Uppity Women of Medieval Times

Rating:
Summary: Another enjoyable Uppity Women collection
Review: I enjoyed Uppity Women of Ancient Times very much, so i was very pleased to discover this follow-up volume, another collection of brief biographies of interesting women. In this volume I found many characters I already knew, and many more I did not. A few minor quibbles, the author's definition of 'medieval' seems to be a bit elastic, it appears to go up to the 17th century, which is not as far as I know generally considered to be part of the medieval period. Also she is a bit prone to exaggeration, especially when she talks about the 'witch craze' being a holocaust against women. She mentions a figure of 100,000 executed, whereas I beleive the real fugre is more like 40,000, not all of them women. Also she conveniently ignores the fact that while most the victims were women, so were most of their accusers. Also she seems to have the modern obsession with careers, though the modern notion that the only worthwhile way to spend your time is in some kind of paid employment was not in vogue in the middle ages, women who worked more likely did so from economic necessity, rather than from any desire to be 'career women'. These are minor quibbles though, the stories of the women are amusingly told, and there is a bibliography at the back for those interested in learning more (a pity it includes Barbara Walker's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, which is pure fantasy). Overall, a very amusing read.

Rating:
Summary: Another enjoyable Uppity Women collection
Review: I enjoyed Uppity Women of Ancient Times very much, so i was very pleased to discover this follow-up volume, another collection of brief biographies of interesting women. In this volume I found many characters I already knew, and many more I did not. A few minor quibbles, the author's definition of 'medieval' seems to be a bit elastic, it appears to go up to the 17th century, which is not as far as I know generally considered to be part of the medieval period. Also she is a bit prone to exaggeration, especially when she talks about the 'witch craze' being a holocaust against women. She mentions a figure of 100,000 executed, whereas I beleive the real fugre is more like 40,000, not all of them women. Also she conveniently ignores the fact that while most the victims were women, so were most of their accusers. Also she seems to have the modern obsession with careers, though the modern notion that the only worthwhile way to spend your time is in some kind of paid employment was not in vogue in the middle ages, women who worked more likely did so from economic necessity, rather than from any desire to be 'career women'. These are minor quibbles though, the stories of the women are amusingly told, and there is a bibliography at the back for those interested in learning more (a pity it includes Barbara Walker's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, which is pure fantasy). Overall, a very amusing read.

Rating:
Summary: The Good the bad and the ugly women in history
Review: I first picked up this book because of the title. Uppity Women?? I thought it was funny and when I started reading it got even better. If you hate those HUGE long winded history books but you still like to learn then this book is for you. With only one page devoted to each woman it's a fast read and an interesting one. You'll learn about Erzabet Bathory from Romania who belived that bathing in the blood of young girls was the key to staying young herself. And Elanor of Auquatine who divorced the French king to marry a younger than herself English king!

Rating:
Summary: What a shock! Women have ALWAYS been uppity!!!
Review: I have read the entire "uppity" series. Leon writes with such humor and personality that she makes each woman's life come alive in only a few short paragraphs. Any woman will feel empowered by these blurbs about women who were strong, independent, brave, courageous, and vastly intelligent hundreds, and as in the other uppity books, thousands of years, before women's lib. These weren't women who were born before their time, they were born at the exact right time to help change the world they were living in. All modern women should be thankful that women like these paved the way for us all.

Rating:
Summary: What a shock! Women have ALWAYS been uppity!!!
Review: I have read the entire "uppity" series. Leon writes with such humor and personality that she makes each woman's life come alive in only a few short paragraphs. Any woman will feel empowered by these blurbs about women who were strong, independent, brave, courageous, and vastly intelligent hundreds, and as in the other uppity books, thousands of years, before women's lib. These weren't women who were born before their time, they were born at the exact right time to help change the world they were living in. All modern women should be thankful that women like these paved the way for us all.

Rating:
Summary: A Bit of Silliness For the Couch Potatos
Review: I love this book! It's fun to read, and I like that Ms. Leon uses "modern" language to describe these women. What I like best about it, though, is that it's ABOUT women (men are mentioned only if they add to HERstory). I'm working on family genealogy and have found my way into the Middle Ages. Time after time I've run into a family where the wife or mother is "unknown", or only has a first name. In this book, I've found five women, with names and dates, to add to my family tree! It's a great source of information and details, as well as being entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful for genealogists
Review: I love this book! It's fun to read, and I like that Ms. Leon uses "modern" language to describe these women. What I like best about it, though, is that it's ABOUT women (men are mentioned only if they add to HERstory). I'm working on family genealogy and have found my way into the Middle Ages. Time after time I've run into a family where the wife or mother is "unknown", or only has a first name. In this book, I've found five women, with names and dates, to add to my family tree! It's a great source of information and details, as well as being entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: ridiculous and gossipy
Review: I received this as a gift, and I guess the giver meant well. I don't think I've ever read anything that so makes women of various cultures and time-frames sound like they belong on daytime TV. This book would have benefitted if the author had refrained from generalization, use of slang, completely shut up her running commentary, etc. I don't know how long it took her to write this, but these vignettes sound completely fictional (doesn't help, as another reader pointed out, that the biblio is nonexistant). It bothers me that the readers who like this book, REALLY like it and totally disregard the poor scholarship. It's deceiving to label a book like this as Women's Studies and/or History, and it's disturbing that some women who are getting their feet wet in the Women's Studies area of history are going to pick up this book and take it seriously. If the author is trying to make a point about women being vivacious and/or head strong during the Middle Ages, why use words like "uppity" and trivialize these women with a purely History of Western Thought frame of reference?

Rating:
Summary: Incorrect information
Review: Just a brief example of incorrect info presented in the book: the entry "Erszebet Bathory" claims she lived in Romania. In fact, her castle Cachtice is situated in what is today the Slovak Republic, what between 1918 - 1993 was the part of Czechoslovakia and during her lifetime a Hungarian Empire (the connection between Slovakia and Transylvania,where she places her story). I come from Slovakia and am very familiar with the story, which itself is correct, however, it also doesn't take place in Middle Ages, but in Renaissance period. Also, it is a great simplification, or rather false statement to say that "despite their sluggish deductive powers, locals were finally able to bring the countess to justice", since she executed her subjects and moreover people of a subdued nation. It would generally be extremely difficult to accuse and bring to a trial a member of the highest class. I agree with readers who consider her stories not to be correct historical analysis and I would add that it makes an impression on me she tries to gain "no clue", limited historical knowledge readers by applying temporary perception of society and life and temporary "let's make everything fun" attitude to those distant times. This trend I find very irritating in American literature and historical films. The result is very distorted images rewriting history.

Rating:
Summary: What an uplifting, spirited, all-around great book!
Review: Of all the books I've read on Medieval times and women in general, this is by far the best. I'm glad at least some people gave it the five stars it deserves! It is definitely not insulting. Instead of harping on the painfully obvious things that women didn't do in the middle ages, Vicki Leon focuses on their numerous contributions. Just because this book doesn't say "Women had no rights" on every single page doesn't make it terrible and degrading! I'll admit that the author's language isn't exactly the queen's English, but that just makes it more fun to read! Read this book! It will change the way you think about medieval women forever!