Customer Reviews

Women Warlords: An Illustrated Military History of Female Warriors

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Newark gives a good analysis of what one might call the Amazon influence. Rather than just being about female generals, he gets down to the trenches, compiling the evidence for woman warriors among the Steppe tribes of Eurasia, in South America (the reason they called the one river the Amazon) and in Dahomey. Also, he makes plain the sociological change from the Medieval woman warlord like Aethelflaed of Mercia or Matilda of Tuscany -- a feudal noble defending her turf -- to the modern "Joan of Arc" image, of the idealistic woman of the people fighting out of patriotism. He does not cover any of the lower-level fighting women of Europe, however, nor the female warlords outside of Europe.

Simply put, the newer paperback edition of Women Warlords has only a cover by Angus McBride. And that's all! Since the book has his cover, technically I guess he is the illustrator, but there are no interior color plates usually found in books illustrated by Angus McBride, and for me half the value of these and the Osprey books are in the incredibly researched and painted color plates.

The hard bound edition published in the UK in 1989 by Blandford includes 16 full page color illustrations by McBride, in addition to the cover, which features a different portrait of Matilda of Tuscany than McBride painted for the interior. While there are no explanations of the weapons and battle dress shown in the plates, as in the Osprey books, the pictures of the outfits, weapons and historical figures, in dramatic and fighting poses , with backgrounds, make the early edition of Women Warlords among McBrides' better efforts.

So if you like the color illustrations by the cover artist of this book, don't buy this paperback edition. Search out the 1989 HARD BOUND book.

As has already been said, only the cover is illustrated by McBride, but the text makes it worth every penny anyway. The book consists of the following chapters:

The True Amazons-Warrior Women of the Sarmatians and Scythians

Amazons of the Jungle-Elite groups of female warriors in topical African and South American armies

Braver than her Husband-The stories of Artemisia and Zenobia, not warriors personally, but skilled leaders of them

Celtic Queens-The mythical account of Medb, as well as the real histories of the cunning Cartimandua and the vicious Boudica

Women of Christ-Aethelflaed, Matilda of Tuscany, and Eleanor of Aquitaine-women in the Middle Ages who led men and armies

Hundred Years War Women-Jeanne of Montfort, Christine de Pisan, and the famous Jeanne d'Arc, Joan of Arc

A subject that until now that has not been covered well. The author has done some solid work and coupled with McBride is well worth the price.