more clearly in the context
and standards of her time if not those of today. It is these
contrasts that make understanding the assertive and successful women
of the early 20th century (as well as today?) so interesting.
Jane Conway provides a clear and accessible description of the
Borden life and shows how Borden made much of her privileged
position using her undoubted courage and management skills. I found
myself increasingly involved in the narrative as the story rapidly
progressed, especially beyond the 1930's. In the last few years many
unsung stories of the role played by key women in both world wars
have become more public. Conway presents us here with the life of
one such woman whose work and enthusiasm deserves to be remembered
by a clear biography such as this. I would recommend this book to be
read in particular by students of social as well as women's history.
Dec '08 (****)
For more on Mary Borden:
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Antonia Fraser:
Marie Antoinette
Initially started as a holiday read and expecting to read of a weak,
dissolute queen this biography (used as the basis for the weakish Sofia
Coppola movie) soon began to reveal Marie Antoinette in a somewhat
different light. Yes, much of her pre revolutionary time in France was
spent out of touch with the country at large and largely oblivious to
the real costs of the royal establishment. Yes, she was also rather
naive and had a simplistic view of the socio-political structure.
However, Fraser shows this to be as much a result of upbringing and
Habsburg dynastic demands as because of flaws of character. Post 1789
sees a tougher, more considered MA emerge, a victim of the revolutionary
pressures produced by the Ancien Regime of which she was part.
Interestingly Fraser draws attention to the misogyny of the Jacobins as
an element of the seemingly unjust treatment & trial of MA compared with
Loius XVI. This is not so much a sympathetic account as one which makes
much use of broad context to make the position of MA more
understandable. Sept 2008 (***) |
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Jessica Warner:
Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of
Reason
Warner writes about the English (London?) gin "epidemic" of the early 18th
century. As a piece of social history it is of value, well supported and argued
(perhaps too drily though - this has the air of an academic work tweaked to do a
Sobel "Longtitude" for a mass market). What is most surprising though is the way
the argument shows that the issue was one focussed on women, and that it was the
poorest women who emerge as the biggest victims economically as well as socially
from the expansion of gin drinking as well as from its ever tighter control
(they did most of the streetside selling). The big distillers/publicans were
men.... they continued to survive, and were not locked up to the same extent.
Dec '07 (***) |
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Sarah
Helm:
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII
This story of Vera Atkins, responsible for sending British female secret agents
to Nazi France and her cathartic efforts to find out what happened to those who
did not return is a compelling, well crafted read. The Atkins life is full of
twists and page turning mysteries. However in the process Helm emphasizes the
bravery of those sent to France and the amateur incompetence of those who sent
them. Equally, the transparent nature of the books structure serves as an
excellent example of how history is laboriously researched and worked upon using
a variety of sources – in this case very much like a detective thriller. March
´07 (****)
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Antonia
Fraser: Love and Louis XIV
Fraser provides a feminine (as opposed to feminist) look at the reign of
Louis XIV. Although it presents an interesting glimpse into the court
life of the Sun King, it also reveals the dissolute and egocentric
lifestyle of a royalty and nobility whose existence depended on the
finances taken from the large tax base provided by a wealthy, absolutist
state and from subjects they had little, or wished to have little in
common with. Two points emerge ultimately: a better understanding of the
future revolutionaries of 1789 and an intriguing glimpse of what might
have been in England had such absolutism not been halted in 1642.
Jan'07 (***)
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Anonymous:
A Woman in Berlin
This diary, written by a Berlin woman in her 30's during the fall of Berlin
illustrates clearly and forcefully the real meaning of defeat. Interesting
asides on the nature of the Russian conquerors: raised in a society where they
received but could not choose they had little concept of "value", even of booty.
Most of all it reveals the commonplace nature & acceptance of rape or of
attaching oneself to an Ivan lover - for protection and survival. A very human
diary of survival in year zero. Sept '06 (****) |
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