Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves And Other Female Villains
by Jane Yolen /
2013 / English / EPUB
39.8 MB Download
From Jezebel to Catherine the Great, from Cleopatra to Mae West,
from Mata Hari to Bonnie Parker, strong women have been a problem
for historians, storytellers, and readers. Strong females smack of
the unfeminine. They have been called wicked, wanton, and willful.
Sometimes that is a just designation, but just as often it is not.
"Well-behaved women seldom make history," is the frequently quoted
statement by historian and feminist Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. But
what makes these misbehaving women "bad"? Are we idolizing the
wicked or salvaging the strong?
From Jezebel to Catherine the Great, from Cleopatra to Mae West,
from Mata Hari to Bonnie Parker, strong women have been a problem
for historians, storytellers, and readers. Strong females smack of
the unfeminine. They have been called wicked, wanton, and willful.
Sometimes that is a just designation, but just as often it is not.
"Well-behaved women seldom make history," is the frequently quoted
statement by historian and feminist Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. But
what makes these misbehaving women "bad"? Are we idolizing the
wicked or salvaging the strong?
In BAD GIRLS, readers meet twenty-six of history’s most notorious
women, each with a rotten reputation. But authors Jane Yolen and
Heidi Stemple remind us that there are two sides to every story.
Was Delilah a harlot or hero? Was Catherine the Great a great
ruler, or just plain ruthless? At the end of each chapter, Yolen
and Stemple appear as themselves in comic panels as they debate
each girl’s badness—Heidi as the prosecution, Jane for
context.
In BAD GIRLS, readers meet twenty-six of history’s most notorious
women, each with a rotten reputation. But authors Jane Yolen and
Heidi Stemple remind us that there are two sides to every story.
Was Delilah a harlot or hero? Was Catherine the Great a great
ruler, or just plain ruthless? At the end of each chapter, Yolen
and Stemple appear as themselves in comic panels as they debate
each girl’s badness—Heidi as the prosecution, Jane for
context.
This unique and sassy examination of famed, female historical
figures will engage readers with its unusual presentation of the
subject matter. Heidi and Jane’s strong arguments for the innocence
and guilt of each bad girl promotes the practice of critical
thinking as well as the idea that history is subjective. Rebecca
Guay’s detailed illustrations provide a rich, stylized portrait of
each woman, while the inclusion of comic panels will resonate with
fans of graphic novels.
This unique and sassy examination of famed, female historical
figures will engage readers with its unusual presentation of the
subject matter. Heidi and Jane’s strong arguments for the innocence
and guilt of each bad girl promotes the practice of critical
thinking as well as the idea that history is subjective. Rebecca
Guay’s detailed illustrations provide a rich, stylized portrait of
each woman, while the inclusion of comic panels will resonate with
fans of graphic novels.