*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.
Title: What's Her Name: A History Of The World In 70 Lost Women
Author: Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson
Genre: Historical Non-Fiction
Rating: ★★★
Journey through thousands of years of human history (now
with the women put back in).
From the earliest human civilizations through to the present day, the stories
of countless influential women – leaders, artists, warriors, scientists
and more – have been ignored, forgotten, or actively suppressed. You may not
have encountered the likes of Fatima al-Fihri (an Islamic World visionary who
founded the world's first university), Ching Shih (the most successful pirate
in history), or Huda Sha'arawi (a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader,
suffragist, nationalist, and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union), but
that's about to change.
In What’s Her Name: A History of the World in 80 Lost Women, authors – and
sisters – Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson weave together the captivating stories
of these fascinating figures to tell an alternative,
enthralling and deeply researched historical narrative. A
truly global history, What’s Her Name features biographies of
incredible women spanning six continents and thousands of years, from
Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire to imperial China, the Americas and post-war
Europe. Drawing on years of study and interviews with dozens of experts, this
is an entertaining, thought-provoking look at the trailblazing women
you may not have heard of (but should have).
What’s Her Name:
A History Of The World In 70 Lost Women is a new history book from the hosts of
the What’s Her Name history podcast Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle.
Starting from the
Stone Age and taking us on a historical journey right through to modern day,
there’s something for everyone. With the role of women consistently underrepresented
in history books, it was great to be introduced to eighty women who have played
significant roles in historical events and time periods yet have been largely
forgotten by time. I’d only actually heard of two of the eighty women prior to
reading so was fascinated by their stories and it was great to see women from
all walks of life represented. There is also fantastic imagery to illustrate
the points.
I was more engaged
with the second half of the book than the first but that’s purely personal
preference as my interest generally lies more with modern history than ancient history.
It was an easy book to dip in and out of over the course of a few weeks and it
did prompt me to enter an internet research hole looking deeper into the
stories of some of the women. I would have perhaps liked the further reading
lists to have been longer, and shared at the end of each specific section
rather than just in a full bibliography at the end.
Unfortunately, there
were times when it felt like the information was being dumbed down and
explained through pop culture references (such as likening a grand ancient debate
to a Facebook fight), as surely that’s the only way the average female brain
could understand more complex historical concepts. Whilst on one hand I could
understand this as an attempt to make history accessible to a wider range of women,
it generally just felt like an insult to female intelligence in what should
have been an empowering book written by female historians.
The general tone
of the book is very chatty, I’m assuming in an attempt to keep in the tone of
the podcast, and this didn’t always work unfortunately. I also didn’t like the
use of frequent “what if” and “what do you think happened?” sections. Although
a bit of speculation is always good and part of the course with a history book
as we don’t know the answer to everything, this took it a bit too far.
I would particularly
recommend this book to YA readers interested in history or anyone who wants a
non-fiction history book which is easy to dip in and out of.
