These are the women who were deemed too nasty for their times – too nasty to be recognised, too nasty to be paid for their work and sometimes too nasty to be allowed to live.
When you learn about women in history, it’s hard not to wonder: why do they all seem so prim and proper? The truth is, you’re probably not being told the whole story. Also, (mostly male) historians keep leaving out or glossing over some of the most badass women who ever walked the surface of this planet. Fake news!
But fret not. Former Buzzfeed senior writer and Washington Post pop culture host Hannah Jewell has got you covered. In 100 Nasty Women of History, Hannah will spill the tea on:
-the women with impressive kill counts
-the women who wrote dangerous things
-the women who fought empires and racists
-the women who knew how to have a good-ass time
-the women who punched Nazis (metaphorically but also not)
So, if you think that Nasty Women are a new thing, think again. They’ve always been around – you just haven’t always heard of them. These are the 100 Nasty Women of History who gave zero f*cks whatsoever. These are the 100 Nasty Women of History who made a difference.
These are the 100 Nasty Women of History whom everyone needs to know about, right now.
Well, this is just hilarious and so so fun to read. 100 Nasty Women of History is all about history’s bravest, most ballsy women. And most of them you’ve probably never heard of!
“Wallada bint-al-Mustakfi had the good fortune to be born to the Caliph Muhammad III of Cordoba in about 994, and the even better fortune for her father to be murdered, thereby inheriting his wealth and gaining total independence.”
In the final debate of the 2016 US presidential election, Donald Trump leaned into the microphone as Hilary Clinton spoke about social security, and he called his opponent ‘such a nasty woman’. I’m sure Donald Trump didn’t realise that this phrase would go on to become a badge of honour for women around the world. Being a ‘nasty woman’ is now considered a compliment!
Hannah Jewell is a senior writer for Buzzfeed UK, so she brings into this book her wit and sarcasm. I laughed out loud many times when reading this book, chuckling on public transport to and from work.
“You may remember Artemisia of Caria from the movie 300: Rise of An Empire, the sequel to that all-time greatest hyper-masculine wankfest of a film, 300.”
100 Nasty Women of History is about powerful women of history. It’s a funny, entertaining way of learning about the boldest and bravest women of history. It’s important to note that is a bit of swearing in the book, so even though this book is educational and informative, it’s not for children.
This is actually a really interesting read. There are so many women in here whose designs or actions paved the way for the future, and yet I’d never heard of them before. Some died young, some died old, but they all managed to achieve something pretty incredible before they departed this world.
I did feel like Hannah’s humour and sarcasm fell away after halfway through the book. There was definitely more wit and jokes in the first half of the book than the second, and I wish that was more consistent throughout.
“Born in 1916, Marie Chauvet was a member of the mixed-race elite of Haiti. She would host gatherings of important poets at her home in Port-au-Prince, and wrote novels addressing race, class, and gender. Her works would criticise both the corruption of the elite society to which she was party, and the brutality of the government opposed to it – so basically, she pissed everyone off.”
I’d recommend this book to feminists and other powerful women. It’d also be a great Christmas stocking filler too!
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
100 Nasty Women of History
Hannah Jewell
November 2017
Hachette Book Publishers
Leave a Reply