Women Rulers throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide [Library Binding]

Guida M. Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

Some were bloodthirsty. Some were enlightened. One was not amused. All were women who held supreme power: queens, empresses, prime ministers, presidents, regents, constitutional monarchs, and other women rulers. Women Rulers Throughout the Ages offers highly readable biographies covering each ruler's victories and defeats, foibles and triumphs, life and times.

This title is based on the author's award-winning Women Who Ruled. Many entries have been substantially revised, expanded, and updated, and more than 200 new entries have been added, covering individuals who came to power in the past decade, along with recently unearthed information about little-known rulers in Africa, the Middle East, and Central America.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-This resource, based on Women Who Ruled (ABC-CLIO, 1990), roughly doubles the entries found in that book. It presents female queens, empresses, prime ministers, rulers, presidents, constitutional monarchs, de facto and regent rulers-in fact, any verifiable female ruler, and in some cases, legendary rulers. Arranged alphabetically by the names used during their reigns, the women from virtually every nationality and culture are presented in straightforward prose, without bias or flattery. Entries range in length from a paragraph or two to several pages. While many provide rich characterizations, others present dry facts. All include the date of the reign and a short bibliography. Black-and-white photographs or reproductions accompany many of the entries. The volume opens with an alphabetical "Contents" list and a "Geographical Chronology of Entries" by country, kingdom, or empire. An extensive bibliography and thorough index are provided.-J. B. MacDonald, Milner Library, Illinois State University, Normal

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Written by two-time encyclopedia creator Jackson (English, Univ. of Houston), this book is a handy (though, at 452 pages, heavy) biographical dictionary of women leaders. Most of the entries are quite short, but they manage to give not just a thumbnail sketch but also historical context and major contributions. All the women included here were official rulers: they range from Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, to Mary McAleese, the current president of Ireland, with a string of queens, sultanas, empresses, countesses, dutchesses, prime ministers, and presidents in between; there are no second-level leaders, no spouses of leaders, and no merely famous women listed here. Bibliographical entries appear at the end of individual biographies and at the back of the text. The illustrations, however, are not as generous as the subtitle implies. Recommended for public libraries.
-Bonnie Collier, Yale Law Lib.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Library Binding: 471 pages
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO; 2nd edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576070913
• ISBN-13: 978-1576070918
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,501,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb, illustrated, historical survey and reference., May 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Rulers throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide (Library Binding)

Women Rulers Throughout the Ages is based on Jackson's Women Who Ruled and presents revised, expanded, updated entries from the prior book plus over 200 new entries bringing history up to date for female rulers of the past decade. The result: an illustrated reference covering not the rulers' lives and achievements, plus the era and nations which they governed.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough encyclopedia with many little known female rulers, December 29, 2001

By 

J. N. W. Bos "Joan" (Utrecht, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women Rulers throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide (Library Binding)

This is a sort of alphabetical encyclopedia of women rulers in history. Included are many different people like: Hoho, a 18th century Hottentot ruler, Drahomira, mother of the "Good King Wenceslas" of Bohemia, Betty Mae Jumper, chief of the Seminole Nation in the 1960s, Tansu Ciller, Prime Minister of Turkey in the 1990s, and Diane of Poitiers, mistress of the French King around 1550.

Some entries contain only a few lines, while other entries fill 3 pages, including a black-and-white picture. The number of references also differs for each entry with sometimes only one reference. Despite the difference in quality of the entries, the book is very thorough and contains many little known Queens.

Caterina Sforza, as a widow in the 15th century, refused to yield her castle, when her children were held hostage, explaining that she could always make more babies. Cleopatra Thea of Egypt married successive Seleucid Kings and had her own son put to death. Kaahumanu, co-ruler of Hawaii in the 19th century, tried to raise the sexual moral standards of her subjects to the annoyance of foreign sailors.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad start, but not quite there yet, March 16, 2010

By 

de Pizan (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Rulers throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide (Library Binding)

Women Rulers is a valiant attempt to provide an encyclopedic entry for "all" known women rulers. And I love that it tries and that it exists. I do have a few issues with the book which keep me from wholeheartedly recommending it. The first is that the majority of the entries are very short and the writing is on the dry side; and I understand, when writing up entries for that many subjects, you've got to keep it short, but most of the rulers get just a few sentences. For the more recent or well-known rulers, they might get half a page or a little more, but for instance with Theophano (984-991), it states that many historians consider her one of the greatest women in world history....she gets one long paragraph, but it doesn't really convey why exactly she's considered so important by historians.

The second issue is that there are two very glaring typos that I noticed: for Jeanne Mathilde Sauve, it states that she was born in 1992, but was Governor-General of Canada from 1984-1990; for Tz'u-an, it states she was regent for her son until 1873, but that her son reached his majority in 1973...yet her son died in 1875. In both cases a simple mistype but pretty obvious errors, so I do have to wonder if the editors and author missed these two, what other errors might there be?