The Warrior Queens

Recounts the lives of more than a dozen women through the ages who assumed the role of warrior queen, from Boudica in 60 AD to Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, and Margaret Thatcher in the twentieth century . . . Editorial Reviews. . . In a series of cleverly linked biographies, Fraser here tells the stories of a long line of history's "warrior queens," at the same time exploring and illuminating the myths, paradoxes and ambiguities that attend their status as aggressive female leaders, and the "mingled awe, horror, and ecstasy" that they inspire. She begins with the British queen Boadicea, who in A.D. 60 led a massive but doomed rebellion against the Roman occupation (and whose spirit haunts the entire book), and ends with the modern trio: Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher. In between come the likes of Isabella of Spain, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great and the beautiful Rani of Jhansi, who, wronged by the British, earned herself a permanent place in Indian legend by the heroic role she played against them in the so-called Mutiny of 1857. Fraser ( Mary Queen of Scots ; Cromwell ) buttresses her book with sound scholarship, while her insights and enthusiasm make it beguiling. Illustrated. 60,000 first printing; BOMC and QPBC alternates. . Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.