Women Warriors: A History (The Warriors) [Hardcover]

David E. Jones (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Warriors | Publication Date: April 30, 1997

Women Warriors takes the reader back through history and around the world to uncover a clear pattern of women as warriors. It is a fascinating comment on the nature of gender, on the power of the warrior image, and on the image’s source in history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Never mind the accomplishments of American women in the Gulf War, of Nicaraguan women in the Sandinista revolt, of Vietnamese women in countless wars: fighting, many continue to believe, is the province of men. Setting aside the question of whether war is desirable no matter who fights it, anthropologist David Jones takes a look at women warriors throughout world history. He turns up well-known examples like Joan of Arc and Molly Pitcher; better, he looks at the contributions of lesser- known fighters from ancient Scandinavia and Africa on down to the present. Throughout Jones has a keen eye for (sometimes gruesome) detail, and he leaves you feeling glad you don't have to scrap with any of his many fearsome heroines.

From Publishers Weekly

Openly dismissive of traditional Western arguments that women are ill-suited for combat, Jones, a cultural anthropologist, sets out to show that women "own" war and its glories just as much as men do. Reaching back to ancient times and continuing through to the Gulf War, Jones divides his work into geographically themed chapters. In them, he presents instance after instance of females who "have taken the field and have wielded the weapons of their day." While Jones offers the caveat that "no sane person would wish involvement in war on anyone-male or female," he presents his women warriors in heroic terms. Among the many she-warriors who make appearances are the medieval Japanese Lady Yatsushior, who charged into battle while pregnant, and the 19th-century Frenchwoman Jeanette Colin, who disguised herself as a man and fought against the British at the Battle of Trafalgar. Many of Jones's tales are fascinating, but the scope of this survey is so broad that he hits only the highlights of each story before moving on to the next. Readers are left hankering for more of such viragoes as the Irish pirate queen Grace O'Malley, who reportedly terrorized even the powerful British Queen Elizabeth I. Serious students of military history may fault Jones for his heavy reliance on anecdotal material, and for his one-sided presentation of his subject, particularly regarding the role of women in modern American conflicts. Others will lose patience with his heavy-handed presentation of theme: "Men and women will never reach a common consciousness of their equality as humans until both accept that women have a claim on the title 'Warrior.'" Still, this is an entertaining introduction to an intriguing and largely neglected subject. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1 edition (April 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157488106X
• ISBN-13: 978-1574881066
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,126,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readable and comprehensive look at fighting women, June 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Warriors: A History (The Warriors) (Hardcover)

This book on warrior women reads easily- only its density- for I found that Dr. Jones had included so much- revealed his university ties. Just as there were once women priests, so too women could be fierce, feared warriors. This book should be required reading for men in the military- so they can respect the potential of their female cohorts.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A broad and fascinating review of women warriors and pirates, June 21, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Warriors: A History (The Warriors) (Hardcover)

A rare find, indeed. Professor Jones has written about a neglected bit of women's history without being strident, lecturing or inventing facts. He covers all time periods and cultures, from Saudi Arabian battle queens, to Organa Khatun of Mongolia, to Rani Jhansi of India, to Molly Pitcher.

Prof. Jones' prose is easy to read, and he documents his findings in endnotes.

This book was fun to read. It fills in some very large gaps in military history and in women's history. Prof. Jones also provides some much-needed background for the current controversy about women in combat.

_Women Warriors_ should be of interest to anyone who is interested in history, women, or war. It also would be a very good book to give to a teenage woman.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent history, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Warriors: A History (The Warriors) (Paperback)

The author sums up the book in his own preface. "History, as you will read, demonstrates that the warrior's mantle is a woman's birthright as surely as it is a man's and that the hand that rocks the cradle can also wield the sword." I found the book highly readable, and an enthusiastic overview of women's warrior history. Many of the stories were not new to me. I already knew the histories of women pirates, gladiators, warriors and soldiers--from hundreds of different sources scattered throughout historical material. But that is the beauty of this book. It combines into one compact volume a known history long ignored. And the author encompasses the world's history, not just a particular continent or a single point in time. The entire work is carefully footnoted. The historical references at the back of the book appear thoroughly researched. The author himself "sought references that purport to be historical as opposed to mythological texts". The index is efficient. All in all, an excellent book, and an excellent history.